The show kicked off with The Greatest Rock Band in History. The performance was not the greatest, but hey I'll never complain about an opportunity to see the boys from Ireland perform, and they do rock. Bono takes off his glasses just to show us he's wearing guyliner. Having worn guyliner before, I have no comment. "Thanks, Walter. Can we get Whitney Houston on the show?"
Whatever Bono asks for, Bono gets. Whitney presents next. Best thing I can say for her: she appeared sober. And trying to stretch her minute on the stage out as loooooong as possible. Jennifer Hudson wins the first Grammy of the night. Great girl and seems to be on a roll with the Super Bowl national anthem and now a Grammy for R&B album of the year. I believe her brother was killed recently, so her acknowledgment of family in heaven was poignant.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson bombed. Not funny and Katy Perry seemed embarrassed to be mentioned by him.
I'm a Justin Timberlake fan, but even he bombs in trying to say something funny here. The crowd seems a little dull.
Al Green is classic and can still sing, Justin does a nice job singing with Al. Casey says, "Al Green makes me smile." We love that song too. Justin advertised Keith Urban and Boys 2 Men would be involved with this number. Keith must be the white guy and B2M the backing vocals. Wow, how B2M have fallen.
Coldplay. Great band. Nice jacket on Chris Martin (if you've seen my new one you'll know why). Jay-Z steps into "Lost" with Chris Martin?! Uh-oh, Coldplay's performance is now the coolest of the night. Chris wore himself there in "Viva la Vida."
Sorry, I've never gotten into Carrie Underwood and tonight is more of the same. Ugly dress and a country song written by a committee. Sugarland just won a Grammy for something. They're a country band that sang a song one time I liked. Best I can do there.
[BTW, DVRs rock. Boys to bed without missing a thing and now I can start skipping the ridiculous commercials anyway]
Song of the Year already? An eclectic choice of songs! All good ones, but it's apples and oranges, really. By the way, the video for that "Chasing Pavements" song is really cool if you've never seen it. Another little tidbit about a song nominee here, I heard Sara say one time that the target of her song "I'm not going to write you a love song cause you ask for it" is not a guy - it was her recording studio who told her that her album needed a love song. Nice one, Sara. "Viva la Vida" wins. More incentive for Joe Satriani to pursue his lawsuit. It's a good song, but not sure I'd call it the song of the year. That album was phenomenal music but just "okay" lyrically. Could have been so much better, oh well. Moving on.
Kid Rock. "Amen." Change really has come to America when white trash is singing about race relations, poverty and war. [FYI, I use the term white trash here in the non-pejorative as used self-referentially by white north Americans with higher socioeconomic status to jokingly describe limitations they sense in their culture] Welcome to the cause, Kid!
Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana!!!!!! OMFG!!!!!!
Taylor kicks Hannah's ass. Pop Collaboration is yet another difficult choice, but the right one is made here. I heard that song only once or twice ever, but I loved it.
Jennifer Hudson is singing. I hope she doesn't make me cry (I'm only on my 2nd beer, I should be okay). Oh no, she's singing "You Pull me Through" - I am verklempt...
Thankfully I now have the Jonas Brothers to drain all emotion from me. Soulless Disney, I ain't feelin' it. The parts where they aren't singing and only the band and Stevie Wonder are playing are okay, as long as I'm not actually looking at three 15-year old, home-schooled white bread boys.
Rock Album Grammy always throws me. I never know what they mean by "rock." Coldplay wins over Metallica, see what I mean?
Katy "bicurious" Perry performs. She's come a long way since her christian artist days, that's all I can say about that. Don't bother kissing a girl on stage, Katy, you'll never top Madonna and Britney a few years ago.
10-time Grammy winner Kanye West? I thought he was always angry that he never wins? Kanye's hair is totally Lionel Richie from the "Hello" video, dude! Well, not curled but that same shape. Not his best work, but I like Kanye. Best New Artist Grammy? Anyone but Jonas Brothers, please... Yeah! Good song, I don't know if her other stuff is good.
Does Morgan Freeman have a fake arm? Miming Michael Jackson? He's friends with Kenny Chesney?! WTF?! I never knew Morgan was gay... I kid! Just because he's friends with a gay guy doesn't make Morgan gay. About 10 years ago Kenny won me over with a song about his grandpa, I give him grace since then.
Record of the Year already? I like spreading these big Grammys throughout like this. Same song that won Song of the Year, right? So it won for the song writers earlier and now the performers and producers. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus are 2 great artists so I guess you can't go wrong there.
The next performance is a great example of something that sounded great in planning but wow what a mess on stage. Don't get me wrong, I love a pregnant rapper as much as the next person, but wow. Kanye, Jay-Z, et al. At least I just realized that MIA's song is on the Slumdog soundtrack.
Paul McCartney takes Kurt Cobain's spot in front of Dave Grohl. Can't be worse than what we just saw. Note to Bono, stop singing before age 66.
Pop Male Vocal. "Say" by John Mayer. Excellent choice.
I'm reminded what I liked about Sugarland, this is that song I couldn't remember earlier, nice song and emotion for "Stay." Hey, the last song was only one letter different. Say now Stay. Wild.
That "Chasing Pavements" song is good. That's one of the funny things about the Grammys. I heard this song a lot a long time ago, haven't heard it in a long time, now I've heard it 3 times tonight.
Radiohead and the USC marching band. Awe. Some. (I wonder what Thom has against wireless mics?)
TI and Justin Timberlake. We kinda like TI around here, the boys are fans of "Whatever You Like" (radio edit, people, please). Ooh, soon as I said that, TI got censored by the live delay. Believe it or not, the song has a positive message and is really good.
Neil Portnow. Every year this guy gets up there and wastes our time. This year he tops that by trying to ride on Barack Obama's coattails. What a douche.
Four Tops' music. 50 years from now, a botoxed Kanye West will be reliving his glory days. Out of respect for that possibility, I don't fast forward.
Josh Groban introduces Neil Diamond. I'd rather hear Josh. Will Ferrell will always be Neil Diamond to me ("my heart and my ass hurt!"). I had a friend who sang "Sweet Caroline" at every karaoke opportunity, and did a great job actually. The crowd acts like they're at karaoke.
RIP, Eddie Arnold. Isaac Hayes died? What did South Park do with Chef?
I really, really like John Mayer. He has respect for music and plays new stuff that sounds like old stuff.
Lil Wayne and Robin "Alan" Thicke. Interesting experiment: will the combination bring up Thicke's cool more than it drags down Wayne's? I believe the result cancels each other out. It's not cool and it doesn't suck. The New Orleans stuff (Terence Blanchard) is cool. I was in New Orleans less than a year before Katrina, and I'd love to go back.
You know Will.i.am wasn't going to NOT mention Obama. Rap Album Grammy to Lil Wayne. How'd he beat the Godfather Jay-Z? Congrats, Lil.
[an aside regarding the new Pepsi commercial, they stole Obama's campaign symbol and now his songwriter?]
Alison and Robert Plant finally perform live for us. I remember Alison Kraus from her bluegrass circuit days in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. I first heard her live when she opened for Garth Brooks in about 1993. She looks better every year. Alison Buttons?
Album of the Year, the biggie. With so much love tonight, it's no surprise that it's "Raising Sand" by Robert Plant and Alison Kraus. I clearly need to listen to this album.
Well, that's it. I think the best performances were all in the 1st half. I didn't get that memorable performance we sometimes have at the Grammys, but a good music show nonetheless. We close the show with Stevie Wonder by himself singing his newest song "All About the Love Again." So on a night to celebrate the best musical art of 2008, we leave with this:
What if someone made a soda
That caused everyone to love each other
Good night!
10 comments:
In my opinion music (along with most art) is so subjective that awards for the best songs (especially when crossing genres) is a bit silly. Kid Rock vs. Allison Krausse vs. Coldplay? Really?
I agree that the Coldplay/Jay-Z combo was the the best of the evening - I watched it a few extra times. Ever since seeing Aerosmith and Run DMC in the 80s (and more recently Elton John with Eminem), I absolutely love rap/rock combos.
I've become a Jay-Z fan, after years of apathy.
It drove me crazy when the Jonas Bros. were cheering on Stevie Wonder, like he was their backup vocalist (go on, Stevie!). Stevie Wonder was making records before their parents were born.
Have to disagree with you on the Swagger song. I thought preggo MIA was pretty impressive, and I'm a sucker for rap compilations (one of my favorites groups as a kid was N.W.A.). I have a love-eyeroll relationship with Kanye, and I thought he was pretty good this time (minus the sculpted hair).
I also have to say that I'm an unabashed Paul McCartney the Genius fan, so no matter what it actually might look or sound like I always think he's incredible.
We sang along and danced to Sweet Caroline, I admit it. Most fun song of the night, with extra cheese.
Great rundown, DVD. We watched on DVR too. It's just best that way.
I thought the best moment was Jennifer Hudson You Pulled Me Through. It was her mother, brother and nephew who were all brutally murdered. Pretty severe tragedy to return from with such grace.
I'll completely agree on the best performance being Cold Play and Jay-Z, but Jay-Z has become clearly more comfortable in a $$$ Suit or Tux than he is in "street" wear. Still a great performance.
I also enjoyed Swagga Like Us. I thought they did a good job performing together although I was terribly confused by MIA's outfit.
Also, I feel like a music genius because when the Allison Krauss & Robert Plant album came out a year ago, I downloaded the three big singles. Brilliant!
Oh yeah. I forgot to say how disturbing the Jonas Brothers/Stevie Wonder performance was. I kept worrying that one of the brothers was going to smack Stevie in the head with a guitar. It was so painfully obvious that they have little or no talent, especially vocal, when they tried to follow Stevie on a line. It was embarrassing for pre-teen girls everywhere. I remember a day when talent mattered before a girl would crush on a musician. Okay. Not really. Talent matters not at all, but still. The Grammys? Just glad they didn't win.
I loved the Swagga song myself. Although the Cold Play Jay-Z performance was probably the best. I love the bell and Chris Martin can really throw himself into a song.
As for Morgan Freeman, I believe he is still recovering from the horrific car accident and has either lost his hand or lost the use of the hand. I didn't understand the first stanza of Kenny "voice of an angel" Chesney, so I fast forwarded.
Katy Perry's song was fun. I had never really listened to the lyrics as I'm more of a beat guy.
I liked the Taylor Swift/Miley song. But then I'm a sucker for teenage girl music (that was close glad I typed music at the end there). I would have liked to see Taylor knock Miley off the stool and then break the guitar over her head a la the Rock. Not from the girl fight viewpoint, just from the total destruction of Hannah Montana. I'm tired of seeing her all over the papes.
I also liked the tribute to the 4 tops. That was fun.
This year's awards did seem short on the talent for some reason. I also thought the crowd was very bla. I thought J. Timberlake and Dwayne Johnson were good at what they did, yet the crowd seemed to miss the point.
One final note, Kid Rock's line where race relations have me feeling guilty I'm white, is possibly one of the most . . . I don't know . . . interesting moments.
OH and Robin Thicke scares me. I can't figure him out. Laurie adequately stated that he looks like he got lost on his way home from Wall Street and is trying to fit in with the Hip Hop crowd. That New Orleans piece was good, but probably only because of my affinity for NOLA.
USC Marching Trojans (insert joke here) nicely played with Radiohead. That band still freaks me out, although they are good.
This has obviously been just a rehashing of my thoughts. My overall thought though is that I love music and love the Grammy's. What a great concert.
Forgot to mention two things:
(1) nice Neil Diamond douche reference. He is a karaoke version of himself now. Out of all his songs, he sang that one? I like the song, don't get me wrong, but still.
(2) I loved the guitar quartet. I'm a sucker for BB King as well.
I'm enjoying everyone's comments! I just needed to step in quickly to clarify that I called Neil Portnow a douche (and my use of that word is a bit of an inside joke, I don't really call people that) and I would never call Neil Diamond that! For some reason that Neil Portnow really gets under my skin every freakin year!
We fastforwarded through Neil so I don't know if he was kind of "douchey" (or is it douchie?).
Also, I almost forgot! I thought I misunderstood Kanye when he said the New Artist of the Year had been won by Newhart, or I at least thought there must be another Newhart. Nope. Sure enough, 1960 Bob freakin' Newhart won the Best New Artist Grammy. He also won Album of the Year that year. Weird, right? Has a comedian won in recent history??
The only part that I saw was the radiohead song, and that was on youtube this morning. I love radiohead, and love almost everything they have ever done. I thought it ROCKED! I might go back and check some of the others out, too. Although as far as weird collaborations, I have been listening to the Chris Martin/ Kanye one lately, pretty cool.
Your comedian comment reminded me that there was a lack of George Carlin footage (he got about 7 seconds at the beginning of the 'died in '08' montage).
I know it's primarily a music show, but the genius of Carlin should have received special recognition. I guess I assumed he won some spoken word grammies (grammys?)over the years. Maybe not.
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