Overrated: The Grammys

Despite being accused of having what some may call a cynical view of many celebrations that take place from time to time on this earth, I generally enjoy award shows.  I like the jokes, the montages, the awkward moments when a presenter has had too much to drink or a winner just rambles on and on while most of the audience wishes they had the Sandman to clear the stage.  This love, however, does not extend to the king of the fraudulent award shows:  The Grammys.

This year's Grammys were admittedly better than years past.  Not only did Daft Punk take album of year (also my pick) but Taylor Swift was completely shut out.  The mass wedding ceremony was done very well, even if it did get a little awkward toward the end when Madonna came out wearing a massive white cowboy hat that was crying out to be relevant again.

But, nope, still gonna hate on the Grammys.  Why?  Because every year without fail, no Industry leading award ceremony kowtows more to the will of record sales and perceived self importance than the Grammys.  Whether it be Steely Dan taking home album of the year in 2001 or everytime Taylor Swift has ever won, no award ceremony is so manipulated by the industry it celebrates while somehow still managing to be so aloof.

Maybe I wouldn't mind it so much from the AMAs or the People's Choice awards, but the Grammys are meant to be the cream of the crop, they legitimize excellence within the realm of music.  It shouldn't just be about who sells the most records while also being the least controversial.

Case-in-point came in the in the Rap Album category when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took the award for "The Heist".  Macklemore had a big year.  A viral smash with "Thrift Shop", being a the forefront of a social issue that many in the artistic community feel very strongly about (see: mass wedding ceremony).  The mega-hit album itself was beloved by many, including the overwhelming majority of the people watching from home, but it was also nearly universally passed over by critics in favor of Kendrick Lamar's debut, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City".  Kendrick had the critical appeal but he didn't have the masses or the soapbox.  What makes it worse, is even before the show, everyone KNEW Macklemore and Ryan Lewis would win, and with Kendrick being a black man, a "Does Grammy want Macklemore to win because it is rap that white moms in suburbia aren't afraid of?" Quasi-controversy already existed before Macklemore even won the award.

One of the most headscratching - yet typical - Grammy moments came in the Best Rock Album category, when Led Zeppelin won for it's live album "Celebration Day".  Led Zeppelin's place atop Rock n' Roll's Mount Olympus is beyond reproach, but a live album from 2007 featuring songs from the 1970s was really the best artistic and technical acheivement in rock music this year?  Really!?

The Grammys LOVE the safe and the popular.  Even in the face of logic.  Trying to please the masses trumps all else, and even though there may have been a few twitterites that watched the telecast in spite of living under a soundproof rock all summer, last night was no exception.

Oh yeah, and the cutting off of the final performance was total bullshit.

U2 as the Official Soundtrack for the World Cup

Once ever four years, you will hear a U2 song in every other commercial on ESPN.

Bono being white people's ambassador to Africa.

The World Cup is back and so is Bono and is ramblings about world unity and peace through "the beautiful game".  I love the World Cup.  It is always exciting even if you don't really care who wins.  And I like U2.  They sound great live and they're still pretty cool after all these years.

But enough!

I know there is more to music outside of the U.S. than U2.  Who died and made them the representatives for all things international?

Listen, I know we're just a country of a bunch of stupid, soccer (football) hating, xenophobes but you think maybe we can handle it if they played something other than U2 in these commercials, or maybe even (gasp) music from the host country of South Africa?  Just a thought.

U2 I love you, but being up all in every World Cup Commercial on this side of the atlantic is a little overrated.

Thundersticks

I've talked about this before.  But I feel it merits revisiting.

There are certain things that have no place at sporting events.  Beachballs, whistles, children under six, the wave, and thundersticks among them.

Thundersticks got their start in the NBA and College b-ball world.  Popping up behind the backboards to try and distract shooters.  I guess I'm cool with that, seeing as how they are used as a tool of mayhem and their use is directly related to the game.  

Image taken from one of the 81 seasonal Gay Pride rallies at Angels Stadium of Anaheim.

But then, something awful happened.  Thundersticks began to appear all over arenas and used as nothing more than a substitute for clapping so that fans may not sting their dainty palms.

I personally blame Angels fans for the appearance of thundersticks in baseball.  I don't remember ever seeing them anywhere else before I first saw them used by the consummately superficial fans of LA.  Part of me is shocked that they would risk destroying their nose jobs by waving long tube like objects in front of their own faces, but then they probably have lots of experience with that.

It is understandable I guess.  Without the thundersticks Angel fans might actually need to exert some real energy to cheer on their team.  Or they could break a nail and those manicures ain't cheap (even if they are oh so relaxing).  I've said it and I say it 'til they go away: be a man, clap your hands.

Thundersticks, you are supremely Overrated.