That Sly Stone tribute had my toes curling in embarassment (who the heck was that guy with the really bad hair and the tattoo sleeves doing "If you want me to stay," and why hasn't somebody bitchslapped him into a coma already?), and then...OH MY GOD! SLY f**kING STONE IS ONSTAGE!

Chrome trenchcoat. Big ass Dior shades. A blonde mohawk THIS HIGH. Sings a few lines, jabs at the keyboard, leaves before the song's even over.

The man's a star. Take note, everyone else onstage tonight. You too, Kanye.

Oh, and is Madonna Joey Heatherton now or what?

I often forget just how great Bruce Springsteen is. That was quite possibly the best live Grammy performance ever.


U2? Song of the year?! What, 1987?

Ugh, U2 could sing the phone book to you and they'd win a Grammy. Their last album was hardly worth all the praise, but I guess it's palatable to the tastes of boring out-of-touch voters. It's such an irrelevant award show.

That said, John Legend is incredible. Ordinary People is one of the best songs to come out in recent memory.

I'll alert the Department of Redundancy Department. wink

Okay, this performance is sloppy as hell, but still - how was "Gold digger" not nominated for Song of the Year?

[ February 08, 2006, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: ursaminorjim ]

It doesn't bother me that much, since I don't think Golddigger is the best song on Late Registration (personally I think Diamonds from Sierra Leone and Heard 'Em Say are better songs though not party jams). Kanye got robbed by U2 in the album of the year category, and I think even Bono acknowledged that in his speech. Maybe Kanye's penchant for putting his foot in his mouth caught up to him, but it's probably more due to the voters aversion to hip hop specifically and anything remotely cutting edge generally. Boo!

Am I wrong for secretly loving that damn Kelly Clarkson song Since U Been Gone?

The Kelly Clarkson song is great. The whole album is great. I was happiest with her two wins, especially to see her genuine excitement and thrill at winning the awards.

Poor Mariah. I know she won a couple of untelevised awards, but her big night went bust once again. She's like Susan Lucci for the Grammys. They love to nominate her and then let her sit in her chair! Granted, when you put Mimi up next to some of the true artists that are her peers, she doesn't come off that well. So I don't necessarily think she deserved to win, especially because the competition was pretty heavy this year. At least she sang live. It wasn't great - the standing O was a bit hollow - but I was so afraid that she'd lip sync, so I'll give her credit for trying ...

The opening with Madonna and Gorillaz was cool, although the monkey in the jock strap disturbed me. John Legend is awesome. Cristina Aguilera looked amazing but way too much caterwauling for that song with Herbie Hancock. Adam Levine from Maroon 5 is a total hottie.

"Golddigger" is a great song, but what was with the marching band costumes? That was dumb as hell.

Oh, and U2 is one of the most overrated bands ever.

[ February 09, 2006, 06:24 AM: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

Missed most of this drivel but did catch Mariah's performance which I thought was amazing, truly deserving a standing O. It made me want to rush out and buy the album, which I have not done--generally don't like a lot of rhythmic bass and hiphop voice overs in songs.

Sorry, but I always find that watching Mariah Carey just makes my flesh crawl. And nowadays there's so much more of her to watch. Soryy to not see Gwen Stefani take home some metal. Did she perform and I missed it?

Sly Stone made me nervous - he was inaudible and definitely seemed to be on something. Madonna rocked - she's amazing, and the Farrah Fawcett retro-do brought back memories.

When Kelly Clarkson won for Pop Album, she made her way to the stage and said she couldn't believe she won in that category over "a legend like Gwen Stefani." I thought that was the night's funniest moment, especially considering she'd just beaten Paul McCartney in the same category yet didn't even mention him.

The highlight for me was Madonna's opening performance. She was great.

I don't know how anyone could watch the whole 3 1/2 hours of that show. It was perfect on TiVo because you could really get thru it in 30 minutes.

[ February 09, 2006, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

Gwen ("The Legend") Stefani didn't perform. She's VERY pregnant

[ February 09, 2006, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

I agree with you Gaga. It was really refreshing to see someone like Kelly Clarkson win and be genuinely excited. I think maybe her excitement and nervousness may be why she forgot to list Paul McCartney as among the "legends" she beat in the Pop Album category. She mentioned beating Gwen Stefani as a kind of milestone, and then made a reference to finally meeting Bonnie Raitt and she gave Bonnie props. The camera panned over to Bonnie who gave a vague and disinterested half-smile. I think there's a ton of resentment still from those who put in their dues for 20 or 30+ years in the industry only to see the Idol kids come up and start collecting Grammies. In Kelly's defense though, she has such a great voice that she probably was going to make it big one day anyway, but just got a much bigger jump start thanks to Idol.

[ February 09, 2006, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

U2's "Sometimes You Just Can't Make It Your Own" was one of the most poignant songs of the year. Simply beautiful... Listening to Mariah Carey's voice just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. A screeching voice that samples other artists' work is NOT music.

The fix was in....definitely. How could Jimmy Sturr win yet another prize in the polka category for his weak effort, "Shake, Rattle, and Polka!" unless he had the voters in his pocket?

I was pleased to see that Dianne Reeves garnered a prize for the recording "Good Night and Good Luck" (Jazz Vocal Album.)

~Adam

[ February 09, 2006, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Adam ]

Bruce definitely nailed it.He always rises to the occasion-loved the "Bring 'em home!" :cool:

I was stunned to find out U2 won Album of the Year. STUNNED. Kanye seemed like such an obvious lock. It's like Crash beating Brokeback Mountain (although in my estimation, LCD Soundsystem's debut is still the pop album of 2005, but no way in hell would that ever happen).

I mean, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb isn't even a particularly good U2 album, much less Album of the Year - it's a lazy blob of songs they (and others) have written before, and better. And in spite of Bono's histrionics (and I'm truly sorry he lost his father), there's not a genuine emotion or a creative spark or even an apparent grasp of subtlety on display. Whereas Late Registration just vibrates with ideas and heart. It's one of the increasingly rare species - an album that you can actually enjoy all the way through from start to finish. Even the dreaded "skits" are painless, and that's saying something.

As for Kelly Clarkson, I thought it was absolutely adorable that she was just as surprised as anyone that she won. I hope she takes this as an opportunity to start messing with her career a bit - you've got the Grammys and the fame, try taking a few chances. I mean, "Since u been gone" was hilariously good (in spite of being a blatant rip), but she needs to do more with her voice - it's a little on the bland side.

Hopefully her American Idol "pedigree" won't force her into doing, say, Christmas albums with Il Divo or something.

Madonna was GREAT...

I was glad to see Kelly win...

I was upset that Gwen didn't win anything...

As for U2...They are great, but are they that GREAT...MAYBE.

I missed most of the Sly thing...was that Fantasia on stage????

As for Mariah...she sounded terrible, and I have never really liked any of her songs. And she really needs to wear a very supportive bra, in a couple of years, those things are going to be down to her knees.

EEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

(must look at porn to get picture of naked Madonna out of my mind.)

As a U2 fan, I can appreciate this post because you clearly thought about why U2 should not have won as opposed to just trashing the band and calling them overrated. While I disagree in some points about your review of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I can admittedly also name at least six or seven U2 albums that were clearly better than this past one. I still maintain that "Sometimes You Just Can't Make It On Your Own" was one of the best records of the year, and totally understood the songwriting merits it received. However, I also am aware that a great single doesn't necessarily make a great album. As much as many feel that the Grammys love U2, I think it is even more so with Stevie Wonder. Wonder is an incredibly gifted artist, whose 1970's albums in particular broke ground. However, with the exception of his In Square Circle album, I haven't been overly-impressed with anything he has done since the outstanding singles "That Girl" and "Do I Do" in 1981-82. I still think that Phil Collins was robbed in the Oscars for losing to Wonder for best song back in 1984. "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" obviously stands up over time as opposed to the bubblegum "I Just Called to Say I Love You". With that said, as one who really appreciates Wonder's music, I do not get his win for best male vocal performance over Paul McCartney (his best single since "No More Lonely Nights"), Seal's sultry version of "Walk on By", and a very nice single from Rob Thomas for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance". So, some of the awards I understand... It was a good choice for Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as "Record of the Year". Some I don't... Biggest robbery of the night: "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album", in which Tony Bennett defeated Michael Bublé.

Homer: Oh, why wont anyone give me an award?
Lisa: You won a Grammy!
Homer: I mean an award that's worth winning...

I am the only one who thinks Mariah was lip-synching on her first song? The performance just sounded so canned to me. Maybe it's just my bias against her and her style of "singing".

Anyway, I imagine, given her bouts with instability, Mariah was probably near a nervous breakdown after losing (deservedly) in all the big categories.

As for U2's win, it just shows you what a lackluster year it was. HTDAAB is not a top flight U2 record. It contains some great songs surrounded by alot of mediocrity (by U2 standrds). But if it had lost to Mariah, it would have been one of the msot egregious errors in Grammy history. Not familiar with Kanye West's album, but from everything I read, it was the only nominee that could have won over U2.

Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine should have been nominated for Album of the Year.

By the way, this was the second lowest rated Grammy telecast ever. American Idol swallowed the Grammys whole during the first hour.

[ February 10, 2006, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: KingChildress ]

As another U2 fan, I have to say their best days are long, long, long behind them. Kanye West's album was miles better than U2's second-rate offering. With both U2 and Stevie Wonder, the Grammies seem to confuse life-time achievement with the merit of current albums.

I did not watch the show this week. I have come to realize that my taste in music does not match up (usually) with the performances honored by the Grammy committee. So, I usually find myself tuning out a bit. (Unlike the Oscars, where it doesn't usually matter who wins -- I still watch.)

I was very pleased that Green Day got record of the year. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was one of my very favorite songs of last year. I listen to it often at the gym and home.

I have a bit of a closeted appreciation for Miss Clarkson. My friends absolutely do not appreciate her music, so I try not to bring her up too often. It was nice to see her win a couple of big awards. I thought her work on Breakaway was really quite good, and find that I listen to it quite a bit.

I like U2, but do not really understand the consistency of their award record. I did not particularly enjoy some of the work on their winning album.

I totally agree that the Madonna opening segment was very, very cool. The animated bassist, vocalist and guitarist were almost spooky. And when Madonna took over, it just got way hot. Is that song from her "Confessions on the Dance Floor" album?

But, I cannot agree about the John Legend song. My partner and I sat through it and just kept saying "get him off" "that song really sucks" etc. I just thought it was way too long and had no real melody or attractive harmonies. And the lyrics were just syrupy drivel. A totally derivative piece reminiscent of really bad Paul McCartney.

And speaking of Paul, did he suck or what? Maybe "Helter Skelter" on the white album really rocked, but this live version was just embarassing. His first number was okay, but not worth running out and buying the album for.

And the Sly Stone tribute was a total disaster. What noise! And it was just so wrong putting the Aerosmith members into the act, talk about no fit at all. And Sly Stone, as usual, was just zonked out of his mind, which is why he had to stop recording and performing anyway.