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The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards just announced their nominees. As usual, most of them are god-awful to mediocre artists who happen to sell a ton of records, which apparently is part of the Grammys’ criteria for judging what’s good and what’s not.
This year, there isn’t a single album or song nominated for Best Album or Best Record that deserves the recognition. (Some might argue for Kings of Leon, but—when it comes to the quality of their output—the band has been on a steady downward arc since its promising debut EP Holy Roller Novacaine. The main problem along the way? They bought into their own hard-partying-rock-star hype, lost sight of the music and ended up caricatures of themselves—a mere shell of what they might’ve been.)
When—as is the case with this year’s big-category nominees—Lady GaGa is artistic the pinnacle of your options, you’ve got a problem.
But I suppose I’m preaching to the choir with most of you Paste readers. By now, you know not to expect too much from the Grammys. Of course, there are the occasional bright spots. And that’s what the list below is all about. We’ve gone through every Grammy category, spotlighting all the artists who actually deserved a nod—even if it was occasionally in the wrong category. (Wilco—Americana? Neko Case—Contemporary Folk? Hi-larious.)
SONG OF THE YEAR
• Single Ladies - Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé) – I don’t exactly consider Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” to be one of the best songs of the year, but it’s certainly one of the year’s best pop songs—danceable and catchy as can be, the tune even has something worthwhile to say.
BEST NEW ARTIST
• MGMT
• Silversun Pickups (A little late for “new artist,” considering they had two top 10 Billboard Modern Rock singles on their 2006 debut—but, hey, who’s counting?)
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You do know that now that you've mentioned it, the worst possible musicians will win, right?
Such is fate. I would like nothing more than to tune in on grammyday and see Kid Cudi or Yeah Yeah Yeahs give their acceptance speeches.
And also,(INSERT WELL-WRITTEN REBUTTAL ABOUT THE QUALITY OF KINGS OF LEON'S MUSIC, SANS THE LAST ALBUM, WHICH DID MOSTLY SUCK, HERE)
why no mention of jars of clay? they are always stuck in the christian category but are by far the most creative and musically refreshing group that exists in that world...
their new album again blew away all the other carbon copy cutouts in that category.
and imogen heap's the fire isn't that impressive...is that category really that lacking? or are you just picking that because it's imogen heap?
I am predicting a huge night for Taylor Swift. This seems to have been a Taylor Swift heavy awards season. They could do worse than giving her a bunch of awards, they could give them to that Lady Gaga person or *shudder* the Black Eyed Peas. By the way, how is Taylor Swift nominated for the same music in pop and country categories?
Lady Gaga is talented. Get over it.
What happened to the Jazz categories??
Shut the HELL UP with your whining about Kings Of leon, Paste!!! I'm sick and damn TIRED of it!!! Stop giving them so much crap for being successful! You think that because the sound has changed, they must have sold out and the only reason they're making this music is to get more famous. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I can say that I have truly enjoyed every album Kings Of Leon has ever released, and that this record is just as good as any of their others. They didn't set out to be these "saviors of rock", and it's YOUR fault for calling them that. And now you're disappointed because they didn't make the perfectly Paste-approved KOL album that would save rock? Get over yourselves. Kings Of Leon is going to conquer the world, and I'm happy for them. If the new music actually sucked, I think you would have more of an argument.
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Well, I’m preaching to the choir with most of you Paste readers. By now, you know not to expect too much from the Grammys, anyways thanx for posting.
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