The Grammy Awards are my greatest frenemy.
Every year, I study the nominations, read countless think pieces about the artists and their supposed cultural relevance and basically spend the entire month of January in a state of crazed obsession.
I rarely if ever agree with the awards themselves. To quote Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, upon his acceptance of ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’ in 1996, “I don’t know what this means, I don’t think it means anything.”
Neither Tupac Shakur nor Biggie Smalls, often hailed as the greatest rappers of all time, ever won a Grammy. The only Grammy Nirvana ever won was for a live album released after Kurt Cobain’s death. This year, Led Zeppelin beat Kings of Leon, Black Sabbath and Queens of the Stone Age in the Best Rock Album category for a release of a 2007 reunion concert.
The awards aren’t progressive or current and often extol the virtues of commercial success over genuine artistry.
My enjoyment of the Grammy Awards doesn’t stem from their exclusionary and capitalist tendencies, but instead from their ability to bring differing artists together for memorable performances. The highlight of last Sunday’s show was easily Imagine Dragons’ rock/rap mash-up with hip-hop messiah Kendrick Lamar. The fiery performance, full of references to the Apocalypse, Compton, the ‘New Age’ and the Crips, had Taylor Swift, Jay Z and Lorde all on their feet.
Though Lamar’s visionary good kid, m.A.A.d. city album lost in the rap category to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, Lamar’s collaboration was more musically and artistically credible than Macklemore’s contrived and overdone performance of his hit, “Same Love.”
The question of why awards are even given for art is a sincere and honest concern. Our culture, on the national level and in our own UNC community, is obsessed with winning. Students battle for grades and internships, hone their networking skills and focus on professionalism in order to ascend the corporate ladder.
In actuality, none of it means anything if individuality and creativity is lost. The Grammy Awards and the American Dream only have value because we give them credibility. As young people, we should focus on developing our talents and intellect rather than competing against our peers.
Trent Reznor, father of industrial rock and founder of Nine Inch Nails, referred to the 2014 Grammys as “Music’s biggest night … to be disrespected” after the show cut off his performance with Queens of the Stone Age in order to air sponsorship ads from Hilton and Delta Airlines.
