BEYONCE, KANYE, BECK AND THE PROBLEM WITH THE GRAMMYS

So last night, Kanye West got crazy again, once again complaining quite publicly that Beyonce didn't win something that he felt that she should have won: the GRAMMY for Album of the Year. It's really to write off anything he says, because, let's face it, he can be a  bit of cry baby when things don't go his way.

But when it comes to Beyonce, there's lots of people looking out for her, and they're generally pretty vocal about it.

One of the most well thought out defenses of her came back in December: a friend of mine and former colleague wrote a bit about Beyonce being snubbed by the GRAMMYs... when the nominations were first announced.

Beyonce was nominated in "only" one of the major categories, Album of the Year, but not Song or Record. My first instinct was: big deal. She's nominated for what is arguably the biggest award of the show, it felt churlish that anyone would complain that she isn't nominated in enough of the major categories. It felt like something from straight out of the spot-on SNL "Beygency" skit.

But then I considered that Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" -- a novelty song, albeit one with a good message -- was nominated for Song and Record, and that felt a bit weird. Why would that be nominated in any categories that Beyonce's "Pretty Hurts" or "Flawless" wasn't nominated in?

I'll be clear here. I'm not a huge Beyonce fan: I listened to her album because I am a voting NARAS member and I wanted to know what I was voting for (or against). I doubt I'll ever listen to Beyonce in one sitting again. But there's no doubt that this album was more than just an album, it was an event. An event that you could almost call the 2013/2014 equivalent of a Thriller or Tapestry. At least Jagged Little Pill! All of those albums won Album of the Year, and they were all albums that cranked out hit after hit for a year or more. From the moment Beyonce dropped the album, with no warning, in late 2013, through late last year, Beyonce kept churning out single after single in a way that doesn't seem possible anymore. This is, after all, an era of ageism (and , let's face it, she's not in her 20s anymore, sorry Beygency!) and it's also an age where the culture has the attention span of a moth. People are all about the album until the album comes out, and then it's on to the next thing.

Beyonce was ingrained in popular culture in 2014: it added a new slang term to the lexicon ("Surfbordt"), and a new catch-phrase ("I woke up like this"). For good measure, it even gave Beyonce a new nickname ("'Yonce"). She even used a remix of "Flawless" to address that elevator incident. The songs weren't just pop hits. "Pretty Hurts" was about the pressures of womanhood (and a bit heavier than "All About That Bass"), where she showed some rare insecurity. In "Partition" she showed that she actually has desires beyond just money and fame. And then there was "XO" and "Jealous" and "Flawless" and the "Flawless" remix and then "7/11." There was no album that came close to making the impact of Beyonce this year.

A colleague of mine produced a mini-doc about the year in Beyonce; she wanted it to be five minutes max; it goes on for over ten.



It was just Beyonce's year, period.

I generally gravitate to stuff that I consider more "left field." I like to go who I perceive to be the underdog, and I'd personally have an easy time voting against Beyonce, given some other choices. Like, if St. Vincent's album had been nominated, I would have been all about it. Despite the disparity in popularity levels, I could justify voting for such an extraordinary album over a sales juggernaut by a superstar, even if most people have never heard of St. Vincent.

I love Beck's Morning Phase, I listened to it yesterday actually. But if you're gonna vote against Beyonce, you really have to be able to justify that choice, and I couldn't do it with Beck, even though I'm likely to listen to that album for years to come. It's not the Album of the Year by any stretch, I was surprised it even got nominated (I thought the token "rock" nomination would have gone to Jack White or the Black Keys or even St. Vincent).

How did it win, especially up against four albums that had a much higher profile, surely sold more, and had actual hit singles? I think all of the "pop" type GRAMMY voters split their votes between Bey, Sam Smith, Pharrell and Ed Sheeran, and the voters who fancy themselves more "serious" all went with Beck. That's my guess of how it happened. A lot of times, it's a numbers game.

I also think that there's a sort of inherent contrarianism to the voting body; they don't want anyone getting too big. That's why I thought Bruce Springsteen (who I feel you can compare to Beyonce on a few levels) didn't win in 2003 for The Rising even though he was the only artist really able to address 9/11, no mean feat (Album of the Year went to Norah Jones's Come Away With Me that year, and while I love that album, I felt The Rising really should have won). Kanye West has been nominated in that category a few times as well, but has never won. I think that in some ways, the music industry fear artists getting too big. In the above Beyonce mini-doc, one of the pundits mentions that the industry is afraid of Beyonce. I think he's right.

Like I said, I'm a voting NARAS member, and I care about the GRAMMYS and the integrity of the GRAMMYs. I can defend "controversial" Album of the Year choices at times: for example, a lot of ageists were whining about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand winning in 2009 (which I thought was a great choice; if Lil' Wayne won, I thought it would be a bit lame). A lot of people equate young with "relevant" (I don't) and over-35 with over the hill (obviously I don't).

But when you get a Steely Dan or Herbie Hancock win, it makes the voters look out of touch just for nominating them. I think that's what bothers me most about this: Bey will be fine. I just hope the GRAMMYs credibility will be.

It's like that time that Kanye said that "George Bush doesn't like black people." Yeah, he seemed batshit crazy, but also he didn't seem wrong. His delivery of course, was pretty awful: no, Beck shouldn't give his Album of the Year GRAMMY to Beyonce, he won, she didn't. And making a case that Beyonce is a "real artist" and Beck isn't is a bit ridiculous.  But the main point, that a major superstar got inexplicably snubbed. Well, a lot of people surely agree with him. And not just members of the Beygency.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT - POP, POP, POP MUSIC

First off: this (very obviously) photoshopped image is from Rolling Stone.

Second: sorry I haven't been posting in the past week.  Things have been busy.

Onward! So tomorrow morning I will be on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick  (and co-host Keith Price) at about 9 am ET. Every so often, I go against type and bring in a bunch of straight up pop records.

Right now, the biggest pop record on earth is the latest from Lady Gaga, Born This Way. I don't have as strong of an opinion on her as everyone else seems to.  I think she is talented, she's written some good songs, and she's a savvy marketer. On the other, I think she goes way out of her way to prove her intelligence, her artsiness and how much of an outsider she is.  I don't buy into her like other people do.  I think her new album is pretty good, but it's about as edgy as a Loverboy or REO Speedwagon album from the '80s.  I do enjoy the fact that she used Clarence Clemons from The E Street Band on two of the songs.  His playing is very '80s: it reminded me of his playing on "Dancing In The Dark" or Aretha's "Freeway Of Love."

I choose a couple of other prominent pop records: a Britney/Ke$ha/Nicki Minaj collab, a Katy Perry/Kanye West collab and some new Beyonce songs.  I have to say, I wasn't really impressed by any of them. Also a newer artist named Christina Perri: she's not my thing, but I can appreciate her a bit.

And also, the artist who I think will be one of the stories of 2011: Adele.  Right now, I bet that 21 will be one of the big Grammy albums, and it may make lots of critics lists also.

And what's that you say?  You don't have a SiriusXM subscription?  Get on that! Get a free online trial and check out what you're missing!

FRIDAY NIGHT: NO EXPIRATION ON VH1 - TOP 40 VIDEOS OF 2010

For the second year in a row, VH1 invited No Expiration to be a "pundit" on their year end video countdown. Full disclosure: I worked at VH1 for years, and they would occasionally ask me to comment on one of their shows, generally when a "real" pundit cancelled at the last minute and they had already paid for a crew. But I got good at being an interviewee (mainly because I was usually the interviewer, and I knew what they were looking for).

Last year, there were lots of rock bands on the countdown, which is why I got the call, but they used my comments on lots of pop artists too.  This year, the list is much more pop-heavy, but I had a great time being interviewed.  Thanks again Rick H and Rob N for thinking of me, and Riley M for two fun interviews.

For some reason, they've posted most of the videos (but not the top five) here, and people who watch VH1's countdowns (or the pop charts) can probably make good guesses of what topped the list. As seen above in a graphic created by VH1, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, Kid Rock and Bruno Mars have made the cut. There were a lot of questions about Katy Perry's anatomy in the interview.

I was glad that Mumford & Sons' "Little Lion Man" is on the list, I've written about them before.  They are one of my favorite new bands (even though they sound like they're from 1945). Also on the list: Muse, whose "Resistance" is one of he best songs of the past two years. One of the best videos of the year is Jack Johnson's "At Or With Me" which features Saturday Night Live's Andy Sandberg, I'm glad that made the cut.

Not that I only enjoy the more "rock" artists on the list.  I definitely dig P!nk's "Raise Your Glass," which is a great 2010 anthem (despite the lazy lyric "if you're too school for cool"), and also the Lady Gaga/Beyonce duet "Telephone." Also the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys classic "Empire State Of Mind" and both Eminem tracks, "Not Alone" and "Love The Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna. Anyway, tune in and find out what song is #1!

TOMORROW MORNING ON OUTQ: GRAMMY WRAP-UP

Last year, I went on OutQ Monday morning after the Grammys and was ready to defend the fact that I voted for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand five times, over the likes of Leona Lewis and Lil' Wayne. Tomorrow, I'm going on the air, but I don't have anything that I felt that passionate about. Beyonce and Taylor Swift both had big nights, and I don't have huge opinions about them. Some people probably thought that Lady Gaga should have won more awards.

I was happy to see Green Day win Best Rock Album, I was glad to see Judas Priest, Maxwell, Levon Helm and Booker T. Jones get some Grammy love. I guess that's what we'll be talking about tomorrow! On Wednesday, I'll be back, talking about film music: the Oscar nominations come out Tuesday.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE GRAMMY NOMS (or, MAXWELL IS ABOUT TO GET A SALES BUMP!)

I’m going on OutQ again tomorrow on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick to discuss tonight’s Grammy nominations. Last year, I really liked the way the Grammys panned out, with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss winning five for their classic album Raising Sand. I loved that album, and felt it deserved all the recognition it got. It was a victory for art. Sorry Lil Wayne. I don’t feel as enthused this year: Beyonce leads with ten nominations and Taylor Swift has eight. I enjoy songs by both ladies, but I’m not passionate about either. I was, however, glad to see Maxwell with six for his BLACKsummer’snight album. Some people didn’t even know he was back! His album came out in July and debuted at #1, but that doesn’t mean what it used to, and anyway, it didn’t seem to make an impact on the culture at all, and it disappeared pretty quickly. So, I’m glad that this will help him out. The Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West both got six also: I enjoy both artists, but I don’t like either of their new albums. Lady Gaga got five. I don’t object to her, but I’m not passionate about her music either. In fact, I don’t feel very opinionated about any of the “big four” categories. I was hoping that Willie Nelson would get more nods than he did: he got just three. I thought he would do better than that, given that he released two very different and very good albums, Willie & The Wheel and American Classic. My favorite album of the year, Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life, got two nods.

I don’t have huge opinions about the Pop field, and I probably won’t vote in Dance. I usually skip Traditional Pop, but I may vote there this year, since Willie has a nomination there.

Rock has some good stuff: Best Solo Rock performance pits Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Prince and John Fogerty against each other. (I will vote for Dylan). Other rock nods went to Green Day, AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Metallica, Pearl Jam (glad to see “The Fixer” get props), U2 and overrated band of the year Kings Of Leon. The thing is, I have to admit I was ultimately not blown away by Bruce, U2 and Green Day’s albums. They were all solid, but not as good as their prior albums. I will probably skip the alternative field, which features David Byrne & Brian Eno (zzzzz…), Death Cab For Cutie, Depeche Mode, Phoenix (who I can’t stand) and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

R&B will require me to buy a lot of new music, there’s a lot of not-well-known-by-the-mainstream artists in the field, including Melanie Fiona, Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi, Jazmine Sullivan, Anthony Hamilton, Musiq Soulchild, Robert Randolph, as well as Beyonce and Maxwell.

Rap is pretty good this year. It surprises me to hear myself say that, because I’m not a huge fan of contemporary hip-hop. But I really actually like Jay-Z’s songs, “Death of Autotune” and “Run This Town” (with Kanye West and Rihanna). I also really like nominated songs by The Beastie Boys with Nas, Kid Cudi with Kanye and Common, T.I. with Justin Timberlake, and Mos Def. And Lonely Island featuring T-Pain. I was really glad to see Q-Tip’s super-underrated The Renaissance getting a nod as well.

I don’t have a huge opinion on this year’s country artists, but I was glad to see nods go to Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson and Patty Griffin (!).

My favorite category overall is Best Americana Album. Three of my favorite albums of the year are nominated: Dylan’s Together Through Life, Willie’s Willie & The Wheel and Levon Helm’s Electric Dirt, along with Wilco’s Wilco (The Album) and Lucinda Williams’ Little Honey. I’ll vote for Dylan.

While I’m not a huge fan of Bruce’s Working On A Dream album, “The Wrestler” was probably my favorite song of last year, and I’m glad it is up for Best Song from a Movie. But that will probably go to A.R. Rahman’s “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

I guess there are some things I'll be "rooting" for: Pearl Jam's "The Fixer," Bruce's "The Wrestler," Q-Tip and Willie, but there's no way I'll be as into it as I was last year. I do hope Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye peform "Run This Town." It would be great to see Rihanna have a triumphant return to the Grammys after last year's horrible mess.

4 REASONS WHY IT'S OK THAT TAYLOR SWIFT GOT THAT VMA

I didn't even watch the VMAs other than the Michael Jackson tribute that opened the show. But right before I went to bed, Facebook went crazy on Kanye West, who played the damn fool as the whole world now knows. I was worried that people were going to turn this into a black/white thing, luckily that didn't happen. And I'm glad that the hip-hop community hasn't supported Kanye on this. They may not be too familiar with Taylor Swift's music (nor am I) but she just seems too nice for that kind of treatment. But some people feel like Beyonce really did get robbed. So here's a few reasons why I think Taylor won (I don't own albums by either lady, and I have never seen either of them in concert, but I do enjoy songs by each - I'm pretty unbiased on this one).

1 - MTV plays "hip" with their promos and image, but MTV is really for high school and early college kids. Beyonce is probably almost 30, and her song "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" probably doesn't resonate with kids that age. Taylor Swift's song is about a girl in the school band who digs a football guy who digs a hot cheerleader. In the video (spoiler alert!) the nice girl gets the guy at the end (Taylor plays both girls, but the nice one more closely resembles her). Taylor is 19, and probably seems a bit more like younger girls. Beyonce never shows weakness, her video features choreography that most girls could never hope to copy, and of course B is impossibly good looking.

2 - Although the VMAs is not a political event, nearly every artist who performed endorsed Barack Obama in the last election. Even the host, a British guy, gave The President -- and even his health care plan! -- some major props during his opening monologue. To me, and lots of people I know, and most people who work at MTV, that's all good and almost expected. The thing is, MTV is supposed to appeal to all young people, not just the ones who voted for (or wanted to vote for) Barack Obama. I bet Taylor Swift voted for Obama also - but she didn't get politically involved in the election, so middle America is comfortable with her. Inviting her to be a part of the VMAs was clever marketing. Which is the entire purpose of the VMAs - don't get it twisted.

3 - Like I said, Beyonce is probably almost 30, Taylor isn't even 20. MTV is all about "in with the new." And while it might make some people uncomfortable hearing this, Beyonce is getting a bit old for MTV. Sorry! It happens to everyone. To me, Kanye West complaining about Taylor just make him look old. REALLY OLD!!!! (caps and !'s in tribute to the man's twitter style). Again: sorry.

4 - And by the way, it's not like Beyonce got dissed. I know "Single Ladies" got Video of the Year - the voters (a small group of MTV execs) decide on all the results at once, so they know that B was getting something later in the night. But to address Kanye's claim that "Single Ladies" is one of the best videos of all time: it isn't even in Beyonce's top five. If you think I don't know what I'm talking about because I don't cover her on this blog, I submit: "'03 Bonnie & Clyde," "Crazy In Love," "Work It Out" (yeah, the Austin Powers jam), plus Destiny's Child's "No, No, No," "Bootylicious," "Soldier," "Lose My Breath," "Survivor," "Jumpin' Jumpin'" and I'm probably forgetting some other ones.

In closing, Kanye is a douche. I have to admit: I liked when he was douche and took aim at bush. But really, come on dude. On the other hand, The College Dropout and Late Registration are still great, and Graduation had some good jams too. And that was very nice of Beyonce to give Taylor her speech back. It's not like she donated her kidney to Taylor (some people seemed to think this made B a saint), but it was a gracious move and the right thing to do.

ETTA JAMES: NOT FEELING BEYONCE ANYMORE

When Cadillac Records came out, Etta James seemed OK with endorsing Beyonce's portrayal of her, vocals and all. But as anyone who has any access to news now knows, Ms. James seems fuming mad over Ms. Knowles' rendition of her signature tune, "At Last," at one of  Barack Obama's inauguration parties.  Etta recently ranted onstage about the performance (and unfortunately, about the President as well). 

The press generally fall all over Beyonce, but that's partially because you're probably not allowed near her unless you are guaranteed to not saying anything negative, or even ask any difficult or uncomfortable questions. So, it's interesting that, about a year after Aretha Franklin ripped B. for calling Tina Turner "The Queen of Soul" at last year's Grammys, Etta James is going on blast also. Or maybe it's just that the real legends aren't buying into Beyonce. 

BRUCE, STEVIE, BONO AND OTHERS TO PLAY INAUGURAL CELEBRATION

I wonder if Washington D.C. has ever seen anything like the excitement for Barack Obama's inauguration. Certainly the concert that will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial this Sunday for the We Are One celebration is kind of unprecedented: Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, James Taylor and will.i.am are among the artists who will be performing at this historic event. The show will be open to the public: I think it is supposed to be freezing that day, but who cares? I wish I was going.

CADILLAC RECORDS: THUMBS UP

I'm sure there's lots that people can complain about when watching Cadillac Records, the film about Chess Records. For one, Phil Chess, brother of Leonard Chess - they ran the label together - wasn't in the film at all. For another, neither was Bo Diddley, surely one of the most important artists on the label, and of the rock era. I guess both omissions may have been to streamline the story: having just one Chess brother made it more focused, and Chuck Berry represented the rock era overtaking blues, so maybe the producers felt that Bo would have been one character too many. (Or maybe Bo, who once told me that he never made a dime off of record sales, didn't allow the film to use his likeness - and watching this film, you can see why he didn't get paid, or didn't feel that he got paid fairly).

But I loved the film. I thought Jeffrey Wright, an amazing actor, was great as Muddy, Eamonn Walker was incredible as Howlin' Wolf, Mos Def kind of stole his scenes as Chuck Berry and Beyonce was way better than I expected her to be as Etta James. I'd love to see Walker as Howlin' Wolf in his own film, and ditto for Mos Def as Chuck. Or even do like an HBO series of spin-offs. There was a lot I didn't know that I learned watching the film: I knew there was a Muddy/Wolf rivalry, but you really see how it developed in the film. I also didn't know how crazy Little Walter was (and Columbus Short played that role extremely well). Great movie that seems to be in danger of being lost, despite Beyonce's star power. That would be a shame, more people need to see this film: and hopefully it turns people on to the incredible music that Chess brought to the world: the music of Muddy, Wolf, Chuck, Etta, Little Walter, and also Bo, Walter and John Lee Hooker (also not in the film), among many others.

CADILLAC RECORDS TELLS THE CHESS RECORDS STORY

I'm sort of looking forward to seeing Cadillac Records. I'm having a hard time with Beyonce being cast as Etta James. I think her Dreamgirls castmate Jennifer Hudson would have been a better choice, but I'll give it a chance. I'm looking forward to seeing the great Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters and Mos Def as Chuck Berry.

The soundtrack is kind of legit sounding, although taken on its own... well, lets say I can't really imagine anyone reaching for it in five years. That's only because the original versions of the Etta, Berry and Muddy songs are so great, what's the point? I'm sure it works for the movie. But I just listened to Beyonce's "At Last" followed by Etta's. I don't like to be negative, but I think Etta's version is all you need. Chuck Berry's songs are perfection, but I have to say it's funny hearing Mos Def sing them. Anyone in a rock band (Mos fronts a band called Black Jack Johnson) should cover a Chuck Berry song at least once. Jeffrey Wright does a decent job with Muddy's songs, but again, those songs are perfect the way they were. The album ends with Nas ' collaboration with his dad Olu Dara, "Bridging The Gap," which links hip-hop and blues. Hopefully this film will do that, and will turn on young kids to Chess: not just Etta, Chuck and Muddy, but also Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Little Walter, and the other great artists on the label. To me, Chess is the most important record label ever. Yes, more important than Sun.