The Grammys 2005

Have I metioned lately that rock is dead!?

As my parents always say in cases like seen above...'Get the hell outta here!!!'

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2005-02-13 20:13 ]

...only the Grammys can make crappy award shows like the Emmys seem legit.

Rock is dead. Long live rock.

Quiz time:

What do 15th century dental hygenics, Bong's posts, and the Grammys have in common? Right! They are all totally irrelevent! Gawd, talk about the worst awards show ever. You know when Joan Rivers is "greeting" attendees, it's all over.

That said, I will freely admit that Green Day's performance of American Idiot was deliciously and ironically lost on the "fraudience" assembled in front of the stage, as well as the room in general. Especially since it came so soon on the heels of the most atrocious performance of a redneck medley of "the south shall rise again" songs by what now passes for Lynard Skynard. Somebody alert Tiki-tortured that he should heretofor direct all his musical hatred toward Gretchen Wilson in toto. She must never be allowed to "sing" again.

Do yourself, and the rest of us a favor and buy Green Day's album. I never thought I'd hear myself say "I like Green Day", but there, I said it! It's one of the best of the past year. Now I'm putting on some Stooges to wash the redneck taste outta my ears.

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-02-13 21:49 ]

The Janis Joplin tribute was worth the price of admission.

On 2005-02-13 22:09, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
The Janis Joplin tribute was worth the price of admission.

In a good way, a bad way, or (hafta add this) ironic way? That was the only part of the show that I caught. I went to a bodega on Ave. A to pick up a couple beers and they had the show on TV, and lo and behold there was Joss Stone introducing 'Mrs Clean'...I mean Melissa Etheridge and her bald head singing 'Piece of My Heart'. Hmmm... almost sounds good in writing, but ridiculous to see. Are bald women still shocking? I guess in front of the 'fraudience' (luv that Tiki Bot...a new term has been coined for the 21st Century) it is. And as far as Joss Stone...how many more fuckin white people do I have to hear with that fake soul voice? Yeah...she has volume...so what! Tired of that. The last person who even passed with that fake soul thing was Mariah Carey. I'm not a fan, but I'll buy that she has a real voice. White people with fake soul voices must die!

I almost wish that I saw Green Day. Not a big fan of theirs either, but if there was ever a band that was barely, barely carrying the punk torch, they're it. I did hear a smidge of the 'American Idiot' album. The title alone says that they are at least thinking aboiut current events, and I heard one song that had some lyric like 'I'm not gonna follow the redneck agenda'. Okay....at least these guys have something to say. Who the hell does that in rock music anymore? Oh yeah...NOBODY..there are no rock bands left. And Maroon 5? Oh-my-god. If I can just invoke the spirit of John Belushi....."Neidermeyer...DEAD! Marmalarde DEAD! Maroon 5....DEAD!!!"

As David Crosby once said to Bob Dylan at a similar gathering "Buncha dicks on auto-stroke!" Got that right.

ROCK IS DEAD! LONG LIVE ROCK!!!!

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2005-02-13 22:46 ]

donhonyc!
Cut the crap and get yourself you're own column on Rolling Stone magazine!
Great Review!

So who the fuck said that Rock-n-Roll was gonna die?

Donhonyc, did you know Melissa Etheridge is battling breast cancer? I was shocked by her appearance but come to find out the bald head was a result of chemo not a fashion statement. No, this comment is not meant as a "how dare you make fun of a cancer patient" - it's just a little sidenote...:)

What I wanna know is when anybody actually thought the Grammy Awards did reflect the state of rock n' roll.

Was it back in the good old days when Jethro Tull won the first "Heavy Metal" award?

Was it when Milli Vanilli was voted best new artists?

Check this distinguished list of Best New Artist winners and ponder their legacies: Starland Vocal Band, Debbie Boone, Taste of Honey, Sheena Easton, Culture Club, Jody Watley, Hootie and the Blowfish, Christina Aguilera, Marvin Hamlisch, The Carpenters.

If we were to use the Grammys as our barometer, then we'd have to conclude that rock has been dead for over 30 years. Which may, of course, be true. :)

Yeah..I did know that Melissa Etheridge has or had breast cancer, but I didn't, I guess mistakenly, know that the baldness was the result of chemo. Other than the hair she looked pretty healthy and seemed to be her usual self. Chemo usually makes you look skinnier, etc. Oops...no offense meant.

As far as the Grammy/Rock is Dead issue. I should have been more specific about my disdain for Slipknot and their shenanigans. That's what I'm talking about. But I still say...Rock is dead. Pete Townshend at 60 can still probably kick all their butts at arm wrestling or conversely, kick all their arms at butt wrestling. DOH!

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2005-02-14 21:57 ]

Motorhead won best Metal performance!

Why didn't they let Lemme sing instead of Gretchen Wilson?

You gotta admit...he's a handsome guy!

We're not the only ones that thought it sucked...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/14/media.grammys.reut/index.html

The grammy's don't matter, but there is some sweetness to Green Day performing the line "I must be part of faggot America, I'm not part of your redneck agenda" a few heartbeats behind Gretchen Wilson waving her fist around singing the line "in Birmingham they love the governor..." yeahhhhh, Gretchen, in a perfect world you'd be running into 50Cent's posse in the alley behind Staples Arena....

Sorry, it's just sad to see the grammy's celebrating a song that celebrates racism!

I'm quite pleased the peace punks from Berkeley won the grammy!

This is way off topic from the grammys but after reading Mrs. Pineapple's post about the lyrics to Lynrd Skynrd's hillbilly anthem I decided to look them up (I never could understand a damn word of that song anyway!) Well I came across this...

http://www.crazylyrics.com/lynyrd-skynyrd-sweet-home-alabama.htm

I started reading the lyrics and they made even less sense than I could imagine...come to find out Klaas Van Klempert was doing his best translating English to German to English again...

On 2005-02-15 21:21, johntiki wrote:
This is way off topic from the grammys but after reading Mrs. Pineapple's post about the lyrics to Lynrd Skynrd's hillbilly anthem I decided to look them up (I never could understand a damn word of that song anyway!) Well I came across this...

http://www.crazylyrics.com/lynyrd-skynyrd-sweet-home-alabama.htm

I started reading the lyrics and they made even less sense than I could imagine...come to find out Klaas Van Klempert was doing his best translating English to German to English again...

that translation is a bit, off? :wink:

They wrote Sweet Home Alabama in response to Neil Young's Southern Man, which is pretty much about segregation, and the civil rights movement. It explains the line 'well I heard Neil Young sing about it, I hope old Neil will remember, a southern man don't need him around...blah blah blah'
The line about "they love the governor", is about George Wallace, who ordered the fire hoses in Selma, I wonder if Gretchen Wilson realizes that?

anyway - the funny thing is, her big hit is 'Redneck Woman', hence the Green Day middle finger, in my opinion! She really can't sing though, I saw one review that compared her performance to that of Britney Spears dueting with Aerosmith at the Super Bowl a few years back. Don't even get me started on the Super Bowl....

I was never really sure that 'Sweet Home Alabama' was to be taken literally or if Ronnie Van Zant was being somewhat ironic when he wrote the song. I'm not defending it in any way, I'm sure that there are tons of people out there that take the song at face value and revel in it. God knows...I grew up with a few people that did, but that's a whole other story.

In interviews, members of the group, specifically former drummer Artemis Pyle attest to Ronnie Van Zant's humanity and that he was not a racist at all. On the Neil Young angle, there is photo and concert footage of Ronnie Van Zant wearing a Neil Young 'Tonight's the Night' t-shirt, I guess a nod to the person he disses in the song.

Anyway...glad I missed the Gretchen Wilson performance, sounds like it was negative energy. And yeah Mrs. Pineapple, I never thought I would see the names Aerosmith & Britney Spears in the same sentence. Aerosmith was sucking since at least 1979 when they ended that first golden aged part of their career, They should have stayed on drugs! When they performed with BS at the Super Bowl that pretty much was the last nail in the coffin. Let's put it this way...do you think Aerosmith would have been performing along side of vapid pop stars like, oh I don't know... Marie Osmond in the 70s? NO F'in way! Britney is the equivalent except she shakes her ass around. Oh well...that's the world we live in.

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2005-02-15 22:12 ]

Hmmm, it could be that Lynyrd Skynyrd was being ironic. I was 10 when the song came out, and lyrics lost some irony when blasted froma pickup truck with a confederate flag pasted on the window (and I grew up in the NorthEast!)

I have to say when I was looking at the lyrics, I forgot all the dopey songs from middle school that I 'loved' Gimme 3 Steps pops right up there, singing along to the radio, not having a clue what the song was about!

I prefer my southern rock in the Johnny Cash / Loretta Lynn / Dolly Parton flavor!

When I was watching Lynrd Skynrd do Sweethome Alabama I coulda sworn that Neil Young was playing guitar with them. Does their guitarist have a striking resemblence in look and pose or was that Neil? It was along day and I was "happy", so perhaps my eyes were failing me.

I did find it refreshing that this years Grammys seemed a bit more diverse and appreciative of the masters that paved the way, instead of being dominated by rap, hip hop or boy bands. I thought the opening was kinda cool.

But all this talk about rock being dead? C'mon folks,, Any "rock" band that has ever won a grammy has instantly lost all credibility in the eyes of "rockers" anyways.
What does Punk have to do with an American awards show? In a way I think rock is back where it truly belongs- In the small clubs, the underground, the indy scene. Look at bands like Queens of the Stoneage,or Stone Temple Pilots, or even Tool. Whether you like 'em or not, they all rock, and quite hard, and their droves of fans would just as soon stick a knife in you before before they would ever utter the words "rock is dead".
Rock will never die, even if you can't get todays backwards hat wearing, jeans around their knees hiphopster wannabe's to buy it. As long as there are electric guitars and garages rock will live on just fine.

This year the show was mercifully free of the "someone's standing on my fo-oo-oot" yowling, I mean singing "style" of the likes of Christina Aguilera, boy bands, et al.

There were actually decently clothed, non lip-synching musicians playing instruments in the opening production! By next year, we'll all forget who won what, but it was nice to see musicians with talent (Los Lonely Boys for example- they've been playing since they were small kids)get rewarded.