Williams would like to thank the Academy for their
insight. Feel free to agree at mwilliams@media.ucla.edu.
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Thank God for the Grammys. Without them, we would be lost in a
sea of music with no one to tell us what to like.
The track record of the Grammys clearly proves that the
Recording Academy is an organization we can trust to tell us what
is good and bad. Obviously the music industry, that haven of
creativity and art, is the best entity around to draw attention to
quality acts in the music world. Like Natalie Cole, winner of the
best album for “Unforgettable” in 1991, a year that saw
Nirvana “Nevermind” and U2’s “Achtung
Baby.” I’m glad they cleared that up, and established
which was the true artist.
In 1996, the Recording Academy had the wisdom to select Celine
Dion’s “Falling Into You” over Beck’s
“Odelay.” It’s nice to hear that pure fluff is
still important enough to garner the recording industry’s
highest honor.
And who can forget Steely Dan’s best album win for
“Two Against Nature” last year, over Radiohead’s
“Kid A.” Because, you know, Steely Dan really had a
substantial impact on music that year. People are still talking
about that album and its significance. Whereas “Kid A”
is just another insubstantial drop in the musical bucket that
doesn’t deserve the same accolades and attention of an aging
band that wasn’t that relevant even in the ’70s.
Delving a little farther back, we find more gems of inspiration.
Glen Campbell won best album in 1968 for “By the Time I Get
to Phoenix,” which is without question the most relevant
album of that year. Not the Beatles’ “White
Album,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland”
or Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.”
But what is really the best part about the Grammys is how ahead
of their time they are. For example, honoring Bob Dylan’s
musical achievements with his first best album award in the
mid-’90s is timely. It’s a good thing they didn’t
take the risk of recognizing “Blonde on Blonde” in 1966
or “Blood on the Tracks” in 1975. Or how about giving
Pink Floyd the best rock instrumental award in 1994 for
“Marooned.” The only other award the band has ever won
was for best engineered recording, non-classical, for “The
Wall.”
Never mind ignoring the careers of Jimi Hendrix and Led
Zeppelin. Not only did they not win any best album awards, they
didn’t win any awards whatsoever. The Rolling Stones won
their first award in 1994, clearly the height of their career. The
Who never won. The Velvet Underground, critically acclaimed and
musically influential, also never won. (Does anyone else see a
pattern here?)
They have, of course, taken the risk of setting up the Grammy
Hall of Fame, which was established in 1973 to “honor
recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that
are at least 25 years old,” according to the Grammy Web
site.
“Abbey Road” made it onto the list in 1995.
It’s good to know that, by 1995, the Recording Academy
recognized that maybe this was an important album. Previously it
had only won in the best engineering, non-classical category. While
we’re on the Beatles subject, “Revolver” only won
for best cover art when it was new, and was inducted to the Hall of
Fame in 1999.
That was the same year the Academy decided that “Bitches
Brew” by Miles Davis was pretty good, too. And
“Blue” by Joni Mitchell. And “The Dark Side of
the Moon” by Pink Floyd. It seems to have been a catch-up
year.
Really the best part of the Hall of Fame is that rule about the
recordings being 25 years old. That way the Academy is really,
really sure the album is good before they risk including it.
Maybe that’s the kind of hindsight they wish they had for
some of those best album selections.