Have The (Scam)mys Really Ever Meant Anything?
- Mar 18, 2021
- 9 min read
Last Sunday marked the 63rd edition of the Annual (Scammy) Grammy Awards! Once the most prestigious honor a musical artist could receive, this ceremony has regressed into unarguably the most controversial award show in the world.
Many high-profile artists – Kanye West, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Frank Ocean, Zayn Malik and The Weeknd, just to name a handful – have condemned the Academy by openly expressing their resentment, a few of which have stopped submitting their music for consideration. The aforementioned artists have deemed the nomination process to actively practice racial discrimination. Kanye West, for example, has said, “Out of my 21 Grammys, I’ve never won one against a white artist. Do they think that I wouldn’t notice?”
Although it is onerous and in some cases impossible to deem an objectively ‘correct’ choice when it comes to a creative field such as music, the Grammys have proven time and again that there can certainly be an objectively incorrect choice – usually the one that gets picked. It’s safe to say that this nomination process pits commercial interests directly against cultural one; in other words, the Grammys are more inclined to pick what’s more financially beneficial to them – shedding some light on the true nature of said ‘secret committees’. This usually sparks racial debate, with the annual shunning of at least one black artist – usually a massive slap in the face to some of the most talented souls in the sphere.
Here's my list of the Top 10 Biggest Grammy Snubs:
10. 2011 – Esperanza Spalding winning ‘Best New Artist’ over Drake, Mumford & Sons and Justin Bieber.
This is nothing but proof of the fact that the voting procedures are massively outdated and desperate for ‘diversity and inclusion’, even if it defies unprejudiced logic. A hefty chunk of today’s society would not have even heard of Esperanza Spalding’s name; in fact, anybody apart from the jazz community would be unlikely to have.
The Grammys’ voting procedures definitely are outdated and biased towards contemporary music reminiscent of the past (contradictory to this year’s nominations, but still).
It’s 2021 and we all know where Drake, Justin Bieber and Mumford & Sons stand in contemporary music society. If only the Academy possessed such clairvoyance.
9. 2012 – Kanye West denied a nod for Album of the Year, in spite of producing arguably the Album of the Decade.
Oh, what a story it would’ve been! Permanently embedded in pop culture infamy, Kanye West’s drunken interruption of Taylor West’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs caused torrential dismay on a global scale – so much so that everyone believed there was no coming back for Kanye after his infamous vilification. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was the result of said event, and winning Album of the Year for it – what a story!
Unfortunately, this was not the case; in fact, it was not even nominated for this category. Kanye West did taste his bit of success in the form of ‘Best Rap Album’, but we all know that that’s not nearly what he deserves for this project.
This kaleidoscopic meandering into the deep recesses of his mind – his fantasies – is a dichotomy reflects Kanye's psyche, which existed well before his rise to stardom. His 13 tracks are ambitiously scaled – a musical maximalism as yet unheard in the world of hip hop. Within this sonic colosseum, Kanye bears a confliction between the purity of his creative gifts and his incessant need for adoration. This is essentially Kanye's comeback album that would, for many, solidify its stature as one of the most influential albums of the last decade.
Alas, it couldn’t get what it so deeply deserved.
8. 2019 – Cardi B beats major heavyweight competition in the ‘Best Rap Album’ category in the form of Mac Miller’s ‘Swimming’, Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’ and Pusha T’s ‘Daytona’.
Yeah, you should probably read that again. Cardi B – of all people possible – beat not only Travis Scott’s, but also Late Mac Miller’s magnum opus and coincidentally the last album before his untimely demise – an album worth most rappers’ entire discographies. For God’s sake, even Daytona was great and would’ve been a much better choice than whatever the fuck Cardi B released. Sure, she had some commercial success with ‘I Like It’, ‘Bodak Yellow’, etc. However, does that really stand a chance in front of both Travis’ visual, sonic and thematic masterpiece and Mac’s soul-wrenchingly dreamy project about self-care and healing? What’s even more odd is that the Academy got Mac Miller’s parents to fly out all the way to the ceremony, just to see their son lose to…Cardi B. Shameful.
In fact, Mac Miller was snubbed once again this year by not being handed a single nomination for his beautiful posthumous album ‘Circles’. Despite garnering major commercial and critical success for tracks such as ‘Surf’, ‘Good News’, ‘Blue World’, etc. the Academy chose to overlook it once again. Such a shame for such a talented individual. Rest in peace, Mac.
7. 1988 – Guns N’ Roses not bagging a single nomination for their genre-defining album ‘Appetite for Destruction’
All of us at one point in our lives have head-banged along to Welcome to the Jungle and screeched out the beautiful lyrics of Sweet Child of Mine. Of course, why wouldn’t we? Even those who’ve never had that teen-angst-ridden hard rock phase have definitely jammed to this album, be it knowingly or unknowingly. Perhaps it’s justified to have not won album of the year, as it was up against the timeless classic ‘The Joshua Tree’ by U2. However, not landing a single nomination in ANY category – really? I guess platinum plaques and royalty checks just don’t cut it for the Academy.
6. 1975 – Queen’s timeless classic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ just landing a single nomination and not even a win in that category
It’s 2021 and Bohemian Rhapsody is still one of the biggest and best songs of all time. However, the Grammys certainly don’t think so. It was only nominated for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance’ – that too, losing to ‘If You Leave Me Now’ by Chicago. Anyone heard of that song?
*crickets*
It’s an absolute shame that Queen never won a single Grammy in spite of being modern-day legends for all their contribution to the industry. Several reports claim that this has to do with their lead singer Freddie Mercury being open about his sexuality which is not heterosexual – a claim that is, unfortunately, quite easy to digest, given the Grammys’ reputation with sticking to typical white supremacist ideologies in their way of dealing out awards.
5. 1995 – Both The Notorious B.I.G’s 'Ready to Die' and Nas’ 'Illmatic' empty-handed despite having two of the best hip-hop albums of all time
Anyone even remotely familiar with the hip-hop scene would have heard of these two cornerstone albums for New York rap; they’re absolute classics! Given that they’re undoubtedly two of the most influential albums of its genre, it’s such a shame that hip-hop has been neglected by the Academy time and again.
With The Notorious B.I.G’s album being at the forefront of hip-hop’s emergence into the pop scene and Nas’ album being one of the defining underground rap albums with its unbridled honesty and originality, both have proven to be timeless and iconoclastic albums.
Again, if only the Academy possessed the clairvoyance to see this.
4. 1992 – Nirvana went home empty-handed and failed to collect a single general category nomination.
‘Nevermind’ is among the greatest albums of all time, with Nirvana serving as the cornerstone of grunge rock and Kurt Cobain in the driver’s seat of a cultural rebellion. Hard rock walks on a razor-thin line between music of the soul and just plain noise; with this album, Nirvana broke all barriers and mullered this line. The Nirvana dynasty lasted just a short seven years in total due to the unfortunate suicide of Kurt Cobain. Nevertheless, the impact and influence Nirvana has had on the music industry is unprecedented. As shown by the diverse musical artists they have affected – namely Foo Fighters in particular – its influence and success will live on forever.
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is undoubtedly the disillusioned anthem of the angst-ridden youth of the 90s, only to be beaten by a re-released twenty-year-old song at the time for ‘Best Rock Song’. Seriously?
Again, blatantly obvious evidence of the backwardness of the Academy.
3. 2013 – Debutant white rapper Macklemore beating timeless black rappers Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Drake for Best Rap Album.
Ummm, notice anything? That’s right, the one debutant white nominee beats four timeless classic rappers at their own game the second he’s given the opportunity. Not to say Macklemore has anything to do with it; the Grammys simply used him as a puppet to meet their agenda.
Macklemore also beat Kendrick Lamar for ‘Best New Artist’ – the first rapper to win the award in 20 years. Kendrick Lamar had an absolutely mind-boggling album with Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. Sure, Thrift Shop, Can’t Hold Us and all are fun, boppy records and Same Love is indeed very powerful, but does that really hold any objective value in front of this cultural phenomenon?
I’m not going to talk about why each and every album deserved to win more than Macklemore did, but let’s take a close look at why GKMC really deserved to win. This was an extremely conceptually ambitious project, with some songs even topping 12 minutes (the absolutely beautiful Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst). This project is a comprehensive story about the life of the average “good” kid plagued by the crazy hood-life of Compton. Rage that comes with being a black teen, toxic masculinity, divinity, spirituality, gang politics, racial profiling, police brutality, fear of abandonment, the concepts of life, death, and rebirth – this album has it all. A lot of Grammy choices have puzzled me, but this is an exceptional one; this is considered among the top albums of the decade – only to fall short of Kendrick’s very next project, To Pimp a Butterfly (which also lost out on ‘Album of the Year’).
2. 2021 – The Weeknd not bagging a single nomination for his magnum opus, ‘After Hours’.
As one could easily gather from my previous review of this mind-numbingly beautiful sonic production, I’m a huge fan of ‘After Hours’ and was almost sure that this album would gather a nomination in each and every possible category. However, The Weeknd wasn’t given a single nomination, despite receiving chart-busting success for his entire album and having the biggest hit of the year – Blinding Lights – a song that currently holds the records for being the fastest to reach two billion streams on Spotify and the longest running song in the Billboard Top 10. This album was lauded by fans and critics alike and was a sure-shot for a plethora of awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and so many more. Objectively, this makes absolutely no sense without any external influence.
‘After Hours’ is essentially a revamped delineation of all of Abel’s many past personas amalgamated into one cohesive album. Abel presents himself to have a multi-faceted personality - accentuating this raw, inherent trait of humanity in general. However, I guess it’s no match for Justin Bieber’s two-syllable song ‘Yummy’, which garnered a few nominations.
This is rumored to have been backlash by the Academy due to The Weeknd’s decision to perform at the Super Bowl instead of the Grammys (totally worth it, nevertheless), which proves that the aforementioned ‘secret committees’ are comprised of nothing less than racist, white curmudgeon boomers. However, we already knew that; this instance further uncovers them as spiteful and petty as well. The Weeknd has since then vowed to never allow his label to submit his music for the awards in the future, taking a drastic step towards discrediting the ceremony as a whole – as it should be.
1. 1974, 1976, 1978 – Three of Pink Floyd’s best albums not getting a single nomination
Do I really need to explain the cultural significance of this band? All of their music flows unblemished from top to bottom with ineffable soundscapes and euphonic sounds never heard before. However, perhaps that was the very crux of the problem. As we’ve already uncovered, the Grammys have always been ‘behind their time’ and they’ve always refused to accept contemporary music for what it is – even more so when the music is revolutionary and iconoclastic in sound. Since its emergence, we’ve seen them hold on to extremely outdated voting principles and purely focus on what makes most commercial sense for them – rejecting anything even remotely controversial or rebellious.
Three of their arguably best albums – ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ from 1973, ‘Wish You Were Here’ from 1975, and ‘Animals’ from 1977 – were left unrecognized by the Academy in any category: a true chagrin for our musical society. All of these albums represented the zeitgeist of the 70s almost immaculately with its enervated songs and trippy guitar solos – also with a touch of melancholy to represent the dying embers of the late 60s. My personal favorite – ‘Wish You Were Here – not being recognized for anything feels like a jab through the chest, but seeing how the Academy has turned out over the years, I’m not even surprised.
Although one album of theirs – ‘The Wall’ – was nominated for ‘Album of the Year’, it did not end up winning in spite of its beautiful complexity and harmonious blend of classic rock and opera.
This award show is about nothing but sucking up to and knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine, with the right handshake and the timely ambiguous lobbying. In fact, the previous leader of the ceremony (Deborah Dugan) was ousted from the organization after making allegations of “discrimination, vote-rigging and financial irregularities” in the entire voting procedure – something which should be barely surprising after having read all the content above.
Is a Grammy really an appropriate memento to commemorate those who make beautiful music? Have they ever been a credible source? These questions long predate the scandals of this year’s ceremony, and what Deborah Dugan unearthed seems to confirm these longstanding speculations about the credibility of this award.
Drake put it best in his 2019 Grammy acceptance speech (for which he was cut off mid-way because a certain powerful someone wasn't happy with what he was saying):
The most inventive and iconoclastic musicians of all time, all expressing dismay with the Grammys. These aren’t trivial celebrity quibbles; this is a confounded cross-generational blind spot. In simple words: the Grammys don’t mean shit anymore and we need to stop romanticizing and celebrating them.
Perhaps all we need is another Kanye interruption speech to bring real change.
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