Why I Hate The Grammys

Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Sting and others Perform Bob Marley Tribute at Grammys

The choice of LL Cool J as host (again) this year is a bit pandering. Legit enough to appeal to the Hip Hop community yet safe enough to relate to the white, over 30s crowd, the choice of LL is a compromise designed to appeal to the largest audience segment. Never mind that he's not particularly well spoken or appealing as a host.

But the real problem with The Grammys is the transient nature of Pop music and the incredible lack of foresight by voting members. The awards are too often given out to yesterday's big thing who will soon be tomorrow's forgotten footnote. Because of this this, the trophys are  rendered irrelevant before they are even given out, leaving many music aficianados scratching their heads in wonder.

Last night, Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" took Record Of The Year honors. 6 months ago this would have made a bit more sense but the short shelf life of the song makes it already one nobody wants to hear anymore this year, if ever again. In 6 more months Gotye will be as relevant as A Taste Of Honey, who were once voted Best New Artist (beating out Elvis Costello) just before stepping into permanent obscurity. Oops.

Competing Record Of The Year nominee "We Are Young" by Fun. is similarly played out and way past it's due date. Not to be inconsistent, The Grammy's awarded Fun. with 2013 Song Of The Year accolades for the aforementioned, even though it was released in September of 2011 and has been bombarding the airwaves ever since. Most people who are familiar with Fun. already remember back when they were hot. Ah nostalgia.

To illustrate the point further, here are some Grammy nominees from 10 years ago. How many songs do you recognize? Of those, how many would you ever want to hear again?

"Everyday" - Bon Jovi
"Girl All The Bad Guys Want" - Bowling for Soup
"Where Are You Going" - Dave Matthews Band
"Girlfriend" - *NSYNC
"Complicated" - Avril Lavigne
"Overprotected" - Britney Spears
"It's So Easy" - Sheryl Crow & Don Henley
"Days Go By"- Dirty Vegas
"How You Remind Me" - Nickelback

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Current trendy darlings Mumford And Sons DID deserve their Album Of The Year Grammy but it should have been in the Country or Folk category. Their music is about as Pop/Rock as Flatt & Scruggs or The Soggy Bottom Boys. This another example of Grammy members being swayed by what is currently trending as opposed to what is more likely to stand the test of time. The current revival of bucolic folk is destined to have the same fate as the Swing revival of the early 2000s. Remember Big Bad Voodoo Daddy?

Even more glaring are the staggering omissions of great songs and artists that were completely ignored. This year the sweeping epic, "Titanium" by Sia was overlooked as was music by Owl City, Neon Trees, Christina Perri, WALK THE MOON, Ellie Goulding and others.

The Grammys would do well to take a hint from The Academy Awards. Increase the number of nominees in each category and focus on those that are likely to have some staying power verses quickly evaporating flashes in the pan.


Los Angeles DJ
Orange County DJ