Monday, February 06, 2023

“All They Do In This Town is Give Awards. Best Fascist Dictator — Adolf Hitler!”

In case you're wondering, no, I didn't watch last night's Grammy Awards.

If truth be told, I have something of a fraught relationship with the Grammys. I actually attended the 1978 ceremony, on the theory that you should never pass up the chance to get into a show at Radio City Music Hall for free; I don't remember much about the proceedings except that surprise guest Neil Diamond joined Babs Streisand for a rousing "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and that I mostly fidgeted in my seat thinking "what the fuck am I doing here?" the whole time.

Then, a couple of years later, I threw caution to the winds and did a snarky meditation on the Grammys (for Stereo Review, natch), the tone of which can be gleaned from the opening question it posed --

Q: Why are the Grammys named after the obsolete gramophone rather than the contemporary phonograph?

A: Because otherwise they would have to be called the Phonies.

I went on to describe the awards -- perhaps intemperately -- as "spectacularly corrupt," which, it turned out, struck Mike Greene, the then president of the Recording Academy, as objectionable; he threatened to sue SR if we didn't take it back, so I dutifully penned a craven mea culpa which ran in the next issue and demonstrated the flexibility of my convictions. Heh.

Oh well. Meanwhile, from a 2008 episode of Family Guy, here's the funniest parody of the Grammys ever

I should also add that Warren Zanes, of the Del Fuegos, had a very nice Grammy op-ed piece in last Saturday's Times that is, commendably, less cynical than I would have been, and it's well worth reading. Which you can do over HERE.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

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trademark dave said...

(That's me above...)

M_Sharp said...

Family Guy heh heh

dave said...

Considering when you went, a remark about all the "tootski" in the h building would have been apropos.

dorethyroad@aol.com said...

At least they got it right for Ozzie and Tommy, not Sharon ;-) Also Shooter

Allan Rosenberg said...

The Madonna joke is the best one I've heard so far in 2023. It many not get beaten. That's beaten not beating off. Get your minds out of the gutter. (I like it there all by myself!)

Captain Al