The 50th Annual Grammy Awards: They Didn’t Get it All Wrong (But They Blew Album of The Year)
I’ve now had a chance to glance over the Grammy nominations a couple times. *Sigh* Why do I do this to myself? I guess because no one else will let me do it to them.
I know, I know… The Grammys haven’t been relative in – what’s this, the 50th annual? – fifty years. I get it. That doesn’t mean I have to accept it or be happy about it. The Grammys are supposed to celebrate music. I love music. When the Grammys fuck up, it hurts me. That’s why I still write about them. That’s why I continue to complain. This shit will continue unless someone is ready to fight the good fight.
Before I go any further grousing about what’s wrong with the Grammys, I should mention the good things that happened. Rahim AlHaj was nominated in the World Music category. Rahim now records for Barrett Martin’s Fast Horse Recordings label and I have his new album. I wrote about it briefly before and am finishing up my full review.
My hero Otis Rush got nominated for a Grammy for his Live…And In Concert From San Francisco album. It’s not Otis at his best, but I’m happy to see him get a nomination. National treasure Pinetop Perkins – 94 years old – was also nominated… twice. He was nominated for his own live album. He was also nominated as part of the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen” CD. I’m pleased by this. Congrats to Otis and Pine.
Unfortunately, that’s about where the good ended and the bad started. Let’s start with Album of The Year…
The nominees are:
- Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
- Vince Gill - These Days
- Herbie Hancock - River – The Joni Letters
- Kanye West - Graduation
- Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Before we talk about what’s missing, let’s dismiss what’s here. Foo Fighters? Are they serious? I have every Foo Fighters album. I like that band Echoes is such a risk-free, commercial rock record. “The Pretender” is a great tune and sounds great on the radio. It’s very pleasant, but it’s not one of the five best albums of the year.
I haven’t listened to the Vince Gill record. I don’t do country. Setting that bias aside, I never got the feeling his album generated a lot of buzz within the country scene. Speaking of no buzz, there’s the Herbie Hancock record. Hancock’s a very talented dude, but did anyone buy this record? Contrast those two with Kanye West and Amy Winehouse. From two records that nobody bought to records built almost exclusively on new media hype.
Let’s talk about buzz for a second. Does it matter? I’m mixed on this. There’s something to be said for a tree that falls and no one hears it. On the other, great art isn’t defined by the number of people who hang it on their walls or turn it into a fucking ringtone. Grammy hedged their bets, as they always do, by trying to be all things to all people. That list looks like political correctness and diversity run amok, not a collection of the best albums of the year. There’s one for the rock kids (FF), one for the country kids (Gill), one for the indie kids (Winehouse), one for the hip hop generation (West), and one for the stuffy critics (Hancock).
As for what’s not there, let’s start with Bruce Springsteen’s Magic. I haven’t plotted my Best of 2007 list yet, but Springsteen will finish no lower than third and might well be first. It’s an incredible album filled with great songs and thoughtful lyrics. It’s sold well and has buzz, but more importantly this sizzle has some steak. This was a huge, huge mistake.
Other omissions from this category… at the risk of going too obscure, how about Norah Jones’ record Not Too Late? Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky would have been a more inspired choice than Foo Fighters. The White Stripes have been nominated for Album of the Year before. Icky Thump would have been good here, too.
One category down, 109 to go! Okay, I’m not going to write about all 109 but we’ll stop here and pick up with a few others that have me scratching my head in the coming days.
Filed under: Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Norah Jones, Otis Rush, Peter Karp, White Stripes, Wilco
Say what you will about Winehouse’s fame, but that album is a killer. Look beyond “Rehab” and it’s one of the year’s strongest sets of music. I’m consistently stunned at how good it is - in fact, it’s so good that I’m surprised anyone is listening to it, but then again, I never hear anyone mention anything beyond “Rehab,” which is by far the worst song on the album (I think I’ve purposely listened to it twice since getting the album earlier this year.) And Winehouse is definitely not indie nor is she for the indie kids - this is this year’s “for everybody” album, like Gnarls Barkely was the year before. There’s one every year and somehow they really do end up being surprisingly great albums that all types of people enjoy regardless of their favorite genre, and which stand the test of time.
I think this is one of the worst nominees lists I’ve seen. I was only pleased by one category, the instrumentals, and that’s because Rush’s amazing “Malgnant Narcissism” wound up with a nod. If they don’t take this one, the Grammies are a complete sham. (But the Grammies are a complete sham . . .)
Sheesh. As usual, I am ignoring the Grammys as much as possible. But how the Foo Fighters got in there and not Bruce’s CD - his best in years and years - is beyond me.
Just wait until I gripe about the blues category. Very disappointing.
I might have to check out the Winehouse disc, Tom, because “Rehab” didn’t do it for me. If you say that’s the lowpoint, maybe I need to give the rest a listen.
[...] all tune in to check this out and hear from Nick. After Nick, if time permits, there may be some Grammy discussion and an audio companion to the U2 discussion we recently [...]
built almost exclusively on new media hype.
no way, Winehouse may have her problems but that record is the real deal. the backing band is killer too, being the dudes from Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.
and i don’t agree that “Rehab” is the worst thing on the album….there is no worst thing on that album.
the Vince Gil record is actually really great. of course there would never be a buzz for it. it’s too long. nobody has a goddamn attention span anymore.
how they managed to leave out both Magic and the Norah record…well, i guess we’ll never know.
Mark, I thought I remembered you reviewing that album but I couldn’t find a link.
Oh… and “may have her problems?” I think we’re way beyond that, unfortunately.
The omission of Magic is absolutely beyond me.
Makes no sense.
I also agree on Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. Like Saleski says, Amy Winehouse is also the real deal.
The Hancock album? Well, okay…but if youre going to reward an album inspired by Joni Mitchell, what about Joni’s record itself?
I also liked Ryan Adams record quite a bit…definitely his best in my ever so humble opinion. As for my other choices…(stuff like Porcupine Tree and Radiohead) I’ll save those for the BC deal.
But no Magic? Ya’ gotta be kidding me!
-Glen
I’m not a fan of “Rehab,” but since Mark likes it, I’ll permit it.
If you’re going to check it out, you might want to consider taking a plunge on this UK version, which is a two-discer. Not only do you get the non-US track “Addicted,” which is pretty great, there’s an 8 track bonus CD 6 of which are R&B covers that are awesome. I like this album so much I fell for the double-dip. Mark, I think I hear it calling your name, too.
I still have to get that Sharon Jones disc - that sounded pretty special, too, and I just heard some stuff off the new Betty LaVette that pretty much blew me away. I’m going to have to get my hands on these soon.
I agree that these nominations are complete crap. Amy Winehouse is OK and all, but a better choice for an up-and-coming female artist would have been Feist. Sure, she got a ‘best new artist’ nod, but she’s hardly new, and Amy ain’t been around for too long either.
“there is no worst thing on that album.”
the rap remix at the end is definitely the worst thing on the album. thankfully, it’s the last song
I expected Amy Winehouse and Kanye West to get nominated. There was too much buzz behind Winehouse for her to not get nominated, regardless of controversy. And by delivering another good album, Kanye was going to get nominated. It’s almost like they didn’t know what else to nominate after that. In fact, I think that might be the case. I wonder if the votes for Wilco, The White Stripes, and Bruce Springsteen sort of canceled each other out and the other three are what we’re left with.
I think my eternal problem with the Grammys (and probably most other awards shows, really) is that the voters nominate what they know versus what’s good. For example, I’m just dumbfounded that “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” got nominated for Best Rap Song. I mean, I don’t hate the song that much but a shining example of songwriting, hip-hop or otherwise, it is not.
On a side note, am I the only one to notice that every Best New Artist nominee is female or female-lead? I don’t have a problem with it as most of these artists are deserving but I wonder what it says about the music of 2007.
Sterfish, thanks for the comment and the interesting perspective. I rather imagine Grammy votes often get split, allowing the safest choices to routinely win.
As for the New Artist category, taking nothing away from the nominees (most of whom I’m unfamiliar with), what it says to me is that the academy just didn’t look very hard.
As always I’m late to the party, but I gotta agree with the fellas, that Winehouse CD is fab. I really like “rehab” but the rest of the album is nothing like it. It is like old school soul, reinvented. I think the fanboy club needs to get together and have an intervention with both Winehouse and Doherty.
Josh,
Thanks again for the fabulous review on “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen – Live in Dallasâ€.
We’re doing a special promotion right now, if people donate $50 to The Blue Shoe Project’s music education programs, we’ll throw in a copy of the album as our gift.
Check it out: http://blueshoeproject.org/blueshoestore/membership.htm?aid=13452
Also individual copies can be purchased via our website as well: http://www.BlueShoeProject.org
We look forward to everyone’s support!!
“$$$$$$$$$$”, determines music to the average listener in America.
Most Americans have NOT even heard of Winehouse and she has NOT been regularly requested by Radio listeners.
Case in point, last night when Cindy Lauper and the other presenter listed the nominees with videos of each nominee with their song, Winehouse, who was NOT mentioned as a nominee, WON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Bullocks!!!!
And we don’t even need to reference how the “music industry” used to be in regards to “artists” with alcohol and drug problems, they were not representative of the industry. Whats changed? $$$$$$$$$$$ and lack of album sales. They have to recoup something.
The whole thing is dictated by $$$$$$ to the average listener, “Here listen to this, you’ll like it, it’s a Grammy nominee”. MUSIC PUSHERS = DRUG PUSHERS.
It’s also interesting to note that they keep honoring the “legends of music”, The Beatles, CCR, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis at the same time as they push the new artists so it may appear that it’s just as relevant.
The older “Music Artists” they keep honoring have been through the battles of record releasing, touring, promotion, and they look at “American Idol” and these “new Artists the industry is pushing” and say, “Where’s the artistry? How did it get this way?”
The answer is $$$$$$$$$$$$.
There’s No Relevance to the Grammy’s and indeed the talent pales to the older artists.
It’s all about who you slept with.
Do they have $$$$ ?
Or do they have connections?
What a SHAM!!!