Music has always played a big part in my life. It started when I was 5 listening to my granddad's collection of 78's - Bob Wills, The Andrews Sisters, Connie Francis, Elvis, Buck Owens, Henry Mancini (he composed the theme from The Pink Panther). I would dress up in my grandmother's old clothes and costume jewelry and entertain myself for hours on end singing and dancing and plunking away on the ancient upright piano in the basement. Somewhere in the darkest corner of my heart, I don't think I've yet forgiven my mother for selling the house with the piano still in it or selling all the jewelry and records.
Every song that is a favorite song has a memory attached to it. Some are good ones. Some are sad ones. Lots are bittersweet. I consider myself to be an equal opportunity music lover. While most of my favorite songs are by 80s hair bands, I enjoy everything from The Manhattan Transfer to Eminem to They Might Be Giants.
I watched the Grammy's last night and was wildly impressed with some things and horribly disappointed with others.
Lady GaGa, bless her heart. She is definitely a freak of the highest order. While I wouldn't call myself one of her "little monsters," otherwise known as fans, I do like some of her songs and I appreciate her fearlessness in being whomever and/or whatever she feels like being on any given day. The song she sang last night was okay, but for a "new" song it sounded terribly familiar. It sounded an awful lot like "Respect Yourself" by the "GaGa" of the 80s, Madonna.
Usher and his white bread "Mini-Me" Justin Bieber were a total disappointment. The thing that annoyed me the most were the head-set microphones that completely covered their mouths. I suspect this was by design so that we would be "fooled" into believing that they were actually signing and not lip-syncing what few lyrics there were. I admire people who are talented enough to sing and dance at the same time. But with these two last night, it was more about showing off their dance moves at the expense of the song. Which is ironic considering it's the GRAMMY'S and not the VMA's or the Tony's.
Bob Dylan I think has seen better days. I love Dylan. But last night was not a good night for him. Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers were excellent and I think represent the "next generation" of Dylans. But the genuine article was decidedly worse for wear.
Mick Jagger on the other hand was a wild man!! I can only hope that I have that much energy when I am pushing 70. Who am I kidding. I don't have that much energy now!
Bruno Mars was great - a very talented young man. I love his song "Grenade." It took me a minute to recognize it last night as he did a very different version of it, but it was really good. I also liked that for those few minutes everything was in black and white. Very cool.
Lady Antebellum had a huge night last night taking no less than five awards. And I really do like their song "Need You Now." It's the Drunk Dialer's ring tone on my phone. However, by the end of the evening, I was on "Need You Now" overload and quite tired of hearing it. Partially because it's now been stuck in my head all day. But mostly because it makes me think of the Drunk Dialer. And because the song has been stuck in my head all day, so has he. Been on my mind all day. And past experience tells me this is never a good thing.
There were two performances that blew me out of the water last night. Right off the bat, kicking off the show and kicking ass at it were Christina, Martina, Jennifer, Yolanda and Florence and their tribute to Aretha Franklin. All I can say is WOW! These women knocked it out of the park!
My favorite performance - the one I stayed up well past my bedtime to watch - was Eminem with Rihanna, Dr. Dre and Skylar Grey. I am a recent convert to all things Eminem. I like music that tells a story, regardless of the genre. His definitely does. It may be coarse and gritty and foul-mouthed, but it's real. I'm fascinated by the "back-story." And the story of Marshall Mathers is an interesting one. I admire people who pull themselves up out of their personal darkness. I think Mr. Mathers is an excellent example of what it is to be authentically flawed.
I do wish I could find an unedited version of the performance as I know we missed considerably more than the occasional F-bomb to the seven second delay for "live" television.
Gotta say I wasn't very impressed with either Muse or Arcade Fire (although I think it's VERY cool that Arcade Fire has a chick drummer). I think Eminem's album Recovery was far better.
But he's my "boyfriend" so maybe I'm a little biased. (No, he's not really my boyfriend, but, it's my delusion and I'll tell it how I want!)
What were some of your favorites?
Every song that is a favorite song has a memory attached to it. Some are good ones. Some are sad ones. Lots are bittersweet. I consider myself to be an equal opportunity music lover. While most of my favorite songs are by 80s hair bands, I enjoy everything from The Manhattan Transfer to Eminem to They Might Be Giants.
I watched the Grammy's last night and was wildly impressed with some things and horribly disappointed with others.
Lady GaGa, bless her heart. She is definitely a freak of the highest order. While I wouldn't call myself one of her "little monsters," otherwise known as fans, I do like some of her songs and I appreciate her fearlessness in being whomever and/or whatever she feels like being on any given day. The song she sang last night was okay, but for a "new" song it sounded terribly familiar. It sounded an awful lot like "Respect Yourself" by the "GaGa" of the 80s, Madonna.
Usher and his white bread "Mini-Me" Justin Bieber were a total disappointment. The thing that annoyed me the most were the head-set microphones that completely covered their mouths. I suspect this was by design so that we would be "fooled" into believing that they were actually signing and not lip-syncing what few lyrics there were. I admire people who are talented enough to sing and dance at the same time. But with these two last night, it was more about showing off their dance moves at the expense of the song. Which is ironic considering it's the GRAMMY'S and not the VMA's or the Tony's.
Bob Dylan I think has seen better days. I love Dylan. But last night was not a good night for him. Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers were excellent and I think represent the "next generation" of Dylans. But the genuine article was decidedly worse for wear.
Mick Jagger on the other hand was a wild man!! I can only hope that I have that much energy when I am pushing 70. Who am I kidding. I don't have that much energy now!
Bruno Mars was great - a very talented young man. I love his song "Grenade." It took me a minute to recognize it last night as he did a very different version of it, but it was really good. I also liked that for those few minutes everything was in black and white. Very cool.
Lady Antebellum had a huge night last night taking no less than five awards. And I really do like their song "Need You Now." It's the Drunk Dialer's ring tone on my phone. However, by the end of the evening, I was on "Need You Now" overload and quite tired of hearing it. Partially because it's now been stuck in my head all day. But mostly because it makes me think of the Drunk Dialer. And because the song has been stuck in my head all day, so has he. Been on my mind all day. And past experience tells me this is never a good thing.
There were two performances that blew me out of the water last night. Right off the bat, kicking off the show and kicking ass at it were Christina, Martina, Jennifer, Yolanda and Florence and their tribute to Aretha Franklin. All I can say is WOW! These women knocked it out of the park!
My favorite performance - the one I stayed up well past my bedtime to watch - was Eminem with Rihanna, Dr. Dre and Skylar Grey. I am a recent convert to all things Eminem. I like music that tells a story, regardless of the genre. His definitely does. It may be coarse and gritty and foul-mouthed, but it's real. I'm fascinated by the "back-story." And the story of Marshall Mathers is an interesting one. I admire people who pull themselves up out of their personal darkness. I think Mr. Mathers is an excellent example of what it is to be authentically flawed.
I do wish I could find an unedited version of the performance as I know we missed considerably more than the occasional F-bomb to the seven second delay for "live" television.
Gotta say I wasn't very impressed with either Muse or Arcade Fire (although I think it's VERY cool that Arcade Fire has a chick drummer). I think Eminem's album Recovery was far better.
But he's my "boyfriend" so maybe I'm a little biased. (No, he's not really my boyfriend, but, it's my delusion and I'll tell it how I want!)
What were some of your favorites?
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2 comments:
I missed the Grammy's!! I can't believe it! I liked your recap. I am in "Need You Now" overload for sure. I saw them in concert LAST YEAR. Why are they still singing that song at an awards show?
On another note, do you mind stopping back by my blog to vote in the Captcha Balderdash contest? I'm so glad you played! I don't want to tally the votes until most of the people who played along cast theirs. I will understand if you aren't able to stop by, however.
I'm following you now!
Thanks Kelley for the follow! I surely will stop by and vote!
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