Last night was the 49th annual grammy awards. I usually watch the telecast because one: I like awards shows and two: I love music. Unfortunately, the industry's choices for the 'best' are rarely my picks. Last year was especially mediocre in this regard ( http://learnthebigapple.blogspot.com/2006/02/purrr-teee.html). I am a little distraught by how biased the academy is when it comes to who it chooses to honor with the awards. For example, there are nominees in the r & b category for female vocal performance, male vocal performance, group vocal performance, album, song, video...yadda yadda. The same goes for the pop category. However, 'metal' only gets one measley category for 'metal performance'. This is pretty important genre, people...even if it's not your cuppa tea...and the fact that there is no nomination for album or song is pretty crappy, really. Bluegrass also gets the shaft and there is not a single category that would support my personal favorites of the year, The Old Crow Medicine Show. In my opinion, their album Big Iron World was the hands down best of the year. But I digress.
I was about to say that in actuality, this year was a big boost from last year. Some quality music was recognized and I have to say that I agree w/ alot of the results. Though I'm not a big fan of Waiting on the World to Change, I really love John Mayer. His bluesy compositions and great lyrics really move me...so I was happy to see him honored. The same goes for The Dixie Chicks (love the brave lyrics in Not Ready to Make Nice), Gnarles Barkley, Corrine Bailey Rae, John Legend, Tony Bennett , Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Wolfmother, and the Red Hot CHili Peppers (though I confess I'm becoming a little bored w/ them in my old age). To a lesser degree, I also have respect for Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood, and Mary J Blige's emotion (though I detest her music). So yes, we're acres above and beyond where we were last year at this time when i was seriously wondering what just HAPPENED?
The show was really entertaining too. Lots of great performances, some that were pretty good, some that were just ok, and for once, none that sucked...at least in my opinion. It was an impressive lineup. Here are some highlights that I appreciated:
1. The Police-reunited and just as good as ever!
2. The singer/songwriter medley-consisting of John Legend, Corrine Bailey Rae, and John Mayer. All sang songs not popular on the radio and all did a fantastic job. The contribution each of the performers made to one another was also a great touch.
3. Christina Aguilera- wha? Didnt I just slam her performance last year? Yes I did. She ALWAYS oversings. But this time it worked! Her rendition of "A Man's World" -a tribute to James Brown- was nothing short of brilliant! I have to admit I was smiling like an imbecile by the end of it.
4. Gnarles Barkley-Loved the slow sultry version of 'Crazy'. Really highlighted his amazing pipes.
5. Justin Timberlake-the first performance was really good. He sat at the piano and utilized his 'blackness' really well. (I did hate the second part of that performance, however, when he decided to shove a hand held camera up his nose for our viewing pleasure. Yikes. And the bit at the end w/ the 'winning grammy girl' was just way to indulgent for Justin-who had already performed! Shame on you, academy!)
6. Carrie Underwood- she can sing, no doubt about it. Her version of Bob Wills' 'San Antonio ROse' was good stuff. (Too bad she had to go and ruin it w/ that mediocre cover of 'Life in the Fast Lane'. I HATE Rascal Flatt with a passion! His fat head just makes me want to hurl tomatoes .)
7. The Dixie Chicks-great performance, even if it did sound just like the record.
8. The r & b medley-Smokey can still blow, Lionel still makes me sigh, and even though I'm not a fan of Chris Brown, that kid can dance! And what about those little 'krumpin' kids?! Whoah.
9. Shakira and Wyclef-No, those hips DON'T lie. Sheesh! It's like she's detatched in the middle.
Nobody else struck me as particularly remarkable...but like I said, nobody sucked. Even Rascal Flatt was 'on', I guess. So that's a one-up for the 49th for sure!
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5 comments:
Dang it! I wanted to throw this on just long enough to see The Police reunite and totally forgot to DVR it! I usually avoid the Grammy's like the plague ever since Jethro Tull walked away with Best Metal Performance oh so many years ago.
heh heh...I actually thought Jethro Tull deserved that award. After all, to quote Ian Anderson : 'The flute IS a heavy metal instrument'. LOL
Good point, lol! and I do like Tull. My wife used to play the flute and I always wanted her to take it back up and play me some Locomotive Breath.
But still...best metal performance?
I think it was more a situation of wanting to give them an award but not wanting to have the compete w/ the big wigs. So they stuck them in metal. Whatever.
It was worth it just to see Lars Ulrich mope. Winey brat.
I was impressed with this year's grammy's as well.
Honestly the Dixie Chicks performance (nerd that I am) gave me chills. She just acts like she is practically bleeding those lyrics.
I thought the John Mayer, Legend and Corrine Bailey Rae trio was also brilliant.
Love Shakira, she just is to cute how she acts ike she's having the time of her life out there. Those moves!!!
The JT Camera in face thing was horrid.
But yeah, it was pretty good this year.
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