The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will be held tonight. The Grammys are supposed to celebrate the best in music from the past year, but often times both critical darlings and popular faves are overlooked. For example, Bob Dylan's critically acclaimed album "Tempest" received no nominations and poor little Beliebers are still fuming that their beloved Justin Bieber was completely shut out of all categories.
Although the Grammys supposedly honor the best of the best each year, they don't always hit the mark. Sure, music lovers rejoiced when "Arcade Fire" won Album of the Year in 2011, but for each time the Grammys get it right there is another time when they get it horribly wrong.
In preparation for tonight's Grammy ceremony, here is a look at some of the Grammy's biggest mistakes. There are 110 Grammy categories, so I'm going to focus on the most notable mistakes made in the "big four" categories — Album of the Year, Song of the Year (which goes to the songwriter and focuses on the music and lyrics), Record of the Year (which goes to the performer, producer and engineer and rewards the song's performance and production) and Best New Artist.
Album of the Year
- In 1985, Lionel Ritchie's "Can't Slow Down" won over two of the best albums of the '80s, if not all time — Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain" and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." The Grammys have been trying to make it up to Bruce for this embarrassment ever since; he's won 20 Grammys in his career, 19 of which were awarded after 1985.
- The Grammys again overlooked two of the defining albums of the decade in 2001, when Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" won over Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" and Radiohead's "Kid A." Steely Dan!? Seriously!? Were the Grammy voters stuck in the '70s? The Grammys got a lot of flack for being out of touch after they made this mistake.
- Music snobs may disagree with me on this one, but I think the Grammys erred when they awarded Album of the Year to Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" over Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" in 2008. Herbie's great, but 2008 was Amy's year.
Song of the Year
- In 1966, one the most popular songs of all time, the Beatles' “Yesterday,” lost to Tony Bennett's “The Shadow of Your Smile.” To illustrate how major this error was, it should be noted that a YouTube video of the Beatles performing "Yesterday" has been viewed more than 25 million times, compared to only 131,000 views for Bennett's corny snoozefest.
- The Beatles were snubbed again in 1969, when their classic "Hey Jude" lost to O.C. Smith's "Little Green Apples." At least the Fab Four won Song of the Year in 1967, but that winner, "Michelle," is not nearly is good or enduring as "Hey Jude" or "Yesterday."
- In 2005, John Mayer won for “Daughters,” a cheesy, dull song that has since been relegated to father-daughter dances at weddings for people with poor taste in music. Of the nominees that year, Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" should have won, but I guess "Daughters" is still preferable to that one song by Hoobastank…
Record of the Year
- The winner in 1961 was the instrumental "The Theme from a Summer Place" by Percy Smith. It's a lovely song for sure, but did it deserve to win over Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" or Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind"?
- In what was likely a case of the Grammys honoring a respected artist rather than a great record, the winner in 1997 was Eric Clapton's “Change the World.” It's not terrible, but was it really the best record of the year? I prefer "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins or "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, both of which are iconic songs of '90s.
- In 2004, Coldplay's "Clocks" beat Outkast's “Hey Ya!,” Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" and Eminem's "Lose Yourself.” I like Coldplay, but "Clocks" isn't their best work and the other three records are defining songs of the era.
Best New Artist
- In 1979, A Taste of Honey beat The Cars and future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Elvis Costello. A Taste of Honey had one hit ("Boogie Oogie Oogie") and then pretty much faded into obscurity.
- One of the biggest embarrassments in Grammy history was when infamous duo Milli Vanilli had to relinquish their Best New Artist Grammy, which they won in 1990, after it was revealed that they were not the actual singers on their album. I wish Tone Loc had won instead (who doesn't love "Funky Cold Medina"?).
- The real best new artist in 2010 wasn't even nominated. The winner should have been Lady Gaga, one of the most exciting and unique pop stars to break out in years. However, she wasn't nominated due to a rule that artists who had previously been nominated for a Grammy were ineligible for the Best New Artist award (Gaga was nominated for Best Dance Recording in 2009). Lady Gaga's exclusion from the Best New Artist category led the Grammys to change the rules the next year.
Other Notable Grammy Mistakes
- Heavy-metal fans are still mad that Jethro Tull's flute-heavy "Crest of a Knave" beat out Metallica's "…And Justice for All" for Best Hard/Rock Metal Performance in 1989.
- In 1998, Will Smith's silly "Men in Black" won over Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" for Best Rap Solo Performance. At least Missy got her revenge; she went on to win in this category in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
- The Best Rock Song category has had some dubious winners. In 1992, Sting's "The Soul Cages" beat out the far better "Enter Sandman" by Metallica and "Been Caught Stealin'" by Jane's Addiction. Then, in the 2000s, two truly awful bands won in this category — Creed for "With Arms Wide Open" (in 2001; this happens to be one of my choices for worst song of all time) and Train for "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" (in 2002).
The post The Biggest Grammy Blunders of All Time appeared first on How to Get Rid of Things™.
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