The Grammy's with a Grain of Salt

By Nicholas Neyhouse on February 10, 2015

Sam Smith. Winner of 4 Grammy’s.

The Grammy’s, or “Music’s Biggest Night” occurred on February 8th, 2015, and while CBS may claim it to be “Music’s Biggest Night” I’m not so sure. I know that many people have previously criticized award shows, and specifically the Grammy’s, and I’d like to touch on some previous arguments and add some more.

To begin, ‘it does not feel right to award or put down music’. This argument is brought up constantly, and it makes sense. Artwork and music is an end in itself to most people, although giving out awards may make some people use music as a means to end. I’m not saying that music should not be criticized for it’s faults or rewarded for it’s merits, but creating a system of awards may lead to a less genuine musical artist. Musical artists who really only care about fame and awards go against the fundamental reason of making art for itself.

The musician Bon Iver, who won Grammy’s for “Best New Artist” and “Best Alternative Music Album in 2012, has spoken about the oddness of ‘winning’ at music. He spoke about this in multiple occasions, although the video that gives his most accurate and clear minded opinion of the Grammy’s is here: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on Q Skip to 3:00. He also says later on it feels like “this doesn’t make any sense” for winning something in music. He would feel like he needs to apologize for winning.

A second argument against the Grammy’s is that it just does not matter. I tend to agree that rewarding people in a televised and public manner such as the Grammy’s, and sort of worshiping the artist and their work does not matter in the long run. Although this argument represents an opinion on the rewarding system, and it does not show a fault. A possible related argument could be that large egos are produced from awards, and those egos create an unsafe relationship between artist and fans; however the statement that they just do not matter does not express an actual argument, but rather it expresses an opinion.

The final argument I’d like to touch on discusses the inability of the Grammy’s to listen to and represent a larger variety of artists. There seems to be a popularity contest going on, and sometimes it seems like music has nothing to do with winning Grammy’s. Of course the group of people voting for Grammy’s could genuinely believe that Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, and Pharrell Williams all deserved the many nominations they received, and as for Sam Smith the many wins he received. I and anyone else could argue that there were many other great records, songs, and artists this last year. These other great records, songs, and artist may not be as popular as Sam Smith, but could potentially be as highly critically acclaimed or even more highly critically acclaimed.

I understand that not everyone can be nominated, and I understand that not everyone can win. As well I know that a lot of people may tell me, ‘If you don’t like it, then don’t watch it’, and I’d like to just say that it isn’t that I don’t like it, but rather I can see a lot of potential issues with the system it creates. As well I would like to say that I do not have anything against the musicians I stated before, and I do enjoy some of the music they put out. I am trying to point out that it feels odd that the most commercially successful artists are also the ones to win Grammy’s when so many other not as commercially successful, yet critically successful albums, records, and songs exist and don’t even get nominated.

For some examples, here is a list of the Best Albums of 2014 according to metacritic.com: Best Albums of 2014 Metacritic takes the reviews of as many critics as possible and averages their scores in order to give an average score for an Album, TV Show, Movie, or Game.

Photo By: Side Stage Collective taken on July 11, 2014

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