The Grammy Awards Are Still Out of Touch

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• 1 - Mike

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:32 pm

  My favorite was Fountains of Wayne being nominated as "Best New Artist", when I remember them on 120 Minutes in the mid-90s. They've been on college radio for over 8 years with a couple of minor hits. They even did the music for the Tom Hank's pic, "That Thing You Do".
  
  So why are they the Best New Artist?

• 2 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:38 pm

  ...same reason that Jethro Tull won the Best Heavy Metal record award.

• 3 - Dave

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:42 pm

  Jethro Tull didn't win the Best Heavy Metal award.

• 4 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:47 pm

  oh right..it was:
  
  Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal Or Instrumental

• 5 - Dave

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:48 pm

  Ding! ;-)

• 6 - Tom Johnson

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:48 pm

  Tull did very much win the Best Heavy Metal award in the first year it was awarded - 1988. Do a search here and see for yourself.

• 7 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:49 pm

  GRAMMY Winner Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, David Pegg),artist.
  Genre Rock
  GRAMMY Category Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal Or Instrumental
  Year 1988 - 31st Annual GRAMMY Awards
  Title of the Work Crest Of A Knave
  Artist Performing Work Jethro Tull
  

• 8 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:50 pm

  ...and along with Madonna doing the wedding dress/Like A Virgin performance, it was one of the few jaw-dropping moments in the history of the grammy awards shows

• 9 - Tom Johnson

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:51 pm

  There's a weird requirement associated with "new artist" now. It has something to do with the number of albums sold. Of course, I think the majority of us here at Blogcritics know that sales does not equate to quality, and judging by the majority of nominees this year that proves true once again.
  
  I never thought I'd be rooting for a hip-hop outfit, but this year I'm fully behind Outkast for "Hey Ya!"

• 10 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 05, 2003 at 3:59 pm

  sounds like the MLB Rookie of the Year award

• 11 - Dave

  Dec 05, 2003 at 4:41 pm

  Tom, Jethro Tull won for best Hard Rock/Metal performance Vocal or Instrumental with their Crest of a Knave album, as you can see at the site you linked.
  
  Metallica fans got their jammies all in a twist over it, claiming that their favorite band was robbed, and the category was later renamed. (I was basically just busting Mark's chops)

• 12 - Tom Johnson

  Dec 05, 2003 at 4:53 pm

  Um, yes, I understand, Dave. Semantics.
  
  Metallica was robbed. To give an award like that to Jethro Tull, for them to even be nominated in that category, shows exactly how much of a joke the Grammies are to begin with.

• 13 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 05, 2003 at 10:13 pm

  cripes...and i usually have a good sarcasm detector...

• 14 - Sandra Smallson

  Dec 06, 2003 at 6:14 pm

  I don't see how they are out of touch. They are so intouch its disgraceful. You must give allowance for nominations for the oldies. Thats what the Grammy award show is all about. Not necessarily great music..just the older generation that dont sell as much, the non-cool think they are cool cos they like them, then they get nominated....this year they've tried to be so intouch they've gone overboard. I could almost cry if I gave a damn about awards.
  
  Timberlake and Aguilera are R&B if you ask me..nothing pop about Xtina's recent Album and Timberlake's is strictly R&B..hopefully he'll holler at Britney if he wins for Cry me A river..she deserves a nod for the popularity of that song. Outkast, Beyonce, 50cents, Eminem(is it not for the same album as last year?)...what more do you want them to do? That's so intouch.
  I have absolutely no interest in awards..I often watch them for the performances. I don't need a collection of people, self proclaimed "experts" telling me what they think is the best vocal or Album of the yr...then again, I don't need children jamming up the lines a la MTV giving awards to Timberlake and Beyonce..so it leaves me with no choice but to totally ignore award shows. Having said that, I hope Dido wins, cos that haunting vocal performance to "White Flag" is right up my street. I like Xtina's "Beautiful" but like I have said time and again, I am not interested in how many octaves or notes a singer can hit..a powerful haunting performance like Dido's in White Flag is good enough for me. If Britney is performing I may watch the show, then atleast I will surely be entertained.

• 15 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 06, 2003 at 9:28 pm

  Sandra, I agree very much with your Dido/Christina comparison: Dido rules, Christina drools. Who cares about range, histrionc technique, etc. Christina has the tools but no idea what to do with them. "Haunting" beats over-the-top and affected every time.

• 16 - visualsimplicity

  Dec 06, 2003 at 10:28 pm

  I believe the Madonna "Like a Virgin" performance was from the MTV VMAs and not the Grammy's.

• 17 - Craig Lyndall

  Dec 06, 2003 at 10:32 pm

  There is a much bigger picture going on here. Everyone here has been right, but let's look at the reasons why awards shows have become pretty much worthless to a lot of music fans. The awards shows used to be a lot more useful when the musical outlets available to users were a lot smaller. Record stores and top 40 radio are still there for the masses, but there are so many of us who are hearing new and different bands because of the internet.
  
  With the exception of Coldplay, I don't think any of these artists even rank in the top 20 for what I liked this year. The "underground" used to live on college radio and now with message boards and the community aspects of the internet, not to mention music streaming and downloading, the channels are much wider than they probably have ever been.
  
  I for one think it is a good thing to be sure, but if this trend keeps up, radio, TV and subsequently awards shows will be completely irrelevant as music fans become more and more fragmented in their little niches. I know I am not saying anything new here, and I may not have stated it as eloquently as possible, but wouldn't you all agree?

• 18 - Tom Johnson

  Dec 06, 2003 at 11:18 pm

  You nailed it, Craig. And I think you touched upon something else - that the niches really know what's good and what's not within those niches. The metal category is, for me, particularly interesting. Not one of the nominees would be in my top "metal" albums of the year. That honor belongs to Voivod, Killing Joke, and Living Colour, without a doubt. These three probably didn't even cross the minds of the voters. I might even toss in the new Sepultura, a great album but too new for me to formally include. But they are far more worthy than what actually did get nominated. And surely it's that way in many other genres.

• 19 - Bb

  Dec 07, 2003 at 3:11 am

  I believe I can summarize this with one word - POLITICS. The media moguls decide what type of music gets recorded and air play, and the Grammy Awards is merely a reflection of this reality.

• 20 - Charmaine

  Dec 18, 2003 at 7:23 pm

  Who gives a damn about the grammys? Just a whole lota media and all those know-it-all peeps telling the wurld what music is good. all i know is, dido's has to win- she rules!