GRAMMY Nominations Reaction

So the Grammy Nominations were this week.

I am not impressed.

I've decided that the Recording Academy is really no expert of any kind because if it was, it wouldn't have nominated about half of the things it did.

Okay, that's probably not fair. I actually can't speak with any authority on most of the categories. Really the only place I feel like my opinion has any weight to it is in the "Album Of The Year" category. So let's talk about that.

The nominees: "21" by Adele, "Loud" by Rihanna, "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, "Wasting Light" by Foo Fighters, and "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" by Bruno Mars.

The way I see it, two of these deserve the nod: "21" and "Born This Way". "21" was musically and sonically amazing, and Adele puts more energy and soul into her songs than anybody else. "Born This Way" is a thematic and artistic masterpiece. I would have nominated these two albums, and I applaud the Academy for those picks.

But that's it. The rest of these have no business being anywhere near the podium. "Wasting Light" is good, not great. Very little diversity of sound and seemingly rote songwriting make it more a collection of decent songs than an album. "Loud" (aside from not being released this year, another gripe with the Grammys) had two hits and bunch of mediocre filler songs. Two hits does not a Grammy make. "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" (also from 2010) had one hit. None of these albums had any musical or thematic flow, and what sonic diversity there was was misplaced.

I've decided that instead of griping about the nominees that we do have, I'm going to talk about the nominees we should have had. Here are some albums/artists that I think deserve mention:

1) Foster The People. "Torches" might be the best album released this year. At least, it's in my top five. There are no bad songs. Period. Mark Foster is a songwriting genius. The entire album is produced beautifully. The album artwork is fantastic. The music blends pop and rock into a new* breed to alternative, a breed which will be growing in the future. The fact that "Torches" received one nomination and Kanye received seven is criminal, and it shows a fundamental immaturity amongst the Academy.

2) Blind Pilot. Okay, I didn't really think they'd get a Grammy nomination. But wouldn't it be nice? "We Are The Tide" is another great album from this year, and speaking musically I think it is the most impressive. It's relatively easy to layer electronic sounds over each other to make a pop song. It is comparatively difficult to to the same with acoustic (and at times archaic) instruments. Blind Pilot did it with near perfection this year, and I think they deserve big-stage credit.

3) Arctic Monkeys. Yeah, yeah, they aren't about to be big-time Grammy nominees either. But "Suck It And See" was a really good album from every angle. The lyrics were insightful and enjoyable, bordering on funny. The music was well-written, not too complicated but interesting. The sound was recognizable but mature. Arctic Monkeys are a great band that released their best album yet, an album that was easily better than half of the year's AOTY nominees.

4) Joe Bonamassa. I think my measuring stick for when the Grammys have their shit together will be when they nominate Joe Bonamassa. He is (in my somewhat knowledgeable opinion) one of the best guitarists alive today. He released his NINTH (he's 34, that's a lot) studio album "Dust Bowl" this year. He consistently sells out mid-sized venues around the world. His band (ahem... SUPERGROUP) Black Country Communion released it's second album this year as well, and he also released a collaboration with Beth Hart. Three albums in one year on top of a touring schedule. They guy is a machine, and I will not put any stock in the Grammys unless and until they give him a nod.

Okay... That's most of what I want to talk about. I do know for a fact that there are good albums that have been released or that are soon to be released that are not eligible for these Grammys. Which makes me a little mad. I understand that you need time to decide everything, but I still think it's stupid to disallow pretty much a quarter of the year's releases (the cutoff is September 30) from the year's awards. It's also stupid to allow albums from last year compete against albums from this year. "Loud" and "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" were from 2010. They shouldn't be invading the 2011 awards (or any awards, they are not good albums).

I think I'm going to do my own awards show at the end of the year. It will include albums from 2011. I will decide what categories to include, but I'm thinking there will just be a few (Best Album, Best Song, Best Album Art, Best Lyrics, etc.). I will also probably have "Worst Album" and "Most Disappointing Album" categories. I feel like that's an equally important aspect of music that the Grammys fail to recognize.

Alright, that's everything I have... sorry again for being such a fail with videos. Let me know if you have anything to say about/contribute to my thoughts and I'll be happy to try to work them into a future post/video.

If you are reading this sentence, you are a fantastic person and I love you.


*It's newish, not new. Phoenix and MGMT do the same thing.