The Grammy's (a.k.a. who the hell cares?)

I don't put much stock in the Grammy's. It seems to be a collection of the same bland acts year in and year out. The performers are undoubtedly talented, but in a very predictable way. Even last year, when OutKast won, it was an ambitious but not well-executed album that everyone lost their minds over. Stankonia is much better. Their old style is much better. And this year we had a horrible performance by J-Lo and Mark Anthony, some Dave Matthews hack win Song of the Year, a (surprise!) performance by the Black-Eyed Peas (gee, I had never heard that song before), Maroon 5 beating Kanye West for Best New Artist (I'm not a Kanye fan, but Maroon 5?!?! What?!?!) and Ray Charles get the sympathy vote.

But the anecdote I have that completely turned me off of the Grammy's is from a few years ago. The first award handed out was "Best Female Pop Vocal." Britney Spears was up for the award. Lou Reed was the presenter. And so Lou Reed comes out on stage, and he gets this standing ovation because he's awesome and the Velvet Underground (NOT Velvet Revolver) are fantastic, and then he reads off the list of nominees.

And all I can think is, "I swear to Christ if Lou Reed has to hand Britney Spears a Grammy I'm going to shove knitting needles into my eyes and ears."

Gwen Stefani ended up winning for a No Doubt song. That's a little better than Britney Spears, but still: that's a dangerous game they're playing.