Fuzzy Bits: Grammy Recap

U2 left very happy campers after the Grammys


U2, Kelly Clarkson shine at Grammys

While I'm not the biggest fan, well, not really a fan at all, of Kelly Clarkson, I was happy that she won for both Pop Vocal album as well as best Female Pop Vocal Performance, because I felt she was most deserving in both categories. What I can not wrap my head around however, is how U2 walked away with five grammys including Album of the Year and consequently, Rock Album of the Year. I will say that I am a fan of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and also U2, but I really think that Late Registration had it beat hands down. Also, despite being disappointed with the album as a whole I thought that "Speed of Sound" should've beaten out "City of Blinding Lights" for Rock Performance by Duo/Group. Beyond that, I was happy that John Legend was able to win a few grammys, and more importantly that Mariah Carey walked away with nothing. Sure it may seem like a giant slap in the face that she would be nominated so many times and get nothing out of it, but really, she didn't deserve a single win, and shouldn't have received so many nominations to begin with. Two final big surprises for me as far as the actual awards were that the White Stripes beat out both Beck and The Arcade Fire for Best Alternative Album, and also that Steve Lillywhite beat out Danger Mouse for Producer of the Year (although Danger Mouse will win it next year, I guarantee it).
As for the performances, they were all pretty awful to say the least. I unfortunately missed out on the opener so if you saw it please post a comment about it because I'd love to hear a response. Coldplay was pretty good, but no one seemed to be getting into it, maybe they were wondering why Chris Martin was hopping around. The impromptu Stevie Wonder/Alicia Keys performance was nice, if a bit cliched. The whole Sly and the Family Stone reunion was aptly bizarre and should answer the question of whether or not there is extraterrestrial life (the answer being in the affirmative). Even scarier is that they're supposedly thinking about working on a comeback. Someone might want to tell Sly that could involve being in studio for longer than five minutes. Coming onto the stage with a crossing-guard-yellow mohawk and an even louder jacket that would make Liberace want to gag, he sang along with the various rock stars behind him towards the end of the performance for what seemed to be two minutes before waving and exiting the stage as quickly as he came on, never to be heard from again. Now, while that in any other awards show would probably constitute as being the worst performance of the night, they were definitely outdone by the absolutely terrible performance by Jay-Z, Linkin Park, and Paul McCartney. While it started out sensibly enough with LP and Jay-Z doing their grammy winning single "Numb/Encore" all of a sudden, the refrain from "Yesterday" started playing while Jay-Z was rapping, and out pops McCartney in a move which I'm sure made every other Beatle cringe and have another reason to want to kick McCartney's butt. To make matters worse, McCartney's voice was so bad (maybe because he had strained during his earlier performance) that he was basically outclassed by Linkin Park lead "singer" Chester Bennington. The best performances in my opinion were Christina Aguilera/Herbie Hancock's performance of "A Song For You," and the finale which was sadly cut off, which included Bonnie Raitt, Allen Touissant, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, and others as they performed "Yes We Can Can" (from the New Orleans cd) and ended with Wilson Pickett cover "In the Midnight Hour."