The Grammys
I finally watched The Grammys last night. It goes quickly when you fast forward through most of it. Some random thoughts:
* Samuel L. Jackson stole the show, of course, with his funkadelic banter. Even if it’s not my preferred style of music, at least they did it with some style.
* I’m trying to figure out if Norah Jones just went for a straighter hair cut, or if she’s succumbing to the needs of the current music industry to make sure everyone looks more alike.
* Sting in a skirt singing Roxanne at the 2004 Grammys was odd enough, until I realized why he was doing it — Sean Paul did a cover of the song, eh? (Which rapper today hasn’t covered a Police song?) Could anyone understand a word of what that guy was “singing”/rapping/whatever? Should we just blame it on the audio techs who didn’t turn his microphone up high enough? Or is he just that bad, naturally?
* I’m not a fan of Christina Aguilera by any means, but thought her performance of “Beautiful” on the show was the best I’ve ever seen her do. Too many runs and she chose to scream/scat near the end where she should have gone with lyrics for more power, but aside from that I liked the whole presentation.
* Am pissed that Fountains of Wayne lost to Justin Timberlake (::snooze::) and Evanescence. Of course, FoW lost in the “Best New Artist” category for their third album. I guess the Academy considers the third aslbum to be their “breakout” one. I like Evanescence, but I don’t see them being around for much longer than two or three albums. Their unique sound leads to everything sounding alike.
* Aguilera won best female pop vocal over Sarah MacLachlan and Dido? Yeah, this show isn’t for me. MacLachlan has amazing control over her voice, as does Dido. Aguilera is a screamer by comparison.
* The acceptance speech of the year definitely came from OutKast, and so I present it in its entirety here: “Thank-you.” No, thank-you.
* Was Yoko Ono on drugs? Did she honestly think she was being funny or something? Bad enough that her delivery sucks, but then she goes and delivers applause line after applause line, all that fail to deliver any applause, except for the nervous claps three seconds after keywords like “Shea Stadium.” ::sigh:: I hope we’re done with celebrating the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show by now, too.
February 14th, 2004 at 1:38 pm
Nah, Sean Paul has never done a Police cover, that was just a special collaboration they threw together for that night, going along with the evening’s theme of matching older artists with younger: Prince and Beyonce, Foo Fighters and Chick Corea, etc. It worked the worst out of all the matches, I thought.
I actually liked Yoko’s speech and was quite moved by it. You don’t need to be on drugs to get nervous speaking in front of millions of people.. if anything that just added to the sincerity of the moment, for me.
February 14th, 2004 at 4:51 pm
Hmmm….going to have to disagree with you a bit on a couple of points. :)
First, I am extremely glad Evanescence won Best New Artist. I think they’re an incredible band - yes, they have a unique sound, but they only have the one real release out…I’ve found some of their limited release stuff (sold only at concerts before they made any real recording/debut), and there is a wide variety of sound, IMO.
Query: should potential longevity BE an issue in terms of Best New Artist? I’m not sure what else Fountains of Wayne was nominated for/lost, but in terms of that category, isn’t it more of a Best New Thing as opposed to Thing We’ll Still be Talking About 4 years from now?
I also love Sarah McLachlan and Dido, but I do think Christina has the stronger voice by far. Yes, she chooses to belt alot more than the other two, and there are times I wish she’d tone it down a notch. :)
And Yoko Ono just needs to go away. Far Far Away. ;)