Among the four annual American awards that make up the EGOT – the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, which symbolize outstanding excellence in major entertainment fields – the Grammy is generally regarded as the most ridiculous.
Why this is can be seen in both the fine lines and big picture of the 56th Grammy Awards, which were presented at the Staples Center on Sunday evening. Hosted by LL Cool J for the third time, the 82 category celebration of the best in music and audio recording was moved up to January from its usual February air date because of next month’s Winter Olympics.
Daft Punk, the French duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo that has become one of the most influential electronic groups in history since its early works in the 1990s, was the night’s biggest winner with four awards for its album “Random Access Memories,” including album of the year. The duo’s hit single “Get Lucky,” featuring Pharrell Williams, won record of the year.
Daft Punk’s victory at the show marks a rare moment when the Grammys appear more in touch with the common state of music today. The first electronic album to win album of the year, “Random Access Memories” was also regarded as one of the best albums of the year by many notable music publications, including Rolling Stone, Billboard, PopMatters and Pitchfork. This contradicts past years when victorious albums were otherwise notably less acclaimed, such as Mumford & Sons’ “Babel” and Taylor Swift’s “Fearless.”
While the Grammys do find silver linings to give away, such as Lorde’s win for song of the year for her delightfully minimalistic “Royals,” or Kacey Musgraves’ two wins for her breakthrough country album “Same Trailer Different Park,” the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences still finds ways to make egregious oversights.
The biggest this year, perhaps, was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “The Heist” victory for best rap album over Kendrick Lamar’s landmark rap work “good kid, m.A.A.d City” and Kanye West’s “Yeezus.” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ win in this category, as well as their win in the best new artist category – a section known for its strange qualifications as to what quantifies a “new artist” – shows the Academy’s reliance on artists that chart well rather than those whom most contemporaries consider the best in their fields.
Many of the night’s best acts were those that had an apparent shadow of forethought behind them. For example, the collaboration of country legends Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard with Blake Shelton in a twangy rendition of Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” was a peaceful delight.
Sara Bareilles and Carole King’s piano-driven performance of “Brave” was the night’s most adorable act, pairing two ladies with an extreme musical chemistry. Even Beyonce’s opener “Drunk in Love” with husband Jay-Z was done with style and class, knocking it out of the park early on.
But with each pleasant, well-presented performance came a strong presence of chaos to counteract it. Imagine Dragons’ remix of “Radioactive” with Kendrick Lamar was loud and ridiculous, an unfortunate integration of what works and what doesn’t work. Metallica’s playing “One” with Chinese pianist Lang Lang was an absurd idea to begin with, and resulted in a nearly indiscernible piece on television.
The Grammy Awards have a knack for finding ways to mix odd musical choices with niche acts that can garner public recognition. This year’s show was no different, and in fact may have done better with the latter by giving the evening’s highest honor to an artist that successfully broke the mold.
But somewhere between the lines, from Nate Ruess’ inability to sing his portion of Pink’s “Just Give Me a Reason” live, or CBS controversially cutting off the closing supergroup of Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl for a Delta Airlines commercial, the Grammys falter, leaving the show more as a symbol of amusement than of the venerable recognition it strives for.