(UPDATE: I received nearly 500 angry e-mails from some folks in Sweden who made note of the fact that Raising Sand went platinum here in the U.S., which thereby means that somebody must have heard of it. Pardon my ignorance. And fuck you, Sweden.)
(Now back to the rest of the post, as it originally aired.)
I want to love the Grammys. I really do. But they perpetually give me reasons to pull a Chris Brown and smack a bitch.
I guess I should now mention that I will not be wasting an entire post discussing the Chris Brown/Rihanna smackdown. Quite frankly, there's nothing I can say or speculate that could be more sensational and flat out awesome as the actual truth. I mean, ask yourself: what the fuck could Rihanna have said to this dude that would've made him say, "Damn. I've gotta punch this bitch."
Back to the Grammys. They suck. The end.
I say this because for the second straight year, music's biggest award ceremony handed their top prize (Album of the Year) to an album that barely made a dent, if at all, on the public conscious in 2008. To put it simply, no one fucking heard Raising Sand.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "But Anonymous Blogger, just because something isn't popular doesn't mean it can't be good."
And you'd be absolutely right. But this is still complete and utter bullshit. You know why? Because if something really was good enough to be considered the surefire best album of 2008, wouldn't more people be aware of it? I'm not saying it has to sell 3 million copies. I'm saying, someone has to actually be aware of its existence.
Last year, Herbie Hancock's Album of the Year-winning record River: The Joni Letters had peaked at an eye-popping, jaw-dropping #118 on the Billboard 200 charts before its Grammy success. Do you realize how pathetic #118 on the Billboard 200 charts is? Fuck, I could put out an album that could peak that high. And I'm pretty sure my album would suck more ass than Fox News trying to cover an NAACP convention.
It seems like nearly year in and year out, the Grammys find some way of ignoring the quality mainstream records out there, and instead dish out trophies to albums that have had no impact on music that year. What's odd is that the Album of the Year category this year featured four albums from four "mainstream" artists, that were all of a solid quality in their own respective rights.
Coldplay's Viva La Vida was a tremendous critical and commercial success, spawning one of the defining songs of the year, "Viva La Vida". Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III was the biggest seller of the year, and was as sonically diverse as any hip hop record released in the past few years. Radiohead's In Rainbows will forever be remembered for both its quality and the innovative marketing techniques employed by the band in selling it. And then there's Ne-Yo's Year of The Gentleman, which not only sold well but also received rave reviews as a strong mesh of classic pop and modern R&B.
On the other hand, the one redeeming quality of the Grammys is the awesomeness of the performances. The Grammys have a habit of bringing together artists who you never could have imagined sharing the same stage together. I mean, a couple of years ago you had Jay-Z, Linkin Park, and Paul McCartney performing a song. I remember that night. I haven't been able to wear those jeans ever again.
This year, we had Jay-Z hooking up with Coldplay. Justin Timberlake and Al Green. U2 and Bono. Lil Wayne and a live band. And my personal favorite: the goddamn Jonas Brothers....and Stevie Wonder.
I love the Grammys.
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