Many people hold the Grammys in a high regard. I, on the other hand, think that the Grammys are the biggest scam in music. I could point the finger at record sales in general, but I believe that there are plenty people who don’t think that the best musicians are the best sellers. However, a lot of people still think that the Grammys are a good indicator of talent. I am here to change their minds.Britney Spears, Culture Club, Coolio–all are Grammy winners. Are you seriously suggesting that any of those “artists” have/had talent? Meanwhile, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones didn’t win their first Grammy until 1994. Led Zeppelin has never won the “prestigious” award, and The Beatles only won a few, and not as many as they should have (only four when they were still a band).
Obviously, if this award is as prestigious as people believe it is, then the most influential and prestigious bands should receive this award. right? Well, it rarely happens.
Probably the most famous blunder of the Grammys is the Metallica/Jethro Tull incident. First of all, a Metal category wasn’t created until 1989, which means that bands such as Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Motley Crue couldn’t be recognized until late in their careers.
The Grammys, being late as usually, could have at least given the first Grammy Metal award to the deserved winner, and ultimately save some face, but that didn’t happen. When most people think of metal, they think of shredding guitar, shrieking vocals, and pounding drums. They don’t think of a shredding flutist. That’s right, the first ever Metal Grammy went to Jethro Tull, not Metallica, one of the greatest metal bands of all-time.
If Metallica was not to win, then the academy could have at least picked Iron Maiden or Def Leppard, the only other metal bands in the category (Grateful Dead rounded it out. If pot-smoking, protesting hippies are metal, I’m killing someone). Eventually, Metallica would win its first Grammy in 1992, but the damage had been done.
Some people could say that Will Smith getting the first ever Rap Grammy over Public Enemy was a blunder, and in hindsight, giving Milli Vanilli the Best New Artist of 1990 Grammy was also a big blunder. The examples are endless, and that’s why the awards are a sham.
I believe the ultimate proof will be when Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco win a Grammy in the near future. It will happen. And when it does, the end of the world will not be far behind. I’m thinking 2012.
But hey, look at it this way: we only have to put up with crappy music for another five years.