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Grammys

I am too out of it to know what should have been nominated, much less what should have won, but didn't the Grammys seem even more out of it than usual this year?

I guess Chance the Rapper was a good call, although New Artist of the Year can be a death sentence. I am a pretty big David Bowie fan, but I would not have thought Blackstar was an award winner as rock song of the year and was not an alternative album at all. Of course, I remember when Jethro Tull won best metal album of the year.

I like Adele, too. But I do not think "25" was her best work. Kind of a retread for the most part. On the other hand, I like Beyoncé and Rhianna, too, but they seem way over-exposed, on multiple levels.

Not to be completely curmudgeonly, performance-wise, I am liking Bruno Mars more and more. Adele, too, for that matter. Daft Punk and The Weekend seem great together. I like The WE most when he does not seem to be channeling MJ, but he sure can sing.
 
I like Bruno Mars because he knows his musical history. As far as Rap, I was on board with the OG's and do enjoy many of the post modern interpretations that have evolved, although not my favorite pop genre.
 
I rarely follow this sideshow. The Grammy's long ago became just a little too artsy or whatever. I thought the call to acknowledge David Bowie was great. But about ten years too late.

I felt they were trying to honour the man and his career and since Blackstar had just came out last year, well, why not? See what I mean? Did they really think the album(geezer alert, I just said album) was creatively that good or was it just more like the guy died and we really should have been paying attention to one of the most, if not the most influential singles artist of the last half century? I don't know, I just wish the guy would have seen some of this...before he died. The rest of it? I couldn't tell you who any of them are for the most part.
 
I'll be "completely curmudgeonly" so that Rob doesn't have to! I am completely turned off by most of today's pop culture and those who create and purvey it. Don't listen to any Top 40 radio. YMMV.
 
Had not thought about it that way but Mars sure does seem to know his musical history. Rap or hip up is not my favorite genre either, and I probably would not be able to pick out a Chance the Rapper cut. But my understanding is that he is pretty much as a pulled up by his own bootstraps kind of guy and hugely popular. First time award of a Grammy to work released only as streaming. I dislike awards that are strictly extensions of corporate record company publicity machines and I am afraid the Grammys are most often close to that, and that is how they so often get things terribly wrong!

A Taste of Honey won best new artist over Elvis Costello, The Cars, and Toto in 1979! Boogie, oogie, oogie!

Grammy's generally do better with categories like best record of the year, where they just pick the most popular one. Easy to nit pick, I suppose. I am not saying I could do better.
 
The Grammy's introduced me to Amy Winehouse, whose voice and style I found absolutely divine. I admit I have most of her and Bette Midler's stuff. I check in to break out of my bubble. If I miss it. I miss it.
 
<Did they really think the album(geezer alert, I just said album)>
Ha, "geezer alert," for sure, because that is what the Grammys call them. And "record," of course.

Exactly my point about Bowie. I do not think this award had much to do with quality and everything to do with not giving Bowie much in the past, and his dying this year. Death is always a good career move, I suppose. But still, I am not impressed with feeling guilty awards.

Is there still top 40 radio? I think there has always been terrible popular music and excellent popular music, and there is now. As to pop culture, I suppose The Weekend's/Daft Punks "Starboy"--which I think is truly excellent--kind of sums it up, and it ain't pretty. "We don't pray for love, we just pray for cars" among other thoughts.
 
I agree with all comments about "too little too late" regarding Bowie... but I also wanted to say that I think Blackstar is the best record he made in a long time - a masterpiece.
 
Of those artists mentioned so far relative to this years show, Bowie may be the only one i could identify with any certainty upon hearing. I stopped listening to commercial radio altogether in the early 90's. I did buy ten cd's last week as music is still a major deal for me.

dave
 
I wanted to follow up on me and Rob's comments vis a vis Bowie, Top40 etc. To me, there really is no such thing as Top 40 anymore. It is all mishmashed up and you have 'country' artists rapping and Darius Rucker(Hootie and the Blowfish) singing on the country stations. It is odd because much of what you hear on country oldie stations was played exclusively on rock stations when I was a kid. Jimmy Buffet, most Gordon Lightfoot, Eagles, etc. It is just plain odd.

One of the most interesting points I heard made on this was by a vlogger. He said(and I believe this for the most part) that commercial music is mostly written by less than ten people and produced much the same way. I can tell you that to my old ears there most certainly is a familiarity of all these songs to one another.

When I am in the car with my daughter I cannot recognise ninety percent of the artists(and I use that term loosely). Let alone tell one from the other apart. All music, just not within a genre, sounds much the same and is largely hideous. I just get tired of media hyping artists who cannot play an instrument, choreograph their live show, write songs, etc. They need to look up Freddy Mercury on the web and take some notes.

I know I went a bit OT here but it kind of fits. No one gets excited by the Grammy's anymore because...well, because.

PS. I watched End of the Line by The Travelling Wilburys the other day. I suggest this to young'ins who think they are watching artists these days. I believe that group would have went on to be a major player if Roy Orbison hadn't passed away. It wasn't the same after that first album. I know it was a fun collaboration thing but the melding of that talent. Man, I hadn't seen the like in years.
 
It was very telling that the British twit who hosted made fun of Sturgill Simpson in his opening bit. Simpson has more actual musical talent than anyone else who performed, except for Gary Clark Jr. and the old bluesman.
 
That British twit would be James Cordon, who I would be willing to forgive a whole lot given the knowledgeable intense love for music he has demonstrated repeatedly on his late night show! I suppose I have to admit that I am not that familiar with Mr. Simpson either, but as I admitted early I am, unforgivably perhaps, well out of it. And that "old bluesman" would be William Bell, co-writer with Booker T. Jones, of "Born Under a Bad Sign" for Albert King. If I were in his presence, I think I would "clutch his hem." <g> Blues royalty. I have not been a big fan of Gary Clark, Jr., because he does not seem all that innovative or even especially great at anything. But he did a heck of a job at the Grammys, sort of channeling an amalgam of Albert King and Eric Clapton. Tasteful to an extreme. Again, to me, there is excellent music and crappy music always in whatever era.
 
I was happy that Roy and Croy won best gospel bluegrass album.
Are these the same folks as Joey and Rory in the category renamed "Roots Gospel"? What a heartrending story. Another example showing there is excellent music, including songwriting, out there these days.

<commercial music is mostly written by less than ten people and produced much the same way>
I would be interested in hearing more about this. It has a ring of truth, but looking over, say, the nominees for song of the year, which as I recall goes to the songwriters and recording production folks, not the artist, it does not look to be so. Also, it seems to me that more than ever artists are also songwriters, and it is even so that many started as songwriters: Sia, Lady Gaga, Meaghan Trainor (sp?) come immediately to mind, along with Rory of Joey and Rory even. I would hazard a guess, that as been true over many decades, that the same session musicians show up on record after record. Often that has been a very closed shop for reasons I do not completely understand. It was true in England, too, going way back. I imagine that the Scandinavian song writing factories are still at it. I agree with Richard Thompson that they have produced some really good stuff, but they do come out with a lot!

It is interesting how each decade seems to have particular sounds. There is an awful lot from the 80s that is immediately recognizable as from the decade. 90s, too, I would say.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member

Well, we are now officially "old and crotchety" and want that so-called-music off our lawn.

"What the kids are listening to is lousy music played by no-talent hacks. It was better in my day."
--Me, today.
--My dad, back in 1987
--His dad, back in 1962
--HIS dad, back in 1938
 
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