A Glance at the Grammy Awards

     Well, the week has come and gone…with it goes the dust storm surrounding this past week’s Grammy ceremony. Was all the hoopla and controversy lived up through the show itself? Probably not, but this years Grammy’s did prove to be one of the best all around shows that they have aired in quite some time.

     The Grammy’s were created to award great musicians for their accomplishments over the past year. Over the last few years, however, the Grammy’s have become, and continue to become, a ceremony to show people what the critics think you should be listening to. Let’s be honest with ourselves people, the duo of Steely Dan has been around for a whopping 30 years, and never received one single Grammy. Yet, when the time came to give the "Album of the Year" award…they won. This probably wouldn’t have been the case had the man that outsold every album created this year had lyrics more along the lines of N’Sync. Unfortunately for Eminem, his lyrics aren’t popular with the critics and a few American’s out there. So, instead of giving the award to the man that deserved it...they gave it to someone whom no one had any previous knowledge of. I wouldn’t have been mad had Radiohead won, or even Beck…but it is very well known that the award belonged to Eminem. But because the Grammy heads are too afraid to back up an artists right to speech, and don’t have the balls to stand up for themselves against a group of naysayers. They give the coveted award to a duo that they pulled out of their ass. What makes this situation even more disturbing is that I can guarantee you that we will never here of "Steely Dan" again after this ceremony. And people wonder why the Grammy’s are loosing their audience. Its very simple, the music of today’s world (Eminem and others) is changing and evolving, while the Grammy’s want to remain P.C. Soon, that very "playing it safe" method is going to bite the music industry in the ass.

     Now with that out of the way, let me talk about the rest of the show. I think its pretty safe to say that Jon Stewart will NEVER host any award show ever again. Man, did that guy blow hard. I haven’t felt that put off by anyone since a drunken night at the club. His timing was severely off, making the jokes that could’ve been funny get nothing more than a chuckle. Every commercial break, he would fail to look at the cameras to see if he was back on and would get caught on live television saying some of the dumbest things known to man. Mr. Stewart, I must act as your father. You are banished back to the Comedy Channel, never to return again.

     The performances on this show were pretty good overall. In fact, there are only two performances that really stick out as not belonging on the show whatsoever. Luckily for me, Temptation Island was on during those few weak performances...so I was able to flip back and forth and not have to sit through the entire pain. I was impressed by Blue Man Group/Jill Scott/Moby tandem…but those damn blue guys get a little redundant after seeing them more than once. The Madonna performance to open the show was cool, but lacking a lot. It was just there, nothing to write home about and I’m not quite sure what the hell Bow-Wow was doing there. I guess Madonna’s one of his fans also. N’Sync did some nice harmonizing on the show, with a nice use of contrasting colors…weird. Don’t know what zoo those guys go to kill the animals for their clothes. My personal favorite performances go to Destiny’s Child and Eminem and Elton John. Destiny’s Child, more like Beyonce, made me want to reach into my pocket and pull out several twenty-dollar bills at their gyrating on stage. I just wonder what the hell Kelly was thinking when she went out their with that f’d up wig on. She’s already not pleasing on the eye, and now…ugh. What’s funny to me is how the media is going to react. Destiny’s Child was in far less clothes than Britney was at the MTV music awards…but how many people are going to say anything to them. Did you say Zero? Good guess.

     Eminem and Elton John’s performance was intense thanks to Eminem’s building rage throughout the performance. You could tell he was actually feeling what he was saying. Though I appreciate John’s singing on the hook, it still doesn’t compare to Dido’s. For some odd reason Elton pronounced every freaking word phonetically…a little irritating. BUT, he pulls the performance up a lot with the piano accompaniment. Hearing that disturbing story over a piano cord=chilling.

     Last, there’s the thing that matters the least in the Grammy’s nowadays. The actual Grammy’s. As you already know, Steely Dan was given the Album of the year, but it was Eminem and U2 that ran the night with 3 Grammy’s a piece. (Best Rap Solo, Duo, and Album & Rock Duo, Song, and Record of the year respectively). Best Alternative album went to Radiohead, r&b album to D’angelo, country album went to the beautiful Faith Hill, while the pop album award went to those pesky unknown Steely Dan folks (Maybe the Gyeah.com staff should drop and album that no one heard of, and get some Grammy nom’s too.). You can find the complete list of winners and other news from the Grammy’s here. People suspiciously missing from winning any award would have to be N’Sync, Beck, and Madonna.

     Overall, the Grammy’s was a decent show. Far better than its previous showing, but that’s not a lot to go on. It probably would’ve been even better had the show not been overhyped, and had the rightful winner of the Album of the Year been rewarded. You can all guess who won’t be watching the Grammy’s next year…Temptation Island 2...here I come.

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