Do We Need the Grammys?

February 4, 2023 3:07 PM

Former Del Fuego, NYU professor and Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen biographer Warren Zanes shares his opinion about the Grammys. Are they outdated? Useless? Do they ever actually award the right people? Well, Zanes feels there may be some value to the Grammy Awards.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes (12 comments total)

“Hey! Don’t throw your garbage down here!”
posted by Going To Maine at 3:19 PM on February 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

Ungated link
posted by buffy12 at 3:27 PM on February 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

It seems like every time a creative industry awards people, it's the same story.

People put on elaborate outfits that other people have opinions about. A host demonstrates their willingness to be part of the machine. Some out-of-touch gatekeepers, often but not always rich old white men, try to guess the next big thing and get it embarrassingly wrong, or ignore something an out-group creates until it's impossible not to, or elevate a mediocre or half-assed product released by someone who really should've won more of these by now (hey, speaking of Tom Petty). There's a not-terrible performance or two, and we see some pairings we weren't expecting, unless we were. The show runs long, hopefully in a good way. Roll credits.

Seems harmless enough, and some people seem to be really into it.
posted by box at 4:12 PM on February 4, 2023 [8 favorites]

Lest all that seem dismissive, I also think there is some value to the Grammys, and, though I probably won’t watch, I’m rooting for Arooj Aftab, Beyoncé, Freestyle Fellowship (historical album), Robert Glasper, Kendrick, Lizzo, ODESZA, Pusha T, Questlove, Tank and the Bangas, Third Coast Percussion (best chamber music, best engineered classical), Wet Leg, and Wilco (liner notes).
posted by box at 5:54 PM on February 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Our view of the Grammys became informed by whether there was an outside chance that we might get one. (We never did.)

Well, one of them did (his brother, for children’s music). Dan Zanes pretty much invented the “Gen X now has kids and disposable income” hustle for B-list pop stars (BNL, TMBG, Lisa Loeb, Ziggy Marley).
posted by staggernation at 6:34 PM on February 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

The last time I watched the Grammy's was prior to the phonograph.
posted by DJZouke at 4:50 AM on February 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

My least generous knee jerk response is a lack of surprise that a career hagiographer of last-century rock stars thinks we should keep propping up the whole system that elevated them. Trying to come up with a more nuanced take, because it seems like there’s a little more at work here.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:40 AM on February 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Early in that piece, he talks about how the Del Fuegos signed to Slash Records, home of Germs and X. In 1981, a bankrupt Slash Records made a distribution deal with Warner Bros. They were owned by Polygram for a while, and their reissues are now distributed by Rhino Records.

Darby Crash, the singer of the Germs, committed suicide in 1980.

The Germs' guitar player, Pat Smear, went on to tour with Nirvana and then join the Foo Fighters. Germs never won a Grammy. Pat Smear has ten of 'em (which is eight more than the Germs' first drummer, Belinda Carlisle, who would go on to the Go-Go's (one nomination for Best New Artist, lost to Sheena Easton) and then a solo career).

After a few great early albums, X started trying, not always very hard, to be more popular. They've never even been nominated for a Grammy. Neither the Germs nor X are in the RRHoF.

I don't know what all that says about Warren Zanes, but maybe the context is somehow informative.
posted by box at 8:56 AM on February 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

(They've started to announce the Grammy winners.)
posted by box at 2:25 PM on February 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am an old, so bear with me. I started watching the Grammys in the early 70s and it always struck me how utterly conservative it was. Giants were striding the earth in those days, breaking ground right and left. How did the Grammys respond? By giving all the prizes to whatever an old white guy who preferred to listen to lounge lizards would find acceptable. There's nothing wrong with Carole King, Paul Simon, Christopher Cross, etc. but they weren't exactly the cutting edge. This trend continued for decades. If it was bland enough to not frighten the ancient voting body of the Academy, it had a chance of winning.

No, we don't need the Grammys. We never have.
posted by Ber at 7:09 AM on February 6, 2023

I think the best way I can put this is.. if I'm browsing through a bunch of movies and come across one about which I know very little other than that it has won an Academy Award in a major category, that knowledge might not convince me on its own but it would increase my desire to watch that movie, thinking that there must be at least something interesting about it.

I cannot recall ever having had a corresponding reaction with a Grammy. "Ooh, it won a Grammy, maybe I should check this out.." is, to the best of my recollection, a thought that has never crossed my mind.

About the best I can hope for from the Grammys is "Oh, hey, $(artist_that_i_like) has a new album out this year and it might win an award. I hope this increases their visibility so they can keep making music.." but even those are few and far between and, imho, are generally better done by other awards (such as the geographically-limited Mercury Prize and its relatives around the world..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:35 AM on February 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not that anyone cares, but from my list of people I was rooting for:

Arooj Aftab - Didn't win Best Global Music Performance (the winners were Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode)
Beyoncé - Didn't win Record, Album, or Song of the Year, but won four others, breaking conductor George Solti's record for most Grammys
Freestyle Fellowship - Didn't win Best Historical Album (Wilco did)
Robert Glasper - Best R&B Album
Kendrick - Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Album
Lizzo - Record of the Year, Best Remix
ODESZA - Didn't win Best Dance/Electronic Music Album (Beyoncé did)
Pusha T - Didn't win Best Rap Album (Kendrick did)
Questlove - Didn't win Best Audio Book (Viola Davis EGOTed)
Tank and the Bangas - Didn't win Best Progressive R&B Album (Steve Lacy did, I'm just glad the category exists)
Third Coast Percussion -- Didn't win two classical awards
Wet Leg - Best Alternative Performance, Best Alternative Album
Wilco - Best Historical Album and the most important Grammy of all, Best Album Notes
posted by box at 5:47 AM on February 9, 2023