Why the Grammy's Suck
When someone asked me if I saw Ringo on the Grammys the other night, I replied, "I never watch them." I'd never really discussed it before, I just knew in my guy that the Grammys suck, and pretty much always have.
Then I heard Howard Stern on Sirius discussing the show, and he said, paraphrasing here, that the "show" itself is too much of an ecletic mix that it doesn't really please anyone, and that the "winners" over the years tend to be lousy choices in retrospect. I think he got it right.
And then he pointed to the 1985 Album of Year award as an example: The winner was Lionel Richie for Can't Slow Down, which included the hits "All Night Long" and "Hello". Yawn. The competition was Born in the USA, She's So Unusual, Private Dancer, and Purple Rain. I don't have to name the artists. All of those albums are classics, and even though Richie's LP had a lot of success at the time, and numerous hits, if you said the title Can't Slow Down, I personally, would say "Never heard of it."
But this blog is about the Beatles, and sure, they've won a few, but that's just it. A few. And if memory serves me right, Elvis Presley, arguably the greatest recording star of the 20th century, only won once for a gospel album.
The Beatles only won Album of the Year once, for Sgt. Pepper. They were nominated for Help! (which weird cuz the American version was half instrumental/soundtrack stuff), Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour (also weird cuz it was half a 'Greatest Hits' LP), and Abbey Road, which lost to Blood Sweat and Tears' self-titled album. Remember "Spinning Wheel"? Ugh. I won't go into details of who won the other years. You can look it up on Wikipedia and have a chuckle. Oh, and the fact that "The White Album" didn't even nominated goes to show you....the Grammys suck.
Then I heard Howard Stern on Sirius discussing the show, and he said, paraphrasing here, that the "show" itself is too much of an ecletic mix that it doesn't really please anyone, and that the "winners" over the years tend to be lousy choices in retrospect. I think he got it right.
And then he pointed to the 1985 Album of Year award as an example: The winner was Lionel Richie for Can't Slow Down, which included the hits "All Night Long" and "Hello". Yawn. The competition was Born in the USA, She's So Unusual, Private Dancer, and Purple Rain. I don't have to name the artists. All of those albums are classics, and even though Richie's LP had a lot of success at the time, and numerous hits, if you said the title Can't Slow Down, I personally, would say "Never heard of it."
But this blog is about the Beatles, and sure, they've won a few, but that's just it. A few. And if memory serves me right, Elvis Presley, arguably the greatest recording star of the 20th century, only won once for a gospel album.
The Beatles only won Album of the Year once, for Sgt. Pepper. They were nominated for Help! (which weird cuz the American version was half instrumental/soundtrack stuff), Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour (also weird cuz it was half a 'Greatest Hits' LP), and Abbey Road, which lost to Blood Sweat and Tears' self-titled album. Remember "Spinning Wheel"? Ugh. I won't go into details of who won the other years. You can look it up on Wikipedia and have a chuckle. Oh, and the fact that "The White Album" didn't even nominated goes to show you....the Grammys suck.
posted by John Goins at 7:33 PM
2 Comments:
Hey, I like Blood Sweat and Tears AND Spinning Wheel! Agree with you on the Lionel Richie debacle, though.
I always disliked that ugly big horn sound of BS&T. I'd rather listen to Lionel.
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