Matthew Ritchie, Assistant Arts Editor
It’s safe to say that the Grammys, that annual music award ceremony that happens in Los Angeles, may be the most confusing and angering night of trophies in show business. The Oscars are at least generally predictable (Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King swept in 1997 and 2004). The Teen Choice Awards also fit nicely in the predictable category (vampire films and crush-worthy blonde singers).
This year’s Grammys might actually have been the worst awards show to be televised in popular memory. The problem begins with how nominees are chosen.
Let’s start with the worst. The Best New Artist Category may be the most Willy Wonka-esque category of all. One of the problems with this year’s award show was the lack of Lady Gaga in this category. Her hit singles “Disco Stick” and “Poker Face” dominated the Billboard top 100 this year. She also had the honour of performing on Saturday Night Live. However, Lady Gaga was ineligible to belong in the category this year.
In an interview with Spin Magazine, Bill Freimuth, the Recording Academy’s Vice President of Awards, said, “One of the rules for the Best New Artist category is that this is supposed to be the first year that an artist comes to prominence. Lady Gaga was nominated for a Grammy last year (“Just Dance”, Best Dance Recording), and that, as far as we’re concerned, signifies prominence. If you have a previous Grammy nomination, you’re not eligible to be a new artist anymore.”
This sentiment seems to make sense.
However, his logic completely backtracks with the inclusion of MGMT in the Best New Artist Category. Although never previously receiving a nomination, their presence in the category is a little baffling. Freimuth argues their inclusion was based on their prominence with a single released in 2009.
“(MGMT) achieved the nomination based on a single (“Kids”) that was released this year. Some of the rules about nominations are hard and fast and some of them are a little more subjective,” he told Spin. “Like we were talking about with Lady Gaga, ‘comes to prominence’ is a subjective phrase. What constitutes prominence?”
What indeed.
Although waxing philosophical about Grammy nominations and categorizations may be fun, the argument can still be made that when MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular came out in 2007 their single “Kids” became a hit in non-mainstream circles in North America and England (which is evident at their performances in Glastonbury and Coachella) and graced the cover of Spin in November 2008.
Another error in categorizations occurs with American rock band Wilco. According to Freimuth, labels or members of the academy enter artists into given sections. This year Wilco was entered into the Americana section for their album Wilco (The Album). The band lost, but that isn’t the problem with this categorization.
In 2008, Wilco were put into the Best Rock Album category for their 2007 album Sky Blue Sky. The weird part is that Wilco’s most recent album contained more typical rock songs and less Americana traits, while Sky Blue Sky had a more traditional Americana or folk tinge to the songs. It is almost as if Wilco was categorized in a Bizarro universe.
The Grammy awards are also chosen by fellow musicians or members of the record industry as opposed to fans in an attempt to limit awards based on a popularity contest. However, it would seem that the Grammys are nothing more than a popularity contest; they promote musical sell-outs.
The winner in this year’s rock album category was Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown, an album that lacked creativity and tried to promote a rebellious image by ripping off a Banksy-style graffiti piece as its cover. Pitchfork described the album as “pompous and dumb,” giving it a 4.8 rating out of 10. Spin gave the album three stars out of five and described it as “terribly comfortable” for an apparently radical recording, as promoted by their record label.
In 2009, the album of the year award went to Robert Plant and Allison Krauss for Raising Sand, a stunning album with production by T Bone Burnett that was mostly overlooked in the eyes of critics. At the 52nd-annual Grammy Awards, Phoenix’s Wolfgang, Amadeus, Phoenix won for Best Alternative Music Album.
Overall, the Grammys lacked any form of strong content. Instead, it gave even more fuel to the fire for critics.
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