What did you think?

Who did you like and dislike?


As for me, after seeing the show, I will probably buy cd's by Green Day and Los Lonely Boys. I thought they were great.

I was glad that Gwen Stefani sang "If I were a rich girl"....now I can play the song at a Bar Mitzvah and it'll be hip.

Queen Latifah surprised me with her excellent Broadway singing style.

Prince, who had one of the best albums of the year, had the good sense to stay away.

Alicia Keys has a lot of talent, but she should relax a little....she doesn't need to oversing every note.

Jennifer Lopez hit every single long note flat. It was painful to listen to and hubby Marc Anthony at one point seemed to wince when he had to adjust his pitch to harmonize with her. The paper this morning thought their stage was designed by Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

And the other day when we were talking about just playing one note, were we talking about U2? The bassist plays one note, the lead guitarist plays one note. They've made a whole career of that. And there were four guys on stage, where were all the string sounds coming from?

I could go on, but it's someone else's turn.

I think Henry Rollins once joked, "I don't understand what it is about U2. These guys have been milking the same bassline since Joshua Tree, and yet millions of people think Bono is god." I didn't watch, except the U2 part which I thought was lame and I changed the channel, so I have no comments on the show.

I didn't watch. I can't stand award shows.

My fiance was watching and I caught the "Across the Universe" cover. I dry-heaved for 10 minutes. What a butcher job, in my opinion.

A good cover was done by Rufus Wainwright for the "I Am Sam" soundtrack.

Fiona Apple did a nice version of "Across The Universe" as well. I had band practice and then I went to a late Mardi Gras party last night, so I avoided watching the Grammys. I asked my g/f to Tivo it though, because I want to see the Led Zeppelin segment. They also added a New York radio legend, Scott Muni, to the "In Memorium" segment. I'd like to see that, too.

I've grown more and more disillusioned with the Grammys over the years. Even though *I Think* I have enough recording credits to be a voting member of the RIAA, I don't even want to bother doing it. I think some people with genuine talent do get some recognition, like Alicia Keys. Even though you think she oversings, Jeremy, I think she's so much better than so much of the pop crap on MTV. She'll grow out of that. But I think the whole event is still a big backslapping session for the promotion and marketing types in the music business, and not an event to honor the musicians, songwriters and producers who work so hard to make something worthwhile.

I quit watching the Grammys over 10 years ago. It doesn't sound like I have missed a thing.

I watched some of it. Fell asleep a couple of times and missed quite a bit. New baby has these effects on me. Anyway caught Green Day and I'll concur with Jeremy on that. I really liked Joss Stone & Melissa Ethridge. And that was about all I saw.

I had the show on while working on the computer..Like Getz..I dont usually watch awards shows ..

I thought Queen Latifah..who I like..was too ghetto ....

Mellissa Ethridge is my new hero..she sang her ass off while undergoing chemo...

I was glad to see Dickey Betts..It was not his greatest performance but he is still one of my favorite musicians...

Pino Palladino with John Mayer was fun but you really could not hear him too good....

Los Lonely Boys where very good....great vocals..they remind me of Los Lobos

I also enjoyed Greenday

JLo was terrible ..but we all knew that anyways...

I did not enjoy U2..dont like them to begin with....

I think Al Schmidt the engineer has 20 grammies under his belt...he won two more last night

I don't get the whole "You're the Best Artist" thing. Haven't we discussed this before? How can you quantify art?

I personally would rather strip down naked and roll around in broken glass than listen to Greenday. However, does that mean they're not good? Album sales have to account for something. People buy things to listen to, right? But why do they get an award over someone like Ben Folds or Ben Harper or etc., etc.?

And Norah Jones is NOT A JAZZ SINGER. That said, I like Norah Jones.

My fiance also told me that they prefaced everything with "contribute to the Tsunami Relief" followed shortly with "we'll put you in jail if you download a song off KaZaa." Can anyone else corraborate? She doesn't pay a lot of attention when she's watching TV.

I got the GreenDay CD for my birthday. Great album. Very mature punk rock (does that make sense?).

Didn't watch the Grammys. I was in the field w/ my Army Reserve unit all weekend. Got home @ 6, showered, ate, and fell asleep on the couch.

"I personally would rather strip down naked and roll around in broken glass than listen to Greenday.."

This sentence has me hoping you're not a Green Day fan..........

In that case you must be an Iggy Pop or GG Allin fan.

I didn't saw your Grammy show but I have to agree with Jeremy's words about Los lonley boys.

They played a couple of songs in Swedish morning tv a month or two ago. They were great! Hope they won something!

A big ditto on that one. It doesn't even have to do with the fact that I can't stand 95% of todays popular music. It all seems to be rolled of the assembly line like New & Improved detergent.

I do like Green Day though, even though their popularity puts me off a bit. I can't blame them
for making a buck.

Nora Jones, yea, she's talented, but way too overexposed. It is nice to see a popular front person that plays an instrument though.

I missed it too (working + set the TV to tape PBS's documentary/history on the early history of slavery in USA).
Sounds like there were some unexpected performances (Dicky Betts?!)...but a comment on theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownasPrince (yeah, that's typed right ), he probably stayed away because he blew the joint out last year & they wouldn't give him the stage this time.

I thought Marc Anthony really sang well; Jlo WAS flat.

I've heard most of Queen L's "jazz album" and it's good. She had the best vocal performance of the nite, IMO.

With Alicia Keys, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm tired of the female R&B nasal sound. She was, however the only one close to being in tune with her Across the Universe segment. (It seemed as if everyone was uncomfortable with the key that this song was performed in.)

The guy that I was blown away by was Usher. This guy IS a real song and dance man.
As I try to stay away from hip-hop (being an old fogey), I had no idea about Usher's talent.

Keith Urban had the best touch on the guitar during the 'southern rock' extravaganza.

Tim McGraw is not nearly the best singer in country music, but he does a good job of selling a song.

Greenday reminded me so much of the Who of my youth. I thought they played really well, but I'm not going to by their CD.

This is the first time in awhile that I've watched most of the Grammys; I was surprized about how entertained I was. Maybe I'm just very easily amused.

I didn't watch either...mainly because we won't get on the tube until at least two weeks after the event.
I'm not a fan of these awards either but I was surprised that Brian Wilson only just won his first grammy.

FYI, It's NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts And Sciences) not RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). You need 6 commercial album credits to be a voting member. And they do a lot more things for the industry and music in general than just giving out Grammy awards.

I stopped watching the Grammys for years because I wasn't terribly interested in it, but have watched the last few. Mostly because at my day job I need to be aware of what's going on in the industry, but also I am a (non-voting) member of the Academy and the parties are pretty good. Good way to network with other musicians and see what's happening in the industry locally where it actually matters.

I thought the show was pretty good on the whole, lots of talent on display whether you like the music or not. While I can't stand that "Yeah" song by Usher, I was impressed by his performance. Man, he can dance, and sings pretty good too. I was entertained, which is really what the show is about. I still enjoy a good live performance, and this show was full of them. I didn't think anyone really sucked or was completely undeserving unlike past shows. Yes, it's industry patting on the back, and to get nominated means having a big hit, blah blah blah. But who cares. I have no illusions about it.

I liked that Ray Charles got so much recognition, and I can't help but wonder if he hadn't died and/or the film hadn't come out last year whether the album would have received so many noms.

I also like the lifetime achievement awards, and how they delve into a little music history. I'd love to see more of that kind of thing so we don't forget those who paved the way.

Yeah, the "Across the Universe" thing was horribly schlocky. But...man, what an interesting diverse group of people singing together. I thought that was kinda cool. I guess I'm really a hippie at heart, you know together we can change the world and stuff.

I like U2, have for years. What's wrong with a one note bass line? :p

My bad. Well, I guess indie records just don't count, eh?

They count if they have physical distribution on a non-consignment basis. There are other levels of membership for people who work in the industry but don't have credits. I don't have enough commercial credits either, so I'm an associate member and can't do the voting thing. Which I really don't care about anyway.

didn't see teh show, but U2 ? i don't get it either.... they do absolutely NOTHING for me... so many poor talented people and these guys just keep raking in the millions...

Many people are not recognized by the Grammies until many years after their most creative period.

It really isn't about who's the best (which is completely subjective), or who's the most popular (which could be strictly decided by record sales or radio play or amount of tickets sold).

It's more about who is friends with whom in the industry and "what have you done for me lately."

But it doesn't really matter.

For the fans, it's a chance to see some live performances on TV and then hear the award winners give thanks to their producers, managers, and marketing guys for getting them there.

And as we see here on the LDL, most musicians just ignore the whole thing anyway.

Jeremy said So why do you watch?

I usually don't, but I was home and there weren't any sports on.

i would watch if they just did a highlight show and played nothing but the music. all of that talking just puts me to sleep. i have seen the los lonely boys when they played with santana on an awards show. i was quite impressed. but i just can't deal with the talking. so i broke out my copy of standing in the shadows of motown and gave that a whirl. i think i had a much better time.

Nobody has mentioned Maroon 5. I enjoyed them, Alicia Keys, Los Loney Boys and Green Day. Lady Bo and I watched the show together and good thing we don't have guns in the house or she would have shot up the TV set when JLo was on, at least Marc is a good singer.

Wally

I missed them this year, but I do try to watch when I can. Not only do I enjoy the live performances, but it also helps we keep up with what is going on in the biz.

As an amateur songwriter, I think it's important to keep an ear out for what is "popular" these days. If there is any way possible, before I die, I would LOVE to have a song I've written covered by someone who sells a lot of CDs.

The only way for me to do that, is to know what is going on in the biz. And another thing I've noted... everyone that I know who is making good money in the music business, watches the Grammys. Therefore... I watch, cause I wanna be like them!

So... I am glad to read the accounts of the show here, since I missed it.

Thanks for the thread Jeremy!

... connie z

I didn't see the Grammys, either... I actually forgot the show was gonna be on TV.

I was tracking, anyway.

The sad thing about all this is; is that this should be like our superbowl, but most of us are so unimpressed or disillusioned by the whole thing that we just ignore it. What does that say about our industry? What does that say about us?

Actually, I think more of us are disillusioned with the telecast of the event than we realize. I think a number of people worthy of recognition do et recognized, but it isn't during the show that CBS broadcast. NARAS was holding events on Saturday that weren't broadcast, including a more signifigant tribute to Led Zeppelin. Additionally, there were also a number of awards given out before the telecast even began. So if you want to blame anyone, blame the producers of the telecast for not showing the true diversity of the Grammys.

Stupid #$@*ing producers.


Peace,

wraub