The Grammy audience applauded politely when the award for "Best Rock Album" was presented to what appeared to be a garage band from an Appalachian trailer park.
(I apologize if that description didn't sound good; the music sounded worse.)
Moments later, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp, and Duff McKagan performed a high wattage tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead.
The Grammy audience looked confused, shocked. "Oh, my goodness! It's real rock music. Run for your lives!"
The presenters called the evening "the biggest night in music." It should have been called "the biggest night in pop." Pop music. Pop country. Pop hip hop.
The performances - most of them, anyway - were brilliant. There were a lot of talented people in that theater. Demi Lovato is astounding.
It was a big, spectacular celebration of pop music.
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Rock music deserves its own awards show.
As does Blues.
As does R&B.
As does Classical.
As does jazz. Real, straight ahead jazz.
The only real jazz performed all night was an exhibition by an amazing twelve-year-old piano prodigy. His performance was probably the most memorable one of the evening. But he wasn't even there promoting jazz. The Grammy people used him as a prop to ask for fair payment for people working in the music industry. It's an important topic in the age of unlimited free downloads, but it's a business topic, not a music topic.
The Grammys are about pop music, and that's okay. It's the pop Super Bowl. And it's fine for what it is. But it overlooks a lot of great music, music by people who aren't chasing stardom or a big house in Malibu, people who aren't rocketing up the charts and posting hashtags.
Those people need their own awards show, an awards show open to all genres of music. Except pop music. Pop music already has its show.
Copyright © 2016 Daniel R. South
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