Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The 51st Grammy Awards

The Grammy awards are on this Sunday, live from Los Angeles. What is it about the Grammys that compels me to watch year after year? The show always seems overproduced, with a lot of speeches and awards for bands and music that I know nothing about. The live performances are never as good as a regular concert, mostly because the performers are playing for members of the music industry and not the fans. And yet, I still tune in, year after year, to watch the show. It must be my undying love for music.

This year I’m looking forward to seeing Radiohead perform. It will be interesting to see which song they play and how they sound. I’m interested in hearing U2, although I’m sure they will be performing Get on Your Boots, which has yet to grow on me. Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl should be interesting, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy Kid Rock. I’m really interested in seeing Robert Plant and Allison Kraus, as I’ve not seen any live performances from the duo (although I’m sure I could find something on You Tube if I searched for it).

As for nominees, I’m hoping that Adele wins for Chasing Pavement. I know that she may be a one hit wonder, or her career may go the way of Norah Jones (what have we heard from her lately), but I still love that song and hope the best for her. For album of the year, I have no rooting interest. I don’t own any of the five albums nominated and I don’t plan to go and buy them either. I’m sure that the Jonas Brothers will take the best new artist category, but I could have sworn these guys have been around for more than a year.

For Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, I would like to see either Bruce win (for Girls in Their Summer Clothes), or Eddie Vedder (for Rise). You could argue that Bruce isn’t a solo performance, but why bother to argue with the Grammys? They thought Jethro Tull was metal.

Best Rock Performance? I definitely want to see AC/DC take home a Grammy. I know they won’t be there to accept, but I still want to see them get recognition for their amazing work this past year. Best Hard Rock? As much as I love Judas Priest, I want Motley Crue to take this one (for Saints of Los Angeles). Judas Priest can take the best metal Grammy.

Surprisingly, there are four out of five performers I would like to see win the Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Rush, and David Gilmour. I like them all, and I think they are all worthy of the trophy.

Best Rock Album? Give it to the Raconteurs. I love Jack White.

What about you? What are you looking forward to, or not looking forward to? Will you even watch?

For a complete list of nominees, click on the link below.

http://content.grammy.com/grammy_awards/51st_show/list.aspx

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