‘Sup Dudes. Isn’t finals week bonkers? Fer sure, fer sure. The Grammy nominations came out and there was one glaring problem. No it wasn’t that every single artist on that list is undeserving (maybe except Feist/ Justice/ LCD Soundsystem), the problem was — there was no local music!
There are some great reasons that local music is so great. 1) It’s close in proximity to me. 2) It’s music. Put two and two together and it’s LOCAL MUSIC. All my favorite bands are from around here, so let’s talk about it.
Tonight is the second round of the “Fall Semester Showdown” at the Canopy Club featuring
The Beauty Shop and The Chemicals. It’s $5 if you show up before 10pm, so be sure to check that out. There’s so much to say about these bands that there isn’t any space to do it. Moving on … The next night is another showdown featuring elsinore and The Living Blue and then the next night is Headlights, Shipwreck, and New Ruins.
Hey, bolded text! Unbolded text! Bolded text again! Hey, go to every show at Cowboy Monkey or the Highdive, there will be BANDS there. buzz doesn’t need to sell ad space to venues; I’m giving it to them!
But in all seriousness, let’s move on. Grammy nominations are out. It makes you think about what the best is and who decides it. I decided for myself last week; the rest of the staff has decided for this issue (I’m hoping no one said Paramore). With that in mind, it’s easy to say, “Oh, Brian doesn’t like the nominations because he has a conflicting taste in music.” But to be honest, I don’t think that’s why they’re bad. Sure, with the exception of maybe four artists on the entire nominee list, I think it’s filled with the sloppiest, smelliest crap the industry could scrape up, but it’s more than that.
The Grammys show how transparent the commercial interests of the music industry are. The only Kanye West song nominated for “best rap song” is one done exclusively for Nike. “Hey There Delilah” is nominated for best song (the ultimate WTF) and was pushed down the throats of consumers by Disney-owned Hollywood Records. (Plain White T’s’ extensive exposure on ABC Family’s show Greek makes more sense now.) Also, the only reason one of the few redeemable nominees, Feist, was nominated was because of a recent association with iPods.
The nominees have become cereal box mascots for the corporations that own or are partnered with their labels. Licensing and promotions are fine, even necessary for the survival of many artists, but when those concepts are deciding factors on what is considered “the best,” there are some serious issues.
Sure I personally love Saturday Looks Good To Me, but I don’t think they should win a ton of Grammys for their most recent album. They just personally speak to me. That’s my opinion, and saying that the Foo Fighters had one of the best albums of the year — that’s just wrong.
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