Did I Miss the Grammys?

I might as well have. The Grammys just seemed like they came and went this year. Maybe they'd have some more staying power if they made an effort to reward quality instead of quantity. Rather than nominating the best-selling music, perhaps they could take one year to nominate the best music, to find out what's important in music rather than what is safe.

Once again, the Grammys had a chance to give Record of the Year to a rap recording, and once again they chose not to. Kanye West's "Gold Digger" was nominated, but Green Day took home the trophy for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (which was the band's only nomination). But this year still couldn't hold a candle to the notorious 2004 Grammys [recognizing records released in 2002 and 2003] when Beyonce and Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake, Eminem, and Outkast were all passed over for Coldplay's "Clocks." Back to this year, Kanye was also up for Album of the Year, but U2 grabbed it for 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Kanye did win in the actual rap categories, though, taking home three awards for rap solo performance, rap song, and rap album.

Part of the Grammys' problem may be that they spread themselves too thin and try to recognize everybody. This year they handed out little gramophones in 108 categories. (In case you still haven't heard, Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra won for Best Polka Album [it's Jimmy's fifteenth Grammy, by the way], and Jelly Roll Morton's Complete Library of Congress Recordings was honored for both Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album.) Barack Obama also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album (which nowadays essentially means "best book on tape").

I actually did miss the Grammy telecast, but I'm sorry I didn't see Gorillaz (even if they were dueting with Madonna) and Sly Stone. I saw Gorillaz (such as they were) when they toured their first album a couple of years ago. At that point, they didn't have the technology to do anything more than hide the real musicians behind a screen so we could only see their shadows. Every now and again, they'd project a picture of one of the characters on the screen, but mostly we saw variously colored shadows in front of variously colored lights. The music was nice, but I felt like I was Plato or something. Gorillaz did actually win Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Feel Good Inc.," which they recorded with De La Soul. Somehow I have the feeling that this particular award wasn't televised, but if it was, did anybody see it? Did 2D and Murdoc accept?

I've rambled from topic to topic long enough, but before I finish, I should mention that I was at a used CD store tonight, and they wanted $11 for used copies of Gorillaz' Demon Days. I know that I could've driven a bit farther to buy a new copy for $14, so why on earth would I buy a used copy if I'm only saving three bucks? I've been meaning to write a post about the dwindling number of used CD outlets, but I hope that the list of stores that have disappeared isn't going to get a bit longer because somebody's trying to squeeze a few more pennies out of customers.