2009 Grammy Awards Live Blog

As we said in our Grammy Predictions, we have a love/hate relationship with the Grammys.  But hey, we love music, so we're watching to see what happens. Could be a big year for Lil Wayne (did you see his interview with "Miss" Katie Couric?). Could be a controversial night if Coldplay's alleged Joe Satriani rip-off grabs some hardware ("Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and Satriani's "If I Could Fly"). But plenty of great artists are nominated (M.I.A., Allison Krauss/Robert Plant, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley, Daft Punk, Brazilian Girls....we could go on), so as always, it'll be worth watching, especially for the performances. Unlike the Oscars, where the show is pretty much all about the host, the Grammys are all about those live performances (remember when Beyonce stole the show with Prince back in 2004?). Hang with us and add to the conversation in the comments!

11:30 (Josh and Nick): Goodnight, all. Thanks for sticking with us. I think we were 25-for-35 in our predictions, which almost makes up for our technical difficulties.

11:28 (Josh) Isn't this that old guy that was singing back-up for The Jonas Brothers? I'm still waiting for Stevie Wonder to get the Rick Rubin, strip-the-cheesy-keys-away treatment on a new record.

11:28 (Nick) Show closes with a Stevie Wonder solo shot which has to be payback for getting him to sing with the Jonas Brothers. (hat tip: Herrema)

11:25 (Nick) Alison Krauss finally speaks - appears she was waiting for the ultimate achievement for this album - which still seems like a one-off even with all the acclaim. Why bother with another one?

11:25 (Josh) Thirty-one Grammys. What do you even do with those statues. Robert Plant: "In the old days, we would have called this selling out, but I think it's a good way to spend a Sunday." Nice. Congrats to T Bone Burnett, "the conjurer." And a Buddy Miller shout-out.

11:24 (Nick) Album of the Year goes to Plant & Krauss in a huge upset!

11:23 Album of the Year

The Nominees:
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
Year Of The Gentleman - Ne-Yo
Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
In Rainbows - Radiohead

Who will win: Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Coldplay and Radiohead will split the rock vote. And the Grammys love them some Alison Krauss. We do too, but...

Who should win: In Rainbows - Radiohead
The buzz was more about how the music was delivered than the music itself. But as Brian Howe said in our review of the album, "It would be easy to forget that there’s music involved in all these commercial ramifications if In Rainbows weren’t such a powerful album, where Radiohead’s cool-headed marketing strategy is paralleled by cool-headed songs. Not only is this Radiohead’s most straightforward, organic-sounding album since The Bends, it finds the band shedding the bulk of its trademark anxiety while remaining indomitably themselves."

Who really should win: In Rainbows - Radiohead
Sure, She & Him's Volume One was our album of the year, but if the Grammys actually pick In Rainbows (which was actually a late 2007 album), we'll go ahead and say they got this one right.

11:22 (Nick) Now out to end the Album of the Year suspense is Green Day - a band who appears to have a long career left ahead of them. Who'd have predicted that?

11:18 (Nick) Paste album of the year winner She & Him gets a shoutout - Blind Boys get screentime for their Lifetime Achievement Award all leading into Zooey's intro of Plant & Krauss. Very Pasteful moment of the show. With T-Bone playing guitar to boot.

11:18 (Josh) Ben Gibbard's girlfriend Zooey Deschanel gets to introduce Robert Plant and Alison "30 Grammy Trophies" Krauss. Paste assistant editor Rachael Maddux just saw Zooey and Ben together at a coffee shop in Portland.

11:18 (Josh) The Blind Boys of Alabama are looking mighty dapper.

11:09 (Nick) T-Pain and Will.i.am out to deliver best Hip Hop Album - should be a slam dunk for Lil Wayne with comp. from T.I. - winner is Lil Wayne tho' - and he could follow this with Album of the Year. Makes me think not given where they placed it in the show. Does anyone know in advance besides the accountants?

11:07 (Nick) Now Terence Blanchard blowing his trumpet with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band with Lil Wayne conducting the festivities....

11:05 (Nick) Took away the football and basketball teams and all they got left to represent is Weezy? Um, last I checked the Saints and the Hornets are still going strong in Nawlins.

11:03 (Nick) Lil Wayne keeps the fire going for NoLa with former Paste cover boy Allen Touissant....

10:56 (Nick) Keith Urban in his 2nd guitar stint of the night joings BB King, Buddy Guy and John Mayer, that guy you always forget is a pretty damn good guitarist.

10:47 (Nick) Neil D - a man from another era, truly

10:40 (Nick) Smokey looks a little too good if you know what I mean. I'd like to put him next to Kenny Rogers.

10:39 (Nick) Ne-Yo and Jamie joining Smokey and the last remaining 4 Top - not bad. I'm still sort of in disbelief that Jamie Foxx is that good.

10:41 (Josh): Sorry for the site hiccup. Not sure what happened there.

10:40 (Nick) Smokey looks a little too good if you know what I mean. I'd like to put him next to Kenny Rogers.

10:39 (Nick) Ne-Yo and Jamie joining Smokey and the last remaining 4 Top - not bad. I'm still sort of in disbelief that Jamie Foxx is that good.

10:34 (Josh) I forgot Obama was a Grammy winner.

10:34 (Nick) And here comes Portnow....I bet he finally stops yelling at downloaders this year. What's the point?

10:33 (Josh) It's these cross-genre collaborations that make the Grammys feel at all like an event. And T.I./Justin Timberlake doesn't seem like a stretch. Now, Stevie with the Jonas Brothers, that's so wrong it's not a cliche.

10:31 (Nick) Are these white/black collaborations reaching cliche level? I mean, after Run-DMC with Aerosmith....

10:23 (Nick) Or as my IM buddy Rob said: "this is the best thing that the USC marching band has done since backing up Fleetwood Mac on Tusk."

10:22 (Nick) And damn! if Radiohead can't even make an American college marching band sound almost avant garde. Impressive.

10:19 (Nick) So Gwyneth HAD to give a little "but you're still OK" wink to hubby Chris Martin of Coldplay after calling Radiohead "utterly brilliant."

10:19 (Josh) Alison Krauss is up to 30 Grammys. OK, now I'm going to enjoy Radiohead with a marching band(!).

10:15 (Josh) By my math, we're 18 out of 26 in awards announced before 8pm. We're 5 out of 7 during the show. That's 23 out of 33. That's a .697 batting average! Not bad.

10:13 (Nick) She sang like 2 lines. It could have been less of a collaboration and still be called "together."

10:12 (Josh) Well, Jennifer is singing with her. I guess that counts.

10:11 (Nick) So "together" means "consecutively"?

10:07 (Josh) Sugarland + Adele. This is what makes the Grammys fun to me.

10:06 (Nick) John Mayer's a freaking Grammy magnet like Alison Krauss.

10:06 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

9:58 (Nick) Wow, the Grammys got Sir Paul to agree to a Beatles hit and no new solo song. So Adele is going to sing with Sugarland? Do they just draw names out of a hat backstage?

9:56 (Nick) Grohl of course decided to do drums with Sir Paul thinking to himself "I can kick Ringo's ass and drum circles around his head."

9:55 (Nick) I remember when we all first got to know Evangeline Lilly (Kate on LOST) people called her Fake Kate Beckinsale.

9:51 (Nick) The black & white filter, the ostentatiously preggers M.I.A. - it's hard to even notice the song!

9:50 (Nick) Lil Wayne, T.I., Kanye and Jay-Z. Clash of the Egos!  I wonder how much rehearsal time was spent balancing the number of syllables each rapper got.

9:49 (Josh) A very pregnant Mia... I love it! She looks great, but I want to hear the whole song. Nice call on the black and white camera for the "rap pack."

9:46 (Nick) Wow, that Timberlake, Green, Boys II Men Keith Urban Let's Stay TOgether was the last minute replacemnet for Chris Brown. Plant/Krauss at 4 total including pre-show, Colplay at 3, Lil Wayne at 3.

9:42 (Nick) The power of the greatest living producer - T Bone Burnett, made evident again.

9:42 (Josh) And our streak comes to an end. Congrats to Robert & Alison. And T Bone gets to speak! I love that guy. I didn't realize that was a Jimmy Page co-write.

9:41 Record of the Year

The Nominees:
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"Viva La Vida" - Coldplay
"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis
"Paper Planes" - M.I.A
"Please Read The Letter" - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Who will win: "Viva La Vida" - Coldplay
The industry needs Coldplay to become the next U2 as much as the NBA needs LeBron James to become the next Michael Jordan. And with the help of Brian Eno (and, some would argue, Joe Satriani), this one fills the arena.

Who should win: "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
Released back in August 2007, M.I.A.'s most infectious track was the song of 2008 thanks to M.I.A.'s astounding performances on the festival circuit and films like Pineapple Express and Slumdog Millionaire.

Who really should win: "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend
All the indie hype in the world wasn't enough to get these boat-shoe-wearin' kids any sort of attention from Grammy land. The obvious solution: give Stereogum a vote.

9:39 Some highlights from the pre-show awards...

Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva la Vida (we predicted Coldplay)

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Rich Woman" (we predicted Plant/Krauss)

Song of the Year: Coldplay, "Viva la Vida" (we predicted Coldplay)

Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group: Sugarland, "Stay" (we predicted Sugarland)

Best Rock Song: Bruce Springsteen, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" (we predicted Bruce Springsteen)

Best Hard Rock Performance: The Mars Volta, "Wax Simulacra"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire" (we predicted Kings of Leon, but we were really hoping we were wrong)

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: John Mayer "Gravity" (we predicted John Mayer)

Best Alternative Music Album: Radiohead, In Rainbows (we predicted Death Cab For Cutie, but we're not sure why we didn't predict Radiohead)

Best Pop Vocal Album: Duffy, Rockferry (we predicted James Taylor, but we wanted Duffy)

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Coldplay, "Viva la Vida" (we predicted Coldplay)

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, "Chasing Pavements" (we predicted Katy Perry and are so glad we were wrong.)

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am, "Be OK" (we predicted Janelle Monae, and she was robbed.)

Best Rap Song: Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major, "Lollipop" (D. Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer and R. Zamor, songwriters) (we predicted Lil Wayne)

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle Featuring Kanye West, "American Boy"

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Jay-Z and T.I. Featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne, "Swagga Like Us" (we predicted "Swagga Like Us")

Best Rap Solo Performance: Lil Wayne, "A Milli" (we predicted Lil Wayne)

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Natalie Cole, Still Unforgettable (we predicted Josh Groban)

Best Country Album: George Strait, Troubadour (we predicted George Strait)

Best Country Song: Sugarland, "Stay" (Jennifer Nettles, songwriter) (we predicted Sugarland)

Best Country Instrumental Performance: Brad Paisley, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner, "Cluster Pluck" (we predicted "Is This America?")

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Killing the Blues" (we predicted Plant/Krauss)

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: Brad Paisley, "Letter to Me" (we predicted Brad Paisley)

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Carrie Underwood, "Last Name" (we predicted Carrie Underwood)

Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (we predicted Plant/Krauss)

Best Electronic/Dance Album: Daft Punk, Alive 2007 (we predicted Daft Punk)

Best Dance Recording: Daft Punk, "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (we predicted Madonna, but we wanted Daft Punk)

Best Comedy Album: George Carlin, It's Bad For Ya (we predicted George Carlin)

9:37 My friend Rob just asked me what Chesney & Morgan Freeman do together as "friends" - rum shots on the beach?

9:35 (Nick) I'll go with Tupac. Death hasn't seemed to keep him from releasing records so I don't see why he wouldn't be on the Grammys.

9:32 (Nick) and who is most pissed about not being included in the "hip hop summit"?

9:32 (Nick) So - lil wayne, jay z, TI, kanye west - too many chiefs? Isn't T.I. due in jail by now? I've never seen anybody do more after getting nailed for a felony gun rap.

9:31 (Nick) "Chasing Pavements" - now that's a song. I count this as an upset.

9:31 (Josh) Paste is on fire! 5 for 5. I'm glad a pop singer who's not a stick figure can win something like Best New Artist.

9:30 Best New Artist

The Nominees:
Adele
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

Who will win: Adele
If 14-year-old girls could vote, the Jonas Brothers would win in a landslide. But Adele is heavily nominated, and this could be her big win.

Who should win: Adele
It's hard to imagine her losing this category.

Who really should win: Bon Iver
It could certainly be argued that Justin Vernon's "public identity" has yet to be established, but it's tough to argue against his quietly lovely music.

9:30 (Josh): I don't think he was kidding.

9:29 (Nick) Kanye has reached a new place in his life: he can make fun of himself.

9:26 (Josh) Well, I feel pretty confident that nobody's lip-synching tonight. Quite a few folks have been a touch off. Still Estelle and Kanye sound good together.

9:25 (Josh) I wish that were true, but she's already got another one with "Hot n Cold."

9:24 (Nick) Katy Perry: One. Hit. Wonder.

9:17 (Josh) And without having checked the early returns, Paste is a perfect 4-for-4.

9:16 (Nick) It's offically Coldplay's Big Night. Song & Rock album makes a pretty good start—for a "limestone" band (Chris Martin talking about not being the hardest of rock bands).

9:16 Best Rock Album

The Nominees:
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
Rock N Roll Jesus - Kid Rock
Only By The Night - Kings Of Leon
Death Magnetic - Metallica
Consolers Of The Lonely - The Raconteurs

Who will win: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
Chris Martin's legs are going to be TI-ERD.

Who should win: Consolers Of The Lonely - The Raconteurs
What seemed like a side-project has matured into one of the great bands of the '00s.

Who really should win: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Merely calling this Seattle band’s debut “pastoral,” eliminates countless opportunities for fun with psycho-topography: Opener “Sun It Rises” shimmers like a silvery mountain lake, “Oliver James” howls up from a glorious harmonic canyon, and “Meadowlarks” best embodies the romantic rolling knolls Fleet Foxes’ sound is most associated with.

9:15 (Josh): Blink-182 is back together? I had no idea they broke up.

9:13 (Josh): I'm now following The Grammys on Twitter

9:10 (Nick) Why would anyone see a need to run a Vocoder over Stevie's voice? Do you even think he can remember the names of these kids they've run him out there with?

9:09 (Nick) Jason Mraz, who recently visited us in the Paste studio, is getting a little bigger—SNL last week and now a presenter at the Grammys.

9:01 (Nick) Power of American Idol is on display tonight: Jennifer Hudson & Carrie Underwood. Did Taylor Swift come from that show, too? Anyway, Jennifer Hudson: Now has a Grammy to go with her Oscar. That on the heels of American Idol. She's on quite a roll.

8:59 (Josh): Plant/Krauss win. Go T Bone. Paste is 3-for-3.

8:58 (NIck) In retrospect, does the Plant/Krauss combo sorta seem like Grammy bait?

8:58 Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals 

8:56 (Nick) Wonder if Taylor Swift knows that about Miley? Think she was suffering through it?

8:54 (Josh): I like Taylor Swift as much as I don't like Miley. Taylor's got a beautiful voice, writes wonderful songs and doesn't star in a terrible Disney show. Oh and she doesn't over-sing. Easy there, Hannah.

8:53 (Nick) Taylor Swift, who I don't get, with Miley. I'll leave this one to you Josh, o father of preteen daughter.

8:48: Ok, so Radiohead, Coldplay and U2 in one show? Just missing R.E.M.

8:47 (Josh): The sound is lousy tonight. And that's not just a dig at Kid Rock.

8:46 (Nick): Maybe I don't run in the right circles but it seems like I only see or hear of Kid Rock anymore on awards shows. Not surprising to hear him doing Skynyrd, though.

8:43 (Nick): OK, that was WEIRD. First thing was acknowledging a ripoff....of the Beatles Sgt. Peppers outfits? Awwwkward.

8:42 (Nick): Let the controversy begin! Coldplay wins with what might be a ripped off melody.

8:43 (Josh): 2 for 2.

8:41 (Nick): Duffy and her one song deserves to stand on the Grammy stage and sing with the Reverend Al Green?

8:41 Song of the Year

The Nominees:
"American Boy" - William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)
"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
"Viva La Vida" - Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)

Who will win: "Viva La Vida" - Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin
"American Boy" will pull enough votes away from "Chasing Pavements" to make it a good night for Coldplay.

Who should win: "Chasing Pavements" - Adele Adkins & Eg White
This is how you do an old-school, soulful torch song. 

Who really should win: "Sincerely, Jane" - Janelle Monae
We're thrilled that the up-and-coming Janelle Monae was nominated for a Grammy, even if it was in a commercial-break category ("Best Urban/Alternative Performance"). But she deserves to run with the big dogs.

8:40 (Nick) My Grammy buddy...a tall glass of Flying Dog Double IPA (11.5% ABV).

8:37 (Josh): My Grammy buddy... a tall glass of Gulden Draak.

8:35 (Nick): Kristian totally keeps it together. Jennifer Nettles....not so much... thank you Paul McCartney??

8:34 (Josh): That's the first one we tried to predict. We got it right both on what should and would win. I'm so glad Kristian Bush isn't wearing a cowboy hat.

8:34 (Nick): My old friend Kristian Bush made it to the top. Wow. He told us he would do this.

8:33 Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

The Nominees:
"God Must Be Busy" - Brooks & Dunn
"Love Don't Live Here" - Lady Antebellum
"Every Day" - Rascal Flatts
"Blue Side Of The Mountain" - The SteelDrivers
"Stay" - Sugarland

Who will win: "Stay" - Sugarland
While Brooks & Dunn's "God Must Be Busy" is equally depressing and beautiful, Sugarland took a bigger risk with "Stay," a sympathetic song about adultery.

Who should win: "Stay" - Sugarland
The Sugarland song we'd have picked was "Already Gone," though.

Who really should win: "Perfect Timing" - Drive-by Truckers
Johnny Cash once said, "A country singer with a brief case ain't no country singer." And our bet is that Mike Cooley ain't got no brief case. The DBT singer/guitarist hops in his big rig and does donuts around the country mainstream, lyrically, all the while penning one of the catchiest, most downhome self-examinations in any genre this year.

8:32 (Nick) Brenda Lee - nice shoutout to a true Georgia Legend!

8:31 (Josh): I think she's just oozing Nashville.

8:29 (Nick): Carrie Underwood wouldn't look, sing or dance any different if she was designed by ratings & sales-seeking alien robots. I think she has some kind of shiny oil on her legs.

8:23 (Nick): Jay-Z comes out and take a Chris Martin solo in an entirely...um....different direction.

8:21 (Josh): U2 and Coldplay. They've really front-loaded the fire-power tonight. And let me just say now that whatever you think of Coldplay (or their silly military outfits), "Lost" is a great song.

8:21 (Nick) Coldplay. Hmmm. I have such mixed feelings about this band right now. But boy that Chris Martin has a voice.

8:16 (Nick): Shortly we'll find out if Paste hometown-heroes Sugarland win their first Grammy after about a million various country music this or that awards.

8:16 (Josh): Taylor Swift and Mylie Cyrus. My kids are going to eat that up with a plastic spoon.

8:15 (Josh): I'm actually surprised at how Timberlake is hanging. But man, Al Green's still got it.

8:14 (Nick) But I'm still not sure Timberlake's voice really holds up - Green is wiping the floor with him.

8:11 (Nick): Timberlake has really established himself as a serious pop artist...now on with quite a lineup - Boyz II Men, Al Green.....and Keith Urban?

8:09 (Josh): I hope someone at least offered to write his intro. That was ugly. GReat Artists Making Music... Yes? Ouch.

8:08 (Nick): Not sure what note The Rock is trying to hit here...odd.

8:07 (Nick): Jennifer Hudson rebounds big time off personal tragedy and beats an album of Motown covers? Wow.

8:06 (Josh): You've got to hand it to Clive for sticking around the business as it tanks. He sure doesn't have to. And Jennifer Hudson forgot to take her bib off.

8:04 (Nick): Talk about "reapplying for membership" - does Whitney have another lap or two in the tank? Kinda hope so.

8:00 (Josh): Well there's a nice beginning. Super Bowl got Bruce. Grammys have U2. And Bono's got really short hair. The song is "Get On Your Boots" from the upcoming No Line on the Horizon.

7:59 (Josh): Hi everybody. Paste editor Josh Jackson and publisher Nick Purdy here.