Grammy performances all about spectacle, not about music

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m getting old.
But this year’s Grammy Awards Sunday night was a big bore, despite being orchestrated by its producers to be anything but.
It was designed to feature unique collaborations that will never be duplicated again, and each performance was made to be a spectacle for peoples’ eyes.
The show included Green Day performing with the Broadway cast of “American Idiot,” Lady GaGa and Elton John hooking up for a duet, Pink drenching the audience with aerial acrobats, and the Black Eyed Peas getting robotic.
And judging by the ratings, the show was a huge success, because more people watched it than the previous six Grammys, demonstrating people do like the orchestration.
But ratings don’t mean a thing to me when I don’t enjoy the show. This weekend’s Super Bowl could garner the highest ratings ever, but if one team wins 45-0, then to me it won’t be worth the four hours I wasted watching it.
This year’s Grammys were a 45-0 blowout because the collaborations and eye candy completely drowned out the reason for holding the show in the first place – the music.
I haven’t missed a Grammy Show since high school, and I usually eagerly wait for it as it provides an opportunity for me to hear and see great performances from artists I like and also a chance for me to discover other artists I know little to nothing about. That even means Ricky Martin, an artist who, for a moment, became a household name after his career-making Grammy performance in 1999.
Through the years, artists like Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Tina Turner and Madonna have owned the Grammy stage, using it as a podium to demonstrate their greatness. Nearly every time they performed, it was usually about the music. Once in a while they did something special to enhance the song, but whatever they did, it didn’t take precedence over the song.
But a funny thing happened in 1998: “Soy Bomb.” While Bob Dylan was performing, a half-naked man unexpectedly joined him on stage with the words “Soy Bomb” written on his chest. It was crazy, but made even crazier because Dylan kept performing either unaware of the guy’s presence or unfazed by it, as though he’s seen stranger things in his storied career.
The next day “Soy Bomb” was the most talked about aspect of the show, giving show producers for the last 11 years a light-bulb moment they are still using. If an artist is paired with either an unimaginable collaborator, like Eminem and Elton John in 2001, or with interesting visuals, like Pink with a trapeze swing, water and a revealing outfit this year, then people won’t ever want to miss the Grammys.
It worked for a while, but now producers have forgotten the most important element: the music. Pink’s song was okay, but it didn’t blow me away. I was too busy thinking about the poor people below her who probably got quite wet. Green Day has always been enjoyable to watch, but with what seemed like 1,200 other people on stage, I could barely see where the band was. And the Black Eyed Peas. Don’t even get me started.
The one performance that wasn’t about the spectacle, Taylor Swift’s, featured, well, bad music. Once again, maybe I’m too old, but I don’t get her. She can’t sing. Her voice is weak and some of her notes verve into bad “American Idol” audition territory. Stevie Nicks, who joined her in the performance, quickly made people realize how terrible Swift is.
I know it’s horrible for me to say this, but I was hoping Nicks would push her off the stage and continue alone. Or if she would have been too nice to do this, Kanye West could have jumped on stage and done so, proving to the world he was right when he interrupted her acceptance speech at last year’s MTV Video Awards Show in saying others were better than her. Not just others, I’ll say, but pretty much everybody, even the guys who sang “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
Seriously, though, I don’t know why I should even care that the performance portion of the show is no longer relevant. After all, the awards portion stopped being relevant long ago. To prove this, I just need to provide one fact: the great Neil Young – one of the greatest artists of all time – finally received his first Grammy ever this year. Of course, it was for the most minor award possible, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. The packaging of this year’s Archives Box Set, not his music, was honored.
Good job Grammys. Here’s hoping next year will find you pairing Celine Dion with Smokey Robinson in a 3-D Michael Jackson tribute. Oops. You did that this year. Congratulations.