I watched almost all of The Grammys. I fell asleep before seeing Billy Joel perform his new single. I'll watch the last 45 minutes of the show a bit later. For now, here are a few takeaways, with just a little bit less snark than some of my previous Grammy recaps, if only to avoid the inevitable "Pop music isn't made for old people" and "Let the kids enjoy themselves" type comments, that always get under my skin. Those comments feel more like excuses for the mostly horrible pop and R&B music being foisted upon the world these days.
• I still hadn't turned up the sound on the TV when I saw the opening spectacle featuring a gaggle of poseurs, some scaffolding and a woman I didn't recognize. I didn't need to hear the "song." The whole presentation made my pons snap. I found out later it was Dua Lipa. Right then, I decided to start some trouble on Threads, so I posted "I just turned on The Grammys. Did I miss Gerry & The Pacemakers?" None other than The Knack guitarist Berton Averre was one of the first to reply, with not so much as a defense but more of a "live and let live" statement about people being allowed to love what they love. I continued with, "The last time I saw that many people doing absolutely nothing, I was stuck on the BQE." Then, both Averre and the one and only Larry Grogan of Funky 16 Corners agreed. The troupes add nothing, to which I replied, "Well, without the troupe, there isn't much left."
This was all before I turned the volume up.
• I enjoyed seeing Tracy Chapman beaming with joy as she performed a duet with Luke Combs on her classic "Fast Car." People love "Fast Car," don't they? I like it, but the chorus is sung like 26 times in under five minutes. Probably could have been an even better three minute song. But what do I know about records?
• "You're acting like you don't know this song?"
- Miley Cyrus
"I'm not acting."
- Sal Nunziato
I guess compared to some of the other nominated music, Miley's "Flowers" is like "The Legend Of Hattie Carroll." Kudos to Miss Cyrus for the live performance, the strange dance moves and the awkward mic drop. I'm sure many loved it. The song is big time mediocre, if you ask me.
• I enjoyed Jay-Z's speech, even through the gasps of the mortified white people in the audience. Though, just maybe Miss Jay-Z has yet to win "Album Of The Year" because she is a singles act. Just maybe.
• To all the R&B lovers out there, I'm talking to you. You know who you are? You love Marvin and Stevie and EW&F and Donny and Curtis right? Well here's a fact: these five songs, "Snooze," "Angel," ICU," On My Mama," and Back To Love," were all nominated for Best R&B Song and they ALL SOUND THE SAME! The audio/visual clips as the presenters read the nominees blended into one long, lifeless nothing.
"You know, R&B isn't made for you. Leave the kids alone."
- Some People At Some Point
"Please stop."
- Sal Nunziato
• Joni Mitchell's performance of "Both Sides Now" rendered me useless. I was a blubbering, sobbing mess on the couch. I guess that New Yorker cartoon up top really nailed it.
• I was also very happy to see the academy acknowledge Russell Batiste Jr. and Wayne Kramer during the "In Memoriam" segment, along with so many other greats we lost.
QUINN MARTIN EPILOGUE:
I have been listening to music my whole life. For 60 years, little has been as important to me. I think long time readers should know by now, I am not stuck in a space that only accepts a small sampling of music. Many readers have commented over the years about my ability to listen to and thoroughly enjoy everything from heavy metal and punk, Ornette Coleman and the Beastie Boys, Todd Rundgren and Prince, The Cro-Mags and Bad Brains, Genesis and Rush, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell, Hank Williams and the Dead Boys. Still, none of that means anything when it comes to figuring out what music hits us and what doesn't. It's impossible. I am aware of that.
I could give you 1000 words on how and why reggae and punk move me, and that won't make a difference if you like neither. But I don't think it is impossible to recognize when something just isn't as good as it once was, especially when all signs point to how and why pop music has been in a decline for years. I believe someone was called "legendary" by Trevor Noah last night because he had one billion streams. So did the video of the Alaskan airlines door flying off.
Music, or what passes for pop music, no longer needs instruments, or songwriters, or producers. They still exist, of course. But what does it say about record making when a hit song has eight co-writers, four producers and not one musician? A computer and a few apps and you are a Grammy winner.
This isn't an old guy screaming get off my lawn. This is a guy who loves the art of record making, and harmony, and words that can tear your heart in two, and funky grooves that are played by people, and guitar solos and...well...I love music. And nothing anyone can say will change my mind about the current state of it. I am happy for the kids. Of course, I am. But that tired comparison that I hear so often about how people my age hated Elvis and The Beatles 60 and 70 years ago, and how their parents hated Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra really doesn't move me. We all know it isn't the same. The scenario may be, but not the music. Nope. Uh-uh. No way. No.
28 comments:
Great epilogue. And kudos for the Quinn Martin reference. As usual, I am 100% in your camp.
Agree with everything you said. The Grammys were a decent "show" 15 years ago when you would see Rock, Jazz, Classical, Country etc.. I haven't watched in a decade because I had no patience to sit through one mediocre dance pop tune after another. But I had to see Joni. So I sat through the whole show; I made it to Billy, whose performance was better than the studio version of a good tune. I cried like a baby during Joni's breathtaking performance. My opinion; modern "pop" music sucks; and autotune is an abomination
"what does it say about record making when a hit song has eight co-writers, four producers and not one musician? A computer and a few apps and you are a Grammy winner?"
i would settle for someone who has a friend who knows a musician's cousin.
I watched the show for the first time in years, mostly to see Joni and Billy. IMO, there were five really good moments from last night:
1. Joni - timeless and poignant performance, just lovely
2. Annie Lennox paying tribute to Sinead - every time I hear Annie sing, time just stops
3. Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs singing 'Fast Car' - great to see Tracy looking good and smiling so much, and Luke was very classy in making sure she got her due recognition
4. Billy Joel - I really like the new song, and 'You May Be Right' is one of my favorite Billy tunes
5. Stevie Wonder w/ Tony Bennett clip - because any day where I can see and hear Tony sing is a good one
The history of popular music is paved with older guys who loved their music in their day, and maybe for several days after that, only to discover at some point that they just don't get it anymore. It's angrifying. Everything that once seemed like virtues -- no, didn't SEEM like virtues, were fucking obviously THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MUSIC ITSELF -- no longer matter. The name and sound of the outrages change from era to era but it's always the same phenomenon. Aesthetics change. The wheel spins. Eventually they start making music that isn't for you. It's not an outrage and it's not the sound of civilization collapsing around your ears. It's just how culture works.
"People love "Fast Car," don't they? I like it, but the chorus is sung like 26 times in under five minutes."
I do love it, but part of what I love about it is that the chorus — the "So remember when we were driving, driving in your car" part — takes two full minutes to show up. That's pretty ballsy of Chapman, and it's very uncommon for a Top 40, don't-bore-us-get-to-the-chorus song. I think it works. The whole tension-release thing or whatever.
If you think the chorus is her singing "You've got a fast car," then you've got a point, but I think that's more a device used in the verses. And an effective device at that.
Sorry to get so nerdy!
Pete
The BQE joke made my day.
@Pete,
I am referring to "So remember when we driving" as the chorus. And it's a fantastic chorus, and your observation abou it coming two minutes into the song is interesting. But then it's sung another four times before the 5 minute single is over. Yes, it's a nit to pick, and it certainly doesn't ruin the song for me. But it's hard to not notice how it keeps coming.
I watch the Grammys every year. I enjoy them for what they are and took some notes for Sal’s benefit this afternoon as I had it on in the background
dua lipa — ok. inoffensive. I've yet to figure out if she has anything beyond "Levitating" worth checking out.
Fast Car — very nice. Brought an honest smile to my face.
sza — “kill bill” is OK, but nothing exciting. Interesting lyrics for a pop song.
Billie Eilish — I like her -- and the song -- , so I enjoyed this performance, though I can see why her "breathless vocals" can turn others off..
Flowers — again nothing exciting (and I never really got why this was just a monster single in the early part of last year either)
Olivia — I like the song, but another song that wasn’t bringing any energy to the room.
U2 — Well, that sphere *does* look cool, but didn’t appreciate the non-live video performance (well, maybe it was a live performance, but the video presentation was certainly not…)
The Stevie Wonder duet with the video of Tony Bennet was…weird. And the songs performed during the memoriam didn’t seem to fit (other than the Sinead one) and that whole presentation just didn’t work well this year ad at times felt inapparopriate (seems like the audience felt that too…) Some giants lost this past year, though. Nice to see Brother Wayne made the cut. Fantasia did an acceptable job.
Jay-Z was great. Absolutely hilarious and on point.
Joni was...sublime. They should have a legend like this out every year before it's too late. This made the entire show worth sitting through so far.
Travis Scott — I didn’t get (but I don’t have to) He’s no Kendrick Lamar.
Even Burner Boy was mid-tempo. What is going on here? Where was a song (any song) that would honestly get people up and on their feet? I mean, I’m not calling for the 120 bpm of the old disco songs, but give me something to tap my feet to, man!
Billy Joel — the voice is still there. The song was not worth waiting 17 years for, though. He waited too long to turn the lights back on for that one (the joke writes itself...)
I feel like I missed a performance by memory, but if I did it’s because the performances were *so* mid-tempo for every genre this year. Even the U2 song sounded tired. Maybe it was the audio mix. I dunno. But “Midnights” was so mid-tempo throughout the entire album, so maybe that’s what people wanted to hear this year.
I'll be back next year, though!
"tired" that's pretty kind.
songs written and recorded in the 1920s had more energy and certainly more craftmanship than the sorry unmemorable claptrap presented.
Mr. Carlin makes a thoughtful point, as usual. But music depends on melodies to go with the rhythm. It's not easy to write a good melody. These folks are not even trying. We all have had the experience of a melody suddenly catching your ear, I'm always open and ready and eager for that, regardless of genre. That's why I love Hank Williams, Shostakovich, and the Specials. I'm always ready for a good tune. I heard very few good tunes Sunday night.
Funny re: Fast Car. I love the song and the performance was grand, but the last couple choruses, I remember thinking, ENOUGH.
For as long as I can recall, I saw "Clouds" as corny tripe. Now it makes me weep whenever I hear her sing it, it's such a perfect piece of art, profound in its simplicity. I guess the song has improved over time.
Someone scribbled all over Hannah Montana. Armpit tattoos, cool. No underwear, gross.
Taylor Swift's dorkiness is endearing.
Billy Joel, meh.
Cartoon is perfect.
The BQE and Alaskan Airline analogies are spot on and hilarious.
Noam Sane says: " But music depends on melodies to go with the rhythm"
And I respond: Yes, that's what I think, too. It's sure been like that for a long time. But there are many many younger people who have a different conception of what music is, or should be. And maybe they come from different cultures, and maybe they have a closer connection to tribal music whose shamanic/ecstastic power was ALL about rhythm, and repetition, and movement. And maybe now the art on the leading edge is a kind of collaging, in which artists spin rhythm together with previously recorded performances -- voices, instruments, etc -- to create an entirely new kind of art. One that I am capable of admiring on an intellectual level. But I and the artists who mean the most to me come from an earlier age. Our aesthetic is very different. Not necessarily better, but it's what I grew up with, and what I learned how to admire.
And what of my/our sense of the newer music? I quote another old guy, Pete Townshend, at the Who's 1990 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction: "It's not up to us to try to understand it. It's not up to us to buy it. We just have to get the fuck out of the way."
"And what of my/our sense of the newer music? I quote another old guy, Pete Townshend, at the Who's 1990 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction: "It's not up to us to try to understand it. It's not up to us to buy it. We just have to get the fuck out of the way."
Ol' Pete's a hero of mine. And I love that quote. But I do think there's a place for those who don't necessarily get out of the way without a fight, but instead call bullshit occasionally. Not every criticism deserves a pat reply about age and lawns that need to be gotten off of. Sometimes it really is just crap.
Yeah, this year's Grammys were lackluster, both musically and as a broadcast. Trevor Noah, who I find annoying anyway, was trying too hard. Billy's new song and performance were nice, not great and Joni Mitchell's performance was poignant. As for excitement/buzz? Didn't feel it. I like Jon Batiste but wasn't feeling him last night. Mileys Flowers is an earworm but not something I won't turn off if I think there's a chance I'll find something else on the radio. I don't mind Jay-Z but I do mind his whining on behalf of his admittedly talented wife. 33 Grammys? Nothing to prove. And so on.
I get it, 95% of this music is not for me, but usually for one night or even a performance or two, I can find something to get off to. Even my teenagers, whose music this is, were more excited about T Swift winning album of the year than any of the performances.
I agree Sal, about calling bullshit occasionally. This is one of those occasions.
Sal says: "Sometimes it really is just crap."
And I say: Well sure, but isn't that a subjective judgment? And isn't one man's shit another man's shinola? Everyone's ears are diff---okay, okay, I'm working the free-to-be-you-and-me line and if I'm bored by it already I can't imagine how tiresome it is to everyone else. Fuck. I dunno. I'm old. I like what I like. I'm not going to argue with anyone over it. Much.
You know my older brother used to beat me up over prog rock in the mid-70s. He was a classical music guy who liked to get high so of course that = a huge boner for all the most overblown bullshit of the era. ELP, early Genesis, Led Zeppelin, on and on. I'd have to sit there and listen to it and even pretend to like it when I would rather be listening to the Beach Boys. And OMG it was hell, sheer hell, with the endless quasi-symphonic nonsense, the pseudo-satanism, the freaky "heavy" lyrics. Elves and lambs and hedgerows. And that was before we knew how many of Led Zeppelin's better songs were actually blues songs by Robert Johnson, et. al, to which they'd affixed their names.
Sometimes it really is just crap.
"...new kind of art." This makes a lot of sense, it removes any comparison from the equation. Even so, subjectively, shitty art of whatever stripe is still shitty. On the other hand, shit makes stuff grow. Out of the morass, we could get something great. Maybe.
I plead not guilty on the prog charge. Except for Yes, who at their best were side two of Abbey Road in band form, and damn if they didn't pull it off once in a while...and Focus, who were pretty much a straight-up instrumental act, so no unicorn references. Zep I can't see as prog. ELP and the rest, bah. And I know what I'm talking about, I saw Starcastle open for Boston.
Most times it really is just crap.
@Noam
"Except for Yes, who at their best were side two of Abbey Road in band form"
I feel that way about Genesis and "Supper's Ready" and said pretty much the same thing in a September 2019 post.
I didnt watch, Was kind of protesting Jethro Tull wasnt even nominated for best Heavy Metal album. Bullshit
I never watch the Grammy's. Or The Super Bowl. I'd much rather read your summary.
You should have skipped the Grammys and gone to Costco!
I agree with everyone! The reason the old slam about your parents loving Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra but hating rock n roll so you're just like them does NOT work for Sal or most people on this list is simple. We loved the music we grew up with. But we also loved the rock n roll of the 1950s and the big band and jazz and the blues and the country and we kept up with new wave and the 1980s and the grunge of the 1990s (your mileage may vary) and can embrace some of the best rap and hip hop and in my case even Janelle Monae (which some people do NOT have the patience for) and certainly Sufjan Stevens and Lemon Twigs and other acts so it's not just only liking the stuff we liked as kids. We like good music from every era...just not THIS act or THAT act or most of what's on the radio because there are no deejays so radio sucks. By the way, the Grammy winners may often suck because the GRAMMYS always suck. The winners and nominees were often not the best of the year by any stretch (Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon excepted). Most popular music has always sucked, but the great stuff is great and we can love it all. So if Sal doesn't like Monae, he's not a cranky old man, he's someone with taste and judgment saying it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. And it don't.
Performances: in general, medleys SUCK and people should never do them. All the medleys sucked. The good stuff: I thought Billie Eilish gave a lovely performance; she's the real deal. That's how you do it: just sing the damn song. The In Memorium was a mess with both Stevie and Annie having off nights (she seemed overwrought, which is hardly inappropriate for obits but still felt poorly judged in emoting) but fantasia was ok. It's a great idea to have current acts do a big hit by someone who died rather than one weepy ballad, in my opinion. Miley Cyrus felt pretty punk (so good for her for surviving) and "Flowers" is a good record (they got the awards right w the Billie Eilish getting song and Flowers getting record) and Olivia Rodrigo is def ready for Carrie The Musical (she might still be in it for the long haul, though the new album was just good not great). Dua Lipa and SZA seemed to be lip synching which isn't the end of the world in a big production number (hat tip to Madonna) but boring. Burna Boy needed to be alone, why does Travis Scott hate chairs and...Billy Joel was strong and I dug the story of the nebbishy guy asking for help on a song and then cajoling him into getting behind the microphone again. Joni Mitchell's performance like her Grammy winning Newport one was not touching because she overcame illness etc. It was a masterclass in how to sing beautifully with the voice you have. I was moved.
Another good piece, Sal! I watched maybe 15 minutes or so, switching over during commercials on whatever I was watching. I saw most of the opening act, it looked like she was actually singing. I'd bet that doesn't happen on tour.
I saw little miss bad girl Myley kick over the mic stand so it wouldn't get in the way of her booty strutting away from the camera.
Saw Tracy and Luke and wondered how many fans Luke lost when they saw Tracy. Come on, you know that's true! (Insert laughing emoji here).
Missed Joni n Jay n Billy n Stevie, I suppose I can catch them on YouTube. Ok, Jay's upset, but when they have eight nominees the votes get so split up that I doubt that the winner even gets 50% of the votes.
Otherwise, it's the same old thing- it's good to see a few people I like get nominated, usually for the unpopular categories, maybe they'll get a few more sales. I have no idea who most of the others are and probably wouldn't like them, and I'm not interested enough to hate watch the show so it can reinforce my opinion that most of today's music just ain't as good as the stuff I like.
Ah the BQE - how I do not miss thee!
Great, great writing as always. I haven't watched yet, but I will, fast forwarding through most of it, I'm sure.
I think most people agree with you, as do I.
The Alaskan Airlines thing made me spit my coffee out! Hilarious!
So many truths and laughs here. Thank you for watching so I didn't have to. I did watch the clip of Tracy/Luke after. I wasn't "weeping" like everyone in my social media feed but it was an important moment culturally for a couple of reasons. Most of all both of them singing "I had a feeling I belonged" from their very different perspectives.
Then of course, I see a tweet from a crazy right winger Ben Shapiro that the woke crowd had forced a lesbian of color onto Luke Combs - - but THEN I read that the tweet had been fabricated. This is the age we are living in. No peace.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/02/09/ben-shapiro-tracy-chapman-post-altered/72523662007/
handelman,
"This is the age we are living in."
this is the age we are LYING in!
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