The oddest Grammy Album
Blood, Sweat and Tears over The Beatles? Eric Clapton over Nirvana? Steely Dan over Eminem? Herbie Hancock over Amy Winehouse? Surely some mistake?
A
Awards ceremony judging panels are often accused of being pale, male and stale, an ageing cabal out of touch with contemporary culture.
It’s a brickbat that has been hurled at the Grammy voting panel for some time. In 2018, the only one of its best album nominees not to play one of their songs live was the only woman up for the prize – Lorde. The same year, U2 were featured no less than three times during the broadcast, despite not even being up for an award. The awards consistently overlooked dance music, only creating a category for it in 1998, a decade since the heyday of dance culture. And the less said about the Grammy’s arm’s length relationship with hip-hop the better.
The awards’ sometimes dizzying list of categories – which currently stands at 78, having been cut from 109 in 2012 – means artists in all sorts of less high-profile genres (jazz, comedy, children’s) get their nods alongside the usual red-carpet favourites. For instance, Elmo the Muppet has won a Grammy three times – for Best Musical Album for Children in 1998 (Elmopalooza!), 1999 (The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland), and 2001 (Elmo And The Orchestra).
But at the heart of the Grammy conundrum is often a dilemma – whether to recognise the uncompromisingly artistic, or plump for the safer bet. No category bears that out better than Album of the Year. This time round, the panel seems to have done a decent job, balancing the pop likes of Arianna Grande and Billie Eilish with critical darlings such as Bon Iver and Lana Del Ray. But BBC Music looks at some of the times the Grammy panel got it noticeably wrong. [Note: the years cited are those in which the albums were released and were awarded for, not the year the ceremony took place, which is the following year.]
1969
Won: Blood, Sweat & Tears, Blood, Sweat & Tears
Should have won: The Beatles, Abbey Road
Canadian jazz fusionists Blood, Sweat & Tears made their first big splash with a cover of Brenda Holloway’s You Make Me So Very Happy, So well-received, in fact, that the Grammy judges decided that the penultimate album by the most influential rock band of all time – one containing the likes of Come Together and Something – just didn’t cut the mustard in the same way as did a jazz-tinged odyssey that included interpretations of Erik Satie and a cover of Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Mind.
1980
Won: Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross
Should have won: AC/DC, Back In Black, or The Clash, London Calling
It was a momentous year for rock, partly thanks to two phenomenal records. AC/DC reconvened after the death of their charismatic frontman Bon Scott with an emphatic call to arms. This memorial to Scott – encrypted on the leather lungs of new frontman Brian Johnson – is arguably the most popular hard rock album in history. The Clash, meantime, negotiated the revolution of punk mostly intact, and cut their masterwork, a double album which cemented their place in rock’s pantheon – and coining a timeless anthem that will still be hummed long after London is swallowed by the Thames.
So what did the jury crown? Adult-oriented radio favourite Christopher Cross’s self-titled debut, home of tasteful radio staples such as Sailing and Ride Like The Wind.
1984
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https://spu.instructure.com/eportfolios/4252/Han_Solo_La_Pelicula_Ver_Online_Gratis__Chile_y_Latino
https://mostarlid19.medium.com/the-oddest-grammy-album-of-the-year-awards-baf0735bc622