Music 2.0 - Lamentable State of Music

So the Brit Awards and the Grammy's have been held in the past month and I have a few thoughts on it.

The Grammy's

I'll start off with the Grammy Awards. I was one of those people who back in the day did not pay too much attention to the awards because of the ignorance that permeated the show. Many readers of this blog and present day music fans may not recall this subtle but true fact, that the Grammy's did not televise the awarding of the Hip Hop award. Anyway that was then and this is now. I did not watch this year's (2010) award ceremony; instead I heard the announcements as they came through on the radio.

On the night Beyoncé broke the record for most wins in one night by a female, taking home 6 awards. Another artist who had a big night was Taylor Swift who took home 4 gongs. (Who?)

The Brit Awards

The Brit Awards 2010 were held in London last night (17^th Feb) and again I did not watch it, but heard the winners announced in the news. I don’t want to berate any one genre, artist or group but I have to pause the question: is this for real? Of the winners on the night, I only knew of Jay Z and Oasis and I think the award to Oasis for (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was truly deserved. Jay-Z has become a safe and easy option for the music industry so he will get the easy nod even without trying. As for the big winner on the night Lady Gaga, I know of her, but don’t know her if you follow my meaning. To this day I still don’t know any of her material but that is my choice.

I have complete respect for artists and their respective professions but I have to say, if this is the state of music today, it is just as well I have opted out. When talking to friends about music, I always find myself hacking back to days when music was music. I know for some this sounds cliché but I remember days when artists used to make solid albums from alpha to omega. As a fan you’d be able to sit through an entire album and follow the artist through his/her musical journey – music that touched the soul.

I am not at all surprised that I cannot even place any of the songs that actually won on the respective nights. At the Grammy’s Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It); Jay Z’s D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune); and ‘Blame It’ by Jamie Foxx & T-Pain are the only songs that I was familiar with. I came across the Beyoncé song whilst watching a hilarious episode of Glee – but that’s for a different blog posting. (See video below)  As for the Jamie Foxx single, I will say this: it’s a thin line between a classic and a dud and this record was treading nowhere near that line. Lame.

Congratulations to Oasis for their Brit Award. It is fitting that I sign off with a plea to the music industry to stop cashing those bad cheques. ‘Today is going to be the day that they're going to throw it back to you. By now you should've somehow realized what you’ve got do I don't believe that anybody Feels the way I do about you now….. I said maybe you're going to be the one who saves me? And after all you're my wonderwall.