Aw, It's a Grammy

As Homer so clearly showed us, the Grammys are stupid. I know plenty of people have been saying this for years, but since the Grammys still exist and still insist on lauding what's wrong with popular music, I just need to vent for a few paragraphs. What else is having a blog for, right?

Let's look at this year's nominees for record of the year:

Beyoncé: "Halo"
The Black Eyed Peas: "I Gotta Feeling"
Kings Of Leon: "Use Somebody"
Lady Gaga: "Poker Face"
Taylor Swift: "You Belong With Me"

What? Really? Those are the five best songs of the year?*

* Song of the Year is actually a different category as Record of the Year also takes into "consideration" the production quality and recording process...I guess.

Geez. This is like the nominees for Best Picture being led by Transformers 2 and New Moon. Granted, the Oscars aren't flawless but the Grammys are clearly the worst of the worst. Since when has what's the most popular really been what's the best? We already have charts to determine what the most listened to artists are. We really need to have a ceremony to pretend they are anything more than that?

The idea of giving out awards for music is fundamentally flawed from the beginning--music isn't a contest--but I just can't stand how absolutely backwards the Grammys are. Now I'm going to generalize terribly here, but people who really care about music, people who spend their time finding the bands that speak to them, don't listen to goddamn "Poker Face". Shouldn't it mean something that those who make an effort to appreciate music the most get their tastes completely ignored? What kind of sense does that make?

The sad part is, I know the answers to all these questions. People aren't going to tune in to watch Animal Collective win song of the year. Record labels love to pat themselves on the back and parade their puppets around the stage. I get it. I just wish they wouldn't also pretend that the Grammys showcase even half of the best music being made today. I also realize that some decent artists (MGMT, Neko Case to name a couple) did get a nom this year. Good for them. Including some legitimate artists to throw real music fans off the trail doesn't mean the Grammys aren't a travesty.

PS - Don't look so happy Emmys, you can never make it up to me for not giving The Wire a dozen awards a year. Until you retroactively give all the acting and writing awards for the duration of their run to their rightful owner I'm not taking you seriously either. The best written show of all time got only two nominations for best dramatic writing, losing both times, including in 2005 to House. HOUSE!!!

Let's just pretend that these guys have a few Grammys under the belt instead...