Every awards show I happen to inadvertently tune in to (I never deliberately set out to watch them) demonstrates the juggernaut that big corporate interests have on our entertainment industry. Even with the Internet and its exposure of so many genres of so many talented musical acts, these awards continue to feature the same predictable artists, with a sprinkle of "great newcomers" worked in. The Grammy Awards show last Sunday evening was no exception. Not that I don't think that acts like Pink, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift are talented; it's just that the genres presented are much too narrow. The Grammies, which back in the 1960s attempted to span the range of music, have now reduced themselves to the lowest common denominator in defining the art, at least as far as their televised awards show is concerned. Besides cursory nods to country music, the only act that I saw on it that interested me was the alternative rock band Kings of Leon. Where were Spoon, Beck, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Iron and Wine, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Beirut, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Anathallo, Jose Gonzalez, I'm From Barcelona, Leslie Feist, Band of Horses, Deathcab for Cutie, Depeche Mode, the Hives, the Vines, Kasabian, Tegan and Sara, Muse, the New Pornographers, Radiohead, Rogue Wave, the Shins, Snow Patrol, the Strokes, or Vampire Weekend, to name just a few?
Like Obama with our space program (see previous day's article), corporate America and its stooge awards programs are completely OUT OF TOUCH with good music. I'll be damned if I ever waste another minute of my precious time watching any of them!
P.S. Robert Downey, Jr. looked like a complete dufus/dork up there with his crooked glasses. Did he intentionally mean to look that way? Well, at least I got one good laugh out of the show...
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