The Grammys

I know that it has now been about a week since the airing of the Grammy Award presentations but I am not just getting around to pounding out my thoughts about this.

This year marked the 50th Anniversary of the program. 50 years is nothing to sneeze at and typically I enjoy watching the show but this year just seemed to suck. I realize that with this being the landmark anniversary that they wanted to try and cover a good share of things that have been done in the past as a form of nostalgia but this year was just a bit off the keel.

For the most part I felt that the musical representation during the show was hardly a fair representation of the market. There were 3 or 4 R &B performances, 1 Rock, 1 Country, 1 Classical Piano...and Tina Turner. Given the fact that the music industry is so much more diverse than any of us could really know, it just seemed like such a crappy fraction that they gave to us to watch.

I also understand that this show is all about marketing. I understand that a large majority of the viewing audience probably has been sucked into thinking that Beyonce, Kanye West and Alicia Keys are the only legitimate voices on the airways. COME ON THOUGH!!!!! I think that it's sad when late night talk show host seem to poke fun at the idea of someone like Herbie Hancock actually winning the Album Of The Year award. Jazz has it's place an apparently not many sheeple can recognize that.

It was also quite a phenomenon to see Tina Turner up there on stage still trying to shake her money maker. I'm sorry but I felt like I wanted some sort of a rebate or something after watching that. It is only getting increasingly irritating for music and television personalities continually trying to re-invent themselves. How can they continually ride on the heels of their previous fame?

The biggest quagmire of the evening was, of course, Amy Winehouse. She was able to work a deal to perform from London instead of having to come to the States because of her current stint in rehab. How to people like her even get into the industry to begin with? Sure, I think that some of her music is fun to listen to. It has a retro sort of sound, but from a marketing point of view how can a record company invest in such a liability as her?

And I was most amused by the fact that she was able to perform on both the level of her music and the level of looking shocked after winning her award. Is it so shocking that she would win after being in the media so much? And what also about the question that I have concerning celebrities with cooky personalities? They seem to be able to perform really well and have it all together but then whenever they have to speak to the public in any sort of way they just sound socially defunct. Amy Winehouse is the current subject at hand but others like Harrison Ford and Russell Crowe also come to mind.

Anyways, now that the 50th anniversary is over with I hope to see things get a little more back to normal next year.