The Grammy nominations are out, and they are an odd lot.
For one thing, they totally snub Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, and Rob Thomas. Grammy pet John Mayer is nowhere to be heard.
Substance is out, style — or fad — is in. It’s a Lady GaGa Grammys, with flashes of the trivial spread around her. Ten nominations for Beyonce? Are we kidding? And on January 1st, will anyone care about these nominees?
Whitney Houston’s lovely comeback, which could have been a Grammy story, is ignored. Entirely. How could her song, “Million Dollar Bill,” written by Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, not make it? Mariah Carey’s “Obsessed”— deleted. Rob Thomas’s excellent pop album,”Cradlesong” — not happening.
Instead, we’ve got more Taylor Swift, and an entry from 1973: Daryl Hall and John Oates got a nomination for a live performance of “Sara Smile.” Hello? This is completely inane. They’re competing with new stuff from Bon Jovi, The Fray, MGMT, and the ostensible winner, Black Eyed Peas. Whoever pulled off that coup deserves some kind of prize. I’m sure one is coming.
My prediction: Black Eyed Peas will rule the show the way Outkast did a few years ago. “I Gotta Feeling” is this year’s “Hey Ya.” My only worry is that Outkast was never heard from again.
Basically, without real artists to support in the under 30 age group, the Grammys have disintegrated into a Tiger Beat mentality. The so called actual artists can be found in Category 15, Best Rock Solo Performance ( I love the names of the categories) — with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, Neil Young, and Prince. It’s hilarious that none of the Best Song nominations came from those albums, but instead from crappy “teams” who put together “productions.” Really.
And over in the dreaded New Artist group: Zac Brown, MGMT, Keri Hilson, Silversun Pickups, and Ting Tings. This is a cursed category. We will not ever hear of these people again. Ever.
One bright spot: a nomination for Stevie Wonder and his “All About the Love Again.” It’s a throwaway, but maybe someone read my November 2nd column. Also: two noms for unknown R&B singer Calvin Richardson, on the very small Shanachie Records. Considering all the main nominees, Ken Ehrlich would be well served to feature this guy. He’s the real deal.
Anyway, between the MusiCares dinner for Neil Young, and Clive Davis’s dinner the following night, I suspect the Grammys are going to be a desultory affair. And with beloved talent coordinator Tisha Fein summarily dismissed a few weeks ago after three decades, many of the real artists who were relegated to minor nominations may not be persuaded to show up at all.
Pierre Cossette, we do miss you!
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 am
SPOT ON FRIEDMAN!!! FINALLY AN ARTICLE THAT TELLS THE FREAKIN TRUTH.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:53 am
Whitney’s Live performances killed her chances for Grammy nods. Her voice is shot. She’s 47, not 67. C’mon! Million Dollar Bill…? Ok, it deserved an R&B song nod. A lil justice is done here because you KNOW Clive was holding out for those Whitney nods, but perhaps he had a premonition by allowing her to do the AMA’s. (Beyonce, absent from the AMA’s got 10 Grammy nods – including Album????)
And Rob Thomas? Rob was Robbed!? That album is a pure pop/rock gem! For him to be snubbed over Legend, Maxwell, Wonder, Seal, and Mraz album tracks for Pop Male Vox!? Interesting that 4 of the 5 Pop Males are African American’s. Just noting – not being controversial.
Don’t underestimate Gaga — she is the new Madonna (with better vocals) but she can really market and assemble teams as well as Maddy has done for 30 years.
That Neil Young dinner will be a yawn-fest and Clive’s party – without a proper “praise-night” for Alicia & Whit will be a dud. Also absent from at least a Female Vocal nod is Clive’s Kelly Clarkson (only a Pop Album nod)… nothing for Daughtry either. Where the AMA’s had FIVE Idol’s, seems the Grammys will have none.
The bookers better start finding some Legends for teamings with these nominated acts because they’ll need some real, classic talent on the stage!
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 am
What does “Instead, we’ve got more Taylor Swift”. Surely the top album seller in the last year should be recognized is some way shape or form. I’m not a country fan, but country is where is is at now. They have the power of selling that rock had in the 70’s and 80’s. The couple of Swift songs that I’ve heard, I don’t consider country. They sound pop to me, and well done pop, and I understand that at 19 she writes her own material for the most part.
You “critics” need to realize like I have, country rules now, period. And Swift is the ruler of this new kingdom according to sales, and it’s not just the Jonas/Miley Cirus tweens that are buying it. It’s everybody. It wouldn’t surprise me if she won all 8 of the categories she was nominated in.
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
Whitney has had brilliant performances in AMAS, Italian and UK X-factor and in Germany..youtube them Jerome! Her voice has matured now and yes she can’t hit the notes like she used to and that’s why she sings meaningful songs now ala I didn’t know…and I Look to You. The Grammys have become a joke now……it’s like awarding the Oscar to Transformers…..Yes Beyonce is good but not that good…And Lady Gaga……i give her another one album and then fading. She ain’t Madonna!
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Roger, what geriatric planet do you live on? This isn’t 2000, or even 1970. Geez…All of the nominees are deserving this year. The Grammy voters pretty much got it right (with the exception of snubbing Rob Thomas, you are dead-on there). Just because the nominees aren’t “old” doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving. If anyone was truly snubbed, it’s Kelly Clarkson, who should have been represented in all of the major categories.
Whitney wasn’t nominated because her album was simply good, not great. It also hasn’t helped that she hasn’t had a “real” hit from this CD, it was released just under the wire for eligibility, and as someone mentioned…her live performances simply show a shadow of the artist she once was. She deserves congratulations for beating her demons and making a career comeback – but not a Grammy. Face it – she’s NOT Beyonce, who runs circles around Whitney and just about everyone else.
Taylor Swift is THE artist of 2009 though, and expect her awards dominance to continue. Roger, you should appreciate her old-school mentality. She wrote and co-produced her album…just like many female songwriters such as Carole King, Carly Simon, Amy Grant and going forward have done. In the end, it’s a terrific and timely album; at only age 19 as well…quite a feat. She is the frontrunner for Album of The Year, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she grabbed Song of the Year as well.
The previous poster was correct…country is King right now. Beginning with LeAnn Rimes’ win as Best New Artist several years ago, country artists have been making significant inroads in the all-genre categories. The Zac Brown Band will likely win this time – and they will still be around years from now (the others – not so much); they have a foothold with a strong fanbase that keeps growing. Country fans are far more loyal and less fickle than the pop audience. Next year, look for Carrie Underwood and her fantastic “Play On” album to be all over the nominations. Once “Undo It” is released to pop radio, next year’s race begins and there’s going to be no stopping her.
I disagree that the Black Eyed Peas will sweep the awards this year. The all-genre awards will be spread out among the Peas, Beyonce, Swift and possibly Lady Gaga. Beyonce and Swift will rule the overall ceremony, with help from awards won in their respective genres.
It was a good year in music, and the show will be great.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
It was a good year in music. Roger is old school, he loves (like I do) the old artists, but time marches on. I’m not a Taylor Swift lover because while she writes well, she doesn’t sing/perform well. She’s “adequate” for her generation. I agree with the prev OP, it’s going to be spread out among Peas, Beyonce and Swift. Gaga “might” get something, a little token. I don’t think she has a long life in music because eventually the gimmick will run out.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Sounds like a must miss Grammy show to me, I’ll be viewing something else that night.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Earthfree: You can always see the highlights online
December 4th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Country is not Country anymore hasn’t been for a long time. They need to have a new category like Country Pop for people like Swift and etc. Rock has many different categories, you can’t lump Megadeath with Bruce Springsteen. So they should do the same with the pop country sound out right now.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
For some moronic reason understood only by the Grammy people, the cut-off date for eligibility this year was August 31 instead of the usual September 31 (which is still too early). That’s why John Mayer didn’t make it, along with the Diana Krall produced Streisand album, which might have had a good shot otherwise. They’ll remember Mayer next year. He’s their go-to boy for solid middle-of-the-road pop, as Paul Simon was in the 70s.
December 5th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
A slight correction…”Sara Smile” is from 1975, not 1973. Otherwise, I agree with you Roger, the Hall and Oates nomination is bizarre, especially since they’ve never been Grammy favorites. Regarding the Whitney Houston/Alicia Keys snubs…is it possible there’s suddenly some sort of Clive Davis backlash among the “great minds” of NARAS?
December 5th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Diana Ross has never one a Grammy,enough said these awards stink!She has hit every chart except rap,not even a Special Grammy!
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:59 am
So many things factor into winning Grammys that I think people constantly overlook. Yes, Mariah and Whitney should definitely have won more awards, and Mariah was snubbed a number of times. But in addition to “the music”, the Grammys is also about popularity, politics, and your competition. Beyonce winning 13 solo Grammys with 3 albums doesn’t mean she’s better than Mariah or Whitney. It means that A) she has weaker competition: for this year, in the category Best Female R&B Vocals (her only competition is Jazmine Sullivan), for Pop Vocals (she was up against Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, are we serious?) and Contemporary R&B album, she’s up against T-Pain. B) It had to do with politics: that she sang “At Last” at Obama’s inauguration and then submitted that same song for Best Traditional Vocals was a strategic move, and it paid off. And you’d be silly to think that Kanye West had nothing to do with it. People think that Taylor Swift is the only one to benefit from what happened. Quite the contrary: by calling Taylor Swift up on stage to finish her speech, Beyonce soaked up much of the publicity and constructed a very appealing self-image. It’s all in the marketing. Plus, she can really sing, and “Single Ladies” really took off. It’s a combination of a number of things. It’s different for Mariah. Her “eternally 12″ nonsense, and her diva ways and her lack of punctuality does paint a bad picture of her (even if a lot of them are rumors), and turn people off voting.