I love the Grammy’s. I realize this is probably not a cool thing to say as a member of the blogosphere; it would probably be more appropriate for me to pretend that I loathe the whole thing, never watch the damn show or care, spend Grammy night spinning 7″ records in my living room, posting thoughts about the decline of the music industry on some sort of Tumblr thing. But in reality I’ve watched the Grammy’s (and every other music award show) since I was but a wee child, bringing in Chinese food with my mom and staying up way past acceptable bed times.
It’s not that I haven’t spent years also hating the Grammy’s. It’s been an endless cycle of frustration, watching bands like Styx take Album of the Year while artists I liked were rarely nominated (nothing against Styx, but they didn’t deserve it that year), or if they were (like Radiohead), they’d always lose. Sure, I could turn this post into a whole diatribe about what is wrong with the Grammy’s, the Academy, the industry. But why? At heart, I’m just a music geek. I love music spectacle – Flea playing on-stage in nothing but a sock, Kurt Cobain showing up in a granny pajama shirt, bare asses galore, Michael Jackson enveloped in smoke, Eminem and Elton John doing a duet, Bob Dylan getting stage-bombed by a shirtless dude — and I love, in those very small, rare moments, when artists I listen to actually win. I screamed for a couple hours when Arcade Fire won, jumped up and down like an idiot when Bon Iver took Best New Artist (even though he wasn’t so new to me) and last night felt pretty overjoyed to see the Black Keys and Jack White up for Album of the Year. Actually, it was a pretty rock-forward sweep, with Mumford & Sons, fun. and Frank Ocean taking the other three spots. No old farts up for honorary nomns, no undeserving ingenue. No Bieber fever.
Obviously the awards took place in Nashville last night – a flu sadly sidelined me at home –and it was a pretty standard, lackluster thing. But the city represented well in nominations: Dan Auerbach took 6 and the Black Keys 5 (one went to Auerbach as producer of the year), Jack White took three (bringing his career total to 18) and of course dominated the country and some of the songwriting noms. While the usual ridiculousness ensued in many categories (Bob Dylan, where are you?), it was still nice to see our local rock heroes rack up, and even nicer to see such a strong presence from rock, acoustic and guitar-based music: Alabama Shakes, the Lumineers, Mumford, Tom Waits and Fiona Apple all got nods too. Perhaps most importantly, the Black Keys & Jack White’s domination proved, once again, that the cliche we’re all so sick of is more than true: we ain’t just country, y’all. But speaking of country – not bad seeing you in the best country album category, Jamey Johnson and the Time Jumpers! Was also nice to see This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark in the mix for best folk album.
I’ll be watching in February, of course. I’ll pull my hair out over some things, scream with joy over others. Some years I’ll curse and say I’ll never watch again, but I always will. Can’t shake that geek, I guess.
Click on for a full list of nominees :::
GENERAL FIELD
Album Of The Year:
El Camino — The Black Keys
Some Nights — FUN.
Babel — Mumford & Sons
Channel Orange — Frank Ocean
Blunderbuss — Jack White
Record Of The Year:
“Lonely Boy” — The Black Keys
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Kelly Clarkson
“We Are Young” — FUN. Featuring Janelle Monáe
“Somebody That I Used To Know” — Gotye Featuring Kimbra
“Thinkin Bout You” — Frank Ocean
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” — Taylor Swift
Best New Artist:
Alabama Shakes
FUN.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean
Song Of The Year:
“The A Team” — Ed Sheeran, songwriter (Ed Sheeran)
“Adorn” — Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)
“Call Me Maybe” — Tavish Crowe, Carly Rae Jepsen & Josh Ramsay, songwriters (Carly Rae Jepsen)
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Jörgen Elofsson, David Gamson, Greg Kurstin & Ali Tamposi,
songwriters (Kelly Clarkson)
“We Are Young” — Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess, songwriters (FUN. Featuring
Janelle Monáe)
POP FIELD
Best Pop Solo Performance
“Set Fire To The Rain (Live)” — Adele
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Kelly Clarkson
“Call Me Maybe” — Carly Rae Jepsen
“Wide Awake” — Katy Perry
“Where Have You Been” — Rihanna
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance:
“Shake It Out” — Florence & The Machine
“We Are Young” — FUN. Featuring Janelle Monáe
“Somebody That I Used To Know” — Gotye Featuring Kimbra
“Sexy And I Know It” — LMFAO
“Payphone” — Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa
DANCE FIELD
Best Dance/Electronica Album:
Wonderland — Steve Aoki
Don’t Think — The Chemical Brothers
> Album Title Goes Here < — Deadmau5
Fire & Ice — Kaskade
Bangarang — Skrillex
ROCK FIELD
Best Rock Performance:
“Hold On” — Alabama Shakes
“Lonely Boy” — The Black Keys
“Charlie Brown” — Coldplay
“I Will Wait” — Mumford & Sons
“We Take Care Of Our Own” — Bruce Springsteen
Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance:
“I’m Alive” — Anthrax
“Love Bites (So Do I)” — Halestorm
“Blood Brothers” — Iron Maiden
“Ghost Walking” — Lamb Of God
“No Reflection” — Marilyn Manson
“Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)” — Megadeth
Best Rock Album:
El Camino — The Black Keys
Mylo Xyloto — Coldplay
The 2nd Law — Muse
Wrecking Ball — Bruce Springsteen
Blunderbuss — Jack White
ALTERNATIVE FIELD
Best Alternative Music Album
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes
Will Ever Do — Fiona Apple
Biophilia — Björk
Making Mirrors — Gotye
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming — M83
Bad As Me — Tom Waits
R&B FIELD
Best R&B Performance:
“Thank You” — Estelle
“Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)” — Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Ledisi
“I Want You” — Luke James
“Adorn” — Miguel
“Climax” — Usher
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Fortune — Chris Brown
Kaleidoscope Dream — Miguel
Channel Orange — Frank Ocean
Best R&B Album:
Black Radio — Robert Glasper Experiment
Back To Love — Anthony Hamilton
Write Me Back — R. Kelly
Beautiful Surprise — Tamia
Open Invitation — Tyrese
RAP FIELD
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:
“Wild Ones” — Flo Rida Featuring Sia
“No Church In The Wild” — Jay-Z & Kanye West Featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
“Tonight (Best You Ever Had)” — John Legend Featuring Ludacris
“Cherry Wine” — Nas Featuring Amy Winehouse
“Talk That Talk” — Rihanna Feautring Jay-Z
Best Rap Performance:
“HYFR (Hell Ya F***ing Right)” — Drake Featuring Lil Wayne
“N****s In Paris” — Jay-Z & Kanye West
“Daughters” — Nas
“Mercy” — Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz
“I Do” — Young Jeezy Featuring Jay-Z & André 3000
Best Rap Album
Take Care — Drake
Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1 — Lupe Fiasco
Life Is Good — Nas
Undun — The Roots
God Forgives, I Don’t — Rick Ross
Based On A T.R.U. Story — 2 Chainz
COUNTRY FIELD
Best Country Solo Performance:
“Home” — Dierks Bentley
“Springsteen” — Eric Church
“Cost Of Livin'” — Ronnie Dunn
“Wanted” — Hunter Hayes
“Over” — Blake Shelton
“Blown Away” — Carrie Underwood
Best Country Album:
Uncaged — Zac Brown Band
Hunter Hayes — Hunter Hayes
Living For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran — Jamey Johnson
Four The Record — Miranda Lambert
The Time Jumpers — The Time Jumpers
AMERICAN ROOTS FIELD
Best Americana Album:
The Carpenter — The Avett Brothers
From The Ground Up — John Fullbright
The Lumineers — The Lumineers
Babel — Mumford & Sons
Slipstream — Bonnie Raitt
Best Blues Album:
33 1/3 — Shemekia Copeland
Locked Down — Dr. John
Let It Burn — Ruthie Foster
And Still I Rise — Heritage Blues Orchestra
Bring It On Home — Joan Osborne
SPOKEN WORD FIELD
Best Spoken Word Album:
American Grown (Michelle Obama) — Scott Creswell & Dan Zitt, producers (Various Artists)
Back To Work: Why We Need Smart Government For A Strong Economy — Bill Clinton
Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power — Rachel Maddow
Seriously…I’m Kidding — Ellen DeGeneres
Society’s Child: My Autobiography — Janis Ian
COMEDY FIELD
Best Comedy Album
Blow Your Pants Off — Jimmy Fallon
Cho Dependent (Live In Concert) — Margaret Cho
In God We Rust — Lewis Black
Kathy Griffin: Seaman 1st Class — Kathy Griffin
Mr. Universe — Jim Gaffigan
Rize Of The Fenix — Tenacious D
This year’s Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical nominations go to Dan Auerbach, Jeff Bhasker, Diplo, Markus Dravs, and Salaam Remi.
Lockeland Springsteen 