The Grammy's Suck. See Here Why :)

The Grammy’s were last night. Honestly, who cares?  The Grammy’s aren’t telling you who’s hot anymore (not that they ever did).  Sure the stars show up, because it’s an old fashioned dress up party! Every little girl and boy remembers playing house when they were 5, sitting in there undies sipping imaginary tea. (was I the only one?)  And who doesn’t want an award?  Most of these artists are ego-maniacs, so playing to their vanity with a gold statue is easy. The hypocrisy lies in the fact that they do show up.  Being on the fringe got you to the Grammy’s and now you’ve decided that society’s opinion matters? And the biggest bullshit is when the artist says they are taking this award on behalf of all there “fans”. Why would they want to be honored by an institution that stands against everything that got them those fans to begin with?  Lady Gaga at the Grammy’s? Come on.  If she wanted to be really trend setting, she should have  publicly denounced them and no showed. But then again, Gaga’s “trend setting” seems to be another way of saying, I rip off Madonna, so little can be expected from her.  Until that day when artists stop participating, were going to have to deal with the likes of Skrillex winning a Grammy for Best Dance Album.  Something that you listen to bugging out on E should not be given a Grammy. I realize that they are trying to diversify their audience, but Skrillex?  That’s not trend setting, that’s pandering.  How can you take an institution seriously which took 15 years to choose a Hip Hop release to win Album of the Year (Lauren Hill)?

The Grammy Awards are like listening to music in Europe; the song comes out 8-9 months AFTER it breaks big in the States. Simply celebrating Adele for what she did last year and calling it a night is ridiculous.  The Grammy’s should be pushing new and unsigned talent.  They should be trendsetting, not piggy backing.  Yea you can sprinkle in current stars and hand out awards, but taking the time to create something new should be the Grammy’s true goal. The Grammy’s should pin the winners from all the music shows against each other.  I’m talking about the super bowl of music competitions; having the winners of Idol, X-Factor, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent battle it out in an old fashioned sing off.  Getting the networks to agree to such a thing would be difficult, but an alternating cycle of which network air’s the awards would help.  But who am I kidding. Just as a playoff system in college football makes too much sense, so does creating the biggest music competition on the planet.  How about popular artists nominating a true amateur and having them battle it out on stage.  You can form brackets like in the NCAA basketball tournament. Vegas could put out a line.  Adele’s favorite new artist against Lady Gaga’s?   LL Cool J’s girl vs. Puff Daddy’s. Voting could be done via text by viewers and by the celebrities in the audience.  People would have  direct involvement in the advent of someone’s career in one night. They would then be more inclined to invest in that person’s career in the form of album sales and tickets.  An idea such as this would keep people talking about the Grammy’s all year.  It’s sad that the biggest thing to happen at last night’s awards for content purposes was Whitney Houston’s death.  That’s the real tragedy.

The Grammy’s are the so-called recording industry’s night, but the industry is dead. According to the Economist, between 1999-2008, music revenue in the US dropped  from 14.6 billion to 10.4 billion.  In response, the industry did what any too powerful industry does that doesn’t want to hold itself culpable; they blamed Napster.  It became there Salem Bitch.  Instead of seeing the future of MP3’s and file transfer sites, they sued it, in the hopes of preventing the inevitable from happening for 1 or 2 more years. CD’s are dead, payola doesn’t work, and countless record companies are going out of business.  Maybe these experts should get together and have a meeting about the survival of their own industry!  How can you be an expert if your fighting for own job? When his band Pearl Jam won a Grammy in the category Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, singer Eddie Vedder commented on stage: "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything."^[13  Well said Eddie.

When the Grammy’s talk proudly about how they have gone from 109! categories to ONLY 79, there is a problem.  What the hell is a Best Regional Roots Album?  If you want an excuse to nominate Bruce Springsteen or some other ancient relic of the past who certain members of the panel have a crush on,  give them a lifetime achievement award.   What’s even more laughable, is that NARS members don’t even receive nominated recordings to listen too.  They are making an opinion based on a list sent to them by 150 “experts”. The members are voting on such a small fraction of the thousands of recordings sent in, that a fully informed opinion can’t properly be deduced.  Next year, do yourself a favor and boycott the Grammy’s.  They have overstayed their usefulness and welcome.  When a friend is in trouble with alcohol, you cut him off.  He needs to hit rock bottom to begin walking the new road.  Well, the Grammy’s are that drunk Uncle.   Nobody wants to watch just an awards show anymore.   What do I get out of that? The simple fulfillment that my star won?  That’s the stupidest thing in the history of the world. If you tried to sell the current Grammy’s format (without its pedigree) to a network today, they would laugh in your face, punch you in the gut, take a picture of you vomiting, and plaster it on You Tube so the entire world could know what a dick you truly are.  The Grammy’s should be so much more and could be, but first, it must die. Help me kill it?