Grammys 2015

Welp, I had every intention of trying to watch the Grammy Award show whenever it came on, so that I could make snappy, witty comments about the performances and award choices and blather on about how I knew all about that sketchy reggae group before you did.  Buuuut I totally missed any announcement that they would be on last night and have been trying to not waste my time on Facebook recently, so I just spaced it.  Oh well.  Nothing stops me now from looking back on it as a historical artifact I can discuss.

I just read a relatively funny Grantland piece of two people writing their comments as the show unfolded.  My favorite quote was when they were talking about Kanye going up on stage after Beck won for Album of the Year, while a fully-fro'ed Prince stared benevolently on: "I think Prince just telepathically sent Kanye a message like, “No, my child, don’t do it. U R 2 funky 4 this world.” And Kanye actually listened because it came from Prince?"  That is awesome.  Some idiot like RiffRaff needs to start just running up on the stage for every single award to say that Weird Al should have won.  That is the appropriate future of Kanye's legacy.

Anyway, the big winner of the night was Sam Smith, who absolutely deserves all of the accolades. His voice is damn ridiculous.  I'm sure other people have been able to transition so effortlessly between falsetto and full voice, but I can't think of someone who sounds as amazing as Smith while doing it.  "Stay With Me" is a lovely song, even if I was not entirely on board when he was coming to town for ACL 2014.  However, I stand by my prior opinion - his voice is truly revelatory, but it doesn't mean I actually like the music.  Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey had kick ass voices, but I still don't want to break out there old albums today.  I hope Smith keeps making great music and the world adores him for all time, but I don't believe that will actually happen.

Beck's win for Album of the Year obviously makes good sense to me.  Excellent album of beautiful tunes.  A cohesive thing instead of just a good track or two surrounded by filler.  After seeing that he had won, I realized that none of the big year-end reviews had mentioned his album at all.  In the Rock Critic Hive Mind article, it ended up the 32nd best album, and only showed up on 11 lists of the 35 lists he reviewed.  Rolling Stone didn't even mention it.  His album was also significantly less popular than the other four up for this - I think everyone (Kanye included) thought Beyonce would win. Rolling Stone agreed with the Vegas odds last month to say Beyoncé should have won.  Pretty wild for Beck to end up taking the biggest award of the night.  But I'm glad for him.  Love the album.

Other thoughts:

• I have to say I'm glad to see Iggy Azalea get shut out for a Grammy.  "Fancy" was a fun lark of a song, but overall her album was pretty jenky.  Eminem and Kendrick holding down the rap category feels right.
• When will the Grammy people realize that "Record," "Album," and "Song" are weird differentiators in modern times?  No one other than you nerds understands the difference between Record and Album.  
• Then there is an award for "Best Rock Performance," which was awarded to the Jack White album or song Lazaretto.  But Ryan Adams won Best Rock Album of the Year and Paramore's pop "Ain't it Fun" won Rock Song of the Year?  None of that makes sense.  (Also interesting for Ryan Adams to take that award over Black Keys, Beck, and U2).
• Does it seem like "Happy" has been around for years and years and years?  I can't believe that song just came out in 2014.  My brain has been forever altered by having to listen to that chorus so many times.
• Uh, did anyone notice that Tenacious D won the Best Metal Performance?  Do the Grammy people realize that Tenacious D is a joke band created by Jack Black to be silly?  Sadly, I'm less excited now that Beck won a Grammy. Metal must be having a bad year for Spinal Tap's descendant to take the category.
• Old Crow Medicine Show and Chris Thile each took a Grammy, which is cool.
• Do you think Ziggy Marley is kind of tired of winning all of the reggae awards because the voter people have never heard of any other reggae artists?  Does Zig have a Game of Thrones-style Iron Throne made of Grammys in his living room?