Grammies?

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

In the U.S., to what extent do these Grammy Award winners and newer performers reflect the actual current quality of music and musicians?

Beyond a general perception formed from a distance suggesting Justin Beeber may deserve a serious beating, does that punk have any musical talent? If yes, is, or was, it apparent to other people?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't watch the grammies, but I did watch a video of Lady Gaga's David Bowie tribute. I would have cut out a song and slowed down Heroes, but it was a solid effort.

The Twitter responses were very funny. One said "so nice to see Lady Gaga pay tribute to the artists she ripped off". LOL

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Relative to other current musicians, Lady Gaga appears to be talented. However, I didn't find her Bowie memoriam particularly impressive. Bruno Mars and Alabama Shakes also appear to put on good shows at times. Others?

 

[John]

I don't watch the grammies, but I did watch a video of Lady Gaga's David Bowie tribute. I would have cut out a song and slowed down Heroes, but it was a solid effort.

The Twitter responses were very funny. One said "so nice to see Lady Gaga pay tribute to the artists she ripped off". LOL

the one she really ripped off was Dale Bozio of Missing Persons.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think music today is light years better than most of the crap that was polluting the radio in the 80's. The only music from that period that has held up is Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, REM and some of the New Wave stuff. Public Enemy was excellent, but even an artist like Ice T seems a little lame now. Pretty thin gruel for a decade of music. The 80's were so bad that the 90's grunge whiner rock seems awesome by comparison.

 

[Excalibur]

I think music today is light years better than most of the crap that was polluting the radio in the 80's. The only music from that period that has held up is Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, REM and some of the New Wave stuff. Public Enemy was excellent, but even an artist like Ice T seems a little lame now. Pretty thin gruel for a decade of music. The 80's were so bad that the 90's grunge whiner rock seems awesome by comparison.

I'd throw in U2's offerings from that time as having held up well, in addition to some of the post-punk stuff from early in the decade.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I'd throw in U2's offerings from that time as having held up well, in addition to some of the post-punk stuff from early in the decade.

I am sure I missed a few.

Compare that to the 70's when there were dozens of historically great bands with huge libraries of tremendous music. Even dance music from the 70's blew away the comparable 80's fare.

 

[Excalibur]

I am sure I missed a few.

Compare that to the 70's when there were dozens of historically great bands with huge libraries of tremendous music. Even dance music from the 70's blew away the comparable 80's fare.

Oh, I agree -- it's slim pickings, for sure . . .

 

[ZooCougar]

In the U.S., to what extent do these Grammy Award winners and newer performers reflect the actual current quality of music and musicians?

Beyond a general perception formed from a distance suggesting Justin Beeber may deserve a serious beating, does that punk have any musical talent? If yes, is, or was, it apparent to other people?

Too bad they didn't let Muse perform. Glad they won best rock album, but "Drones" that wasn't even remotely close to their best. Was there any rock music performed?

I'm still peeved that the Grammies cut to the credits during the Queens of the Stone Age/NIN performance a few years back.

 

[SAMCRO]

The Hamilton performance was pretty good, IMO. I'm biased, saw it on Broadway a couple weeks ago, thought the whole show was very good. Great cast album.
BB King tribute was great w/ Raitt, Taylor, and Clark, Jr.
Gaga was solid.
Beyond that the whole show was pretty underwhelming

 

[mauconnfan]

Grammies are almost unwatchable. Bieber is a joke, looked whacked out on something quite honestly. Ok so I'm not up on the "new stuff" and I'm guessing The Weekend is better than his showing but really? Unimpressive there too. Gaga was eh, I guess decent but it's Bowie, can we have someone who can sound a little like him do the tribute? The Eagles with Jackson Browne in honor of Glenn Frey I did like as it was rather easy and it's 70's after all. Bruno Mars is consistently a top performer no matter where and when, special talent.

Overall, just needs an overhaul to be worthy of a top awards show.

 

[John]

I think music today is light years better than most of the crap that was polluting the radio in the 80's. The only music from that period that has held up is Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, REM and some of the New Wave stuff. Public Enemy was excellent, but even an artist like Ice T seems a little lame now. Pretty thin gruel for a decade of music. The 80's were so bad that the 90's grunge whiner rock seems awesome by comparison.

The 80s was the swan song of popular music, it's been a long and slow slide into a heap since then. Sure, an act here or there might break the norm, but overall the trajectory is very much in the downward direction unfortunately.

 

[storrsroars]

I'd throw in U2's offerings from that time as having held up well, in addition to some of the post-punk stuff from early in the decade.

Yeah. Nobody is going to tell me the Replacements didn't hold up.

 

[J187Money]

Grammies are almost unwatchable. Bieber is a joke, looked whacked out on something quite honestly. Ok so I'm not up on the "new stuff" and I'm guessing The Weekend is better than his showing but really? Unimpressive there too. Gaga was eh, I guess decent but it's Bowie, can we have someone who can sound a little like him do the tribute? The Eagles with Jackson Browne in honor of Glenn Frey I did like as it was rather easy and it's 70's after all. Bruno Mars is consistently a top performer no matter where and when, special talent.

Overall, just needs an overhaul to be worthy of a top awards show.

It can be tough to watch on TV. Live, however, it is about the best show you can go to. Just very difficult to translate the moments to TV. Live music / quite the opposite of sports / just isn't great on TV most of the time.

 

[J187Money]

In the U.S., to what extent do these Grammy Award winners and newer performers reflect the actual current quality of music and musicians?

Beyond a general perception formed from a distance suggesting Justin Beeber may deserve a serious beating, does that punk have any musical talent? If yes, is, or was, it apparent to other people?

It reflects the view of the current year's releases, so it is pretty reflective of what is out there. The Grammys do nod more towards art than "people's choice" type awards shows - the winners are reflective of what "industry" folks view as great works.

As to Bieber, if you like pop music, he is pretty good at it. Regardless of what you think of him as a person, he is good at what he does.

 

[meyers7]

I've found quite a few newer artists that I like. But they're not on the radio or in the pops stuff. Just small touring bands (mostly rock/blues/Americana stuff) that you can find on YouTube and catch a smaller venues. They put out EPs, LPs. But their not big time on the radio.