Earlier this week, the nominees for the 2012 Grammy Awards were announced. Normally, I would dismiss the Grammy Awards. In recent history, Grammy voters have been extremely out of touch with popular music. Year 2000: Steely Dan trumps Eminem' The Marshall Mathers LP and Radiohead's Kid A for Album of the Year. In 2009, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss teamed up to record Raising Sand which inexcusably beat Radiohead's In Rainbows for Album of the Year (in case you hadn't noticed, I love Radiohead). But the main point is, the Grammy's have a long history of terrible snubs and tend to be out of sync with the current trends in music.
Fortunately, I'm not the only person with this opinion and it seems to be getting back to the voters because the past couple years' nominees are starting to make more sense.
This year, Kanye West leads all artists with 7 nominations (however, did not pick up a nod for Album of the Year). Adele, Bruno Mars, and Foo Fighters each picked up 6 noms. Lil Wayne and Skrillex (not a typo) picked up 5. Bon Iver, Cee Lo Green, Drake, Mumford & Sons, Nicki Minaj, Radiohead, and Rhianna all received 4 nods. Oh, and Lady Gaga got a mere 3.
Here are the nominees in some of the more prominent categories:
Album of the Year
Adele, 21
Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light
Lady Gaga, Born This Way
Rhianna, Loud
Record of the Year
Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"
Bon Iver, "Holocene"
Bruno Mars, "Grenade"
Mumford & Sons, "The Cave"
Katy Perry, "Firework"
Song of the Year
Kanye West, "All of the Lights"
Mumford & Sons, "The Cave"
Bruno Mars, "Grenade"
Bon Iver, "Holocene"
Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"
Best New Artist
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
For a complete list of the other nominees head over to www.grammy.com/nominees
Quick Reactions
- Let's just give Adele the awards for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year already and move on. No possible way she doesn't clean house on those categories.
- I'm a little bittersweet on how the Grammy voters treated Kanye West. While I'm glad he garnered the most nominations, it is very perplexing on why he was snubbed for Album of the Year. Love him or hate him, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was one of the best albums of all time! OF ALL TIME!! Seriously though, it was a masterpiece. Nearly every track is flawless, with insanely catchy beats and excellent songwriting.
- I can't wrap my head around Bruno Mars and his music. I get how he's nominated for all those categories, but I don't agree with it. His music is way too simple and generic for my tastes. His songs sound like a 5th grader wrote them for poetry week.
- Glad that Foster the People got a little love for Torches by scoring nods for Best Alternative Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Pumped Up Kicks," but they got a big FUCK YOU from Grammy voters for not getting more love for "Pumped Up Kids" on Record of the Year and Song of the Year, not to mention getting snubbed for a Best New Artist nod. Speaking of which...
- Skrillex being nominated for Best New Artist had to be one of the biggest shocks. I didn't think Grammy voters would know who he was. I respect Skrillex for what he does as a producer, but dubstep as a genre is pretty awful. Other oddities in this category are The Band Perry (there's always someone or some band you've never heard of that gets nominated) and Bon Iver (who released his SECOND studio album this year, but was still somehow eligible for a nomination).
- Glad that "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce got a nod for Best Dance Recording. That song has been everywhere this year from Vitamin Water commercials to becoming the official song of the Coachella 2011 campgrounds (as decided by me). Seriously, people were chanting that song all weekend. I look back on it with fond memories.
- Foo Fighters delivered one of the best albums of the year in Wasting Light and should win every award it was nominated for. It probably will clean up in the Rock categories, but has no shot at Album of the Year.
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