Confusion. Insult. Upset. Hysteria.
It’s Grammy season again, which means big upsets, big controversy and big mistakes. This year’s nominee selections are further proof to an already widely believed theory — the Grammys are a complete sham.
Every year, the Recording Academy is responsible for at least one major rebuff — in nominations or award giving — that humiliates the music industry with a mistake so grandiose it quivers even the most lackadaisical music fan.
This year is no exception. As the Recording Academy announced the 2003 Grammy Award nominees two weeks ago, I was appalled at the committee’s ignorance.
I was not alone. On www.mtv.com, many music fans posted their thoughts in disgust over this years award nominations.
“It is clear once again that the awards honor what is popular, not what is good,” said 21-year-old James on the site.
Let us begin with the ridiculous Album of the Year nods, which include nominations of the Dixie Chicks and Nelly. I didn’t even know the Dixie Chicks had an album out, let alone a decent one, and Nelly’s nomination should be replaced with the more respectable Coldplay, whose album, “A Rush Of Blood To The Head” was one of the year’s highlights in popular music.
Song Of The Year is definitely complicated as I try to comprehend why Avril Lavigne is generating so much hype with her over-played song “Complicated.” Any artist with a song spelled “Sk8er Boy” in their set list gets no respect from me and the same should go for the Recording Academy.
Best Rock Album doesn’t have any rock in its category this year, as nominees include Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen and Tonic. All nominees minus Bruce Springsteen are either has beens or have no business being in the rock ‘n’ roll category this year. What happened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age and The Strokes?
Aside from Eminem’s “The Eminem Show,” The Best Rap Album category — Ludacris, Mystikal, Nelly and Petey Pablo — is full of rappers who failed to produce a great album this year. What about Nas, Scarface, Jay-Z and The Streets? All had better albums this year than Nelly’s mediocre “Nellyville.”
Popular production team the Neptunes must have been miffed when they saw their name was left off the ballot for Producer Of The Year. The Neptunes have been at the production helm for Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Mystikal’s “Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against the Wall), Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You,” Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy’s “Pass the Courvoisier Part II” — all Grammy-nominated — and hits for innumerable other pop and hip-hop acts this year, yet the Neptunes were ignored.
Surprisingly, the snub was not from the Recording Academy, but the countless record labels that release Neptunes-produced material and are responsible for nominating artists, songs, albums and videos to compete for a Grammy. Thanks, guys. The Neptunes only made the industry millions this year. The least the labels could do is nominate them for a coveted golden gramophone trophy.
The Recording Academy also snubbed all of the “the” bands — The Vines, The Strokes, The Hives and The White Stripes. All had a superlative year by arguably saving rock ‘n’ roll from the throws of hip-hop domination and the pedestrian sounds of the pop genre. The Recording Academy threw no nominations in their direction.
The only category that seems legit is the Best Alternative Music Album grouping which includes albums from Clinic, Coldplay, Beck and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Beck and Coldplay’s new albums could have easily been in the running for Album Of The Year respects, but that would make sense — something the Recording Academy seems to have lost.