Grammy notes of interest

Cracked brings us the 7 Most Unforgivable Grammy Snubs, and I have to say that I agree with each and every one of them. Er, in that they’re egregious snubs – not that I agree with the snubs themselves.

However, it looks like the Grammy Awards are going for some serious novelty team-ups that will draw people in to watch what is (as demonstrated above) a mostly out-of-touch group of old folks voting for safe, boring music. I guess the Eminem / Elton John performance worked so well that it seems that’s pretty much all they’re doing this year.

It seems that the Grammy people really don’t seem to understand much about what makes stuff work. When you have Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Dave Grohl performing a tribute to Joe Strummer, that makes sense. Those are all folks who were influenced by Joe Strummer, and whose music is somewhat connected to his legacy. Eminem, who at the time of his performance with Elton John, was under fire for homophobic lyrics. Getting onstage with perhaps the most famous gay icon alive does a lot towards proving some points. Madonna and Gorillaz? With Gorillaz essentially doing the same thing they’d done earlier that year at the MTV Europe Awards? Pointless.

This year seems to be a lot of stunt casting. While I somewhat understand Foo Fighters playing with a symphony on a version of “The Pretender,” and can almost justify having John Paul Jones as a guest conductor, Carrie Underwood, Mary J. Blige and Aretha Franklin as part of a gospel tribute just seems like trying to pander to three generations and two social groups at once. John Fogerty, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard will perform in a unique “Cornerstones of Rock” segment that seems like an attempt to flog a dead horse. Why didn’t they do this last year when Fogerty was on Lewis’ Last Man Standing album? It just doesn’t make any sense to me, dammit. Still… much as it pains me, seeing Rihanna perform with the motherfucking Time sounds pretty damned cool.

What?! I’m not made out of stone…

Morris Day & the Time – “Jungle Love