A Funny Thing happened on the way to the Grammy’s this year.
Two very BIG upsets occurred.
Arcade Fire won album of the year for their rock concept album “The
Suburbs” beating out chart toppers like Lady Gaga.
But even more amazing was the win by Jazz musician Esperanza Spalding in
the best new artist category, beating out pop machines like Justin Bieber.
On Twitter you had people asking “Who are the Suburbs? (No that wasn’t a
misprint, they really said that). And how could they beat Lady Gaga when
they haven’t had a radio hit”?
Already I can hear people in the media saying that the Grammy’s are out of
touch letting a Jazz musician that most people have never heard of, win
over a pop star that everyone has heard of.
And as a voting member of the Grammy’s I say screw em! This has been a
long time coming.
I grew up hating the Grammy's but loving the Oscars.
To me the Grammy's seemed to give awards based solely on sales. It always
felt like nothing more than a popularity contest. Unlike the Oscars which
truly seemed to make an effort to honor artistic achievement over Box
office receipts. American Pie may have made a lot of money but you didn’t
see it get a best picture nomination. This is because box office doesn’t
necessarily always equal great cinema.
For the most part we don’t bat an eye when a movie that most of the
general public hasn’t seen gets nominated for or wins best picture (how
many people reading this have seen The King’s Speech yet?). In fact for
most of us the reaction is “I have never seen this movie, but it must be
pretty good if it got nominated or won best picture”.
So why isn’t the reaction the same when it comes to music? Why has there
been so much internet outrage by people who are upset that a music artist
they have never heard of wins over an artist that everyone has heard of.
Why isn’t the reaction; “Well maybe because they are really good”.
I became a member because sometimes the only way to affect change is from
the inside and I have been encouraging indie artists to become voting
members ever since.
Little by little, more and more indie artists are becoming Grammy members
and voting. I knew it was only a matter of time before we might start
seeing things like this. But to be honest, I thought it would take a lot
longer for something like this to happen. But it did.
I am really proud of my fellow voting members for making this happen. But
I guess it's is going to take a while for the general public to realize
that sales don't always equal quality when it comes to music.
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