To be honest, I’ve been very hesitant about whether I should write this post or not, because from its very inception, it is intended to be a “nagging” post and nothing more. I mean, it’s the Grammys, they’re supposed to suck, but why suck so much…?!
- People got there in their fanciest of clothes for the occasion. Red carpets, pre-telecast ceremony, all that and then some and got at the Staples Center to celebrate music. Music, as to pop songs. Pop songs, as to circa 2014…
- Right off the bat, the royal couple of today's R&B pop takes the stage to starstruck everyone in the room, imposing on Flashdance, cabaret style… The tiniest hopes we had for an at least entertaining show went out the window.
- The super-flexible Pink did acrobatics. Who doesn’t want to watch acrobatics during a show concerning popular music (or plainly “music” as they kept calling it, like the Grammy-approved one is the only music that matters)? Maybe her song would have been more impressive if she juggled through it, or performed next to a tamed lion perhaps?
- The two most important stars in the building were probably Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, who no one should be badmouthing, but only because they were Beatles once. That is a fact some of us truly do respect, but often it makes one wonder if they do respect their own selves on that level too.
- Then you get a decent performance from rap badass Kendrick Lamar and commercial rock meat and potatoes Imagine Dragons, totally spoiled by the cameras cutting to Taylor Swift dancing around in the audience like a monkey.
- Just about when all became ridiculously unbearable, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder got on stage absolutely killing it, and again they keep showing the celebrity audience’s puppet-like dancing. It’s Daft Punk’s second TV performance ever, Rodgers and Stevie Wonder are there and they choose to cut to the royal celeb couple once more to show how much of a great time they’re having!
- Then Metallica and Lang Lang’s performance was supposed to be a life changing experience. Obviously it was a bit of a mess.
- 33 couples, both straight and gay, got married by… Queen Latifah, live on national TV, over the sound of Madonna’s vocals singing “open your heart to me”. The floors were drenched in wet mascara from the overwhelmed celebrities who witnessed the holy ceremony and got their own hearts opened.
- Please, leave Lou Reed out of this…
- …and let those who passed in 2013 rest in peace. Most of them have won Grammys and have been part of shows like this, but it is safe to say that it had been a much different experience for Phil Everly gaining a nomination at the first awards in 1958, than it is for the artists now. There was so much more talent gathered in that photo slideshow of the deceased ones, than in the livestock of the whole arena together multiplied times ten.
- Alicia Keyes got a bit confused presenting an award, and mentioned John LEGEND, when she meant to say John LENNON. Sigh.
- Awards like best metal performance or best comedy album, or many many other interesting categories were just pre-show material, and weren’t part the televised show at all, not even mentioned!
- Finally! Nine Inch Nails got on stage joined by Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and Lindsay Buckingham to play some damn REAL MUSIC for a change, and right there they’re showing ads over the performance! Literally, they brutally cut off the performance three times to show ads while the band was still playing! Witness the brutality for yourselves…
Trent’s response on Twitter was immediate and quite deserving…
On a positive note, popular electro pop act Daft Punk were much enjoyable, not only at their performance, but during the ceremony as well, how sharp they looked in their tuxedos with the helmets on and how persistently those guys stayed in character, not speaking a single word during their winning acceptances.
According to the novelty saying, “Haters gonna hate”, so just let us hate, it's for the right reasons. D//E loves music, breathes in it, and mad people like like us have spent fortunes on it over the years, but about most of those people, we don’t care much. Tied on the top spot with the Oscars, this is the world’s most expensive facade, yet there seem to be people out there who still give a bit of a damn about it.
We watched to feed the hatred, and unsurprisingly, we succeeded in doing so.
The Grammys’ official site
What our best music of the year sounded like, and see, we have a couple of Grammy nominees in there as well…
ZR