Vintage Grammys thoughts

[misplaced validity]

I was looking at random Grammys stuff and noticed "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" won the first ever Grammy for Best R&B Song. I then looked at the list of winners in the category, and it has some of my all-time favorites:

"Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"
"Ain't No Sunshine"
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone"
"Superstition"
"Last Dance"
"Billie Jean"
"I Feel For You"
"Giving You the Best That I Got"
"If You Don't Know Me By Now" (though winning nearly 20 years after its initial release is ridiculous)
"End of the Road"
"That's the Way Love Goes"
"Doo Wop (That Thing)"
"Crazy In Love"
"You Don't Know My Name"
"We Belong Together"
"No One"
"Adorn"
"Pusher Love Girl"
"Really Love"

There are others that I'm sure other people still love but I don't. Either way, terrific category of winners overall.

[misplaced validity]

How random that Prince's first Grammy nomination was for "International Lover." Not only had he had legitimate hits before that song - "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "1999" for example - but "International Lover" was an album track.

[pvdk]

Jeez.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - what a crap year it was once:

"Any Road" – George Harrison
"Cry Me a River" – Justin Timberlake
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" – Michael McDonald
"Send Your Love" – Sting
"Keep Me in Your Heart" – Warren Zevon

[misplaced validity]

(09-01-2016 10:48 PM)pvdk Wrote:  Jeez.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - what a crap year it was once:

"Any Road" – George Harrison
"Cry Me a River" – Justin Timberlake
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" – Michael McDonald
"Send Your Love" – Sting
"Keep Me in Your Heart" – Warren Zevon

Lol! That is a weak line-up. I forgot so many veterans got in. Wow.

Of course that was when 'urban' music was dominating. That year the #1 songs included Lose Yourself, In Da Club, Get Busy, Shake Ya Tailfeather, etc (i.e. not songs by male singers). Give or take a John Mayer song, I'm not even sure what else was eligible for Pop Male that year.

[pvdk]

Ohhhh that could be it.

[misplaced validity]

I had no idea the only Grammy that Fleetwood Mac ever won is Album of the Year for Rumours. That's a deserved win, but how did they not win a Rock Group or Pop Group award at some point?

[misplaced validity]

Interesting that Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Janet Jackson all have exactly 5 Grammys. Whitney Houston has 6, and Madonna has 7. Between the 5 of them, they've won Album twice and Record twice (3 of those 4 wins being related to soundtracks). So, yeah, don't feel too bad for Beyonce.

I still find it odd that after Thriller, Michael Jackson didn't won another Grammy for his solo work apart from a couple of them for the videos to "Leave Me Alone" and "Scream."

[mahogany soul]

It's weird to me that you keep referencing Beyonce's total Grammy count as if that's suppose to compensate her loss for Lemonade. She didn't win all 22 at once. Feeling bad for a millionaire who has one of the most successful careers in pop is unnecessary; and few intelligent people are asking for the sympathy. If you don't think Lemonade a worthy winner, I completely understand. But let's not pretend the discussion and emotions behind Beyonce's loss amounted to fans bitching about her not adding another award to her collection. It's reductive and incredibly ignorant.

[misplaced validity]

(03-10-2017 06:41 AM)mahogany soul Wrote:  It's weird to me that you keep referencing Beyonce's total Grammy count as if that's suppose to compensate her loss for Lemonade. She didn't win all 22 at once. Feeling bad for a millionaire who has one of the most successful careers in pop is unnecessary; and few intelligent people are asking for the sympathy. If you don't think Lemonade a worthy winner, I completely understand. But let's not pretend the discussion and emotions behind Beyonce's loss amounted to fans bitching about her not adding another award to her collection. It's reductive and incredibly ignorant.

My point is more that it isn't about Beyonce; it goes deeper and farther back than Beyonce. My point is also that the reigning divas of the 80s and 09s could barely win Grammys; of the main divas, only Celine and Whitney ever won in the general categories, so Beyonce's SOTY win is more than Janet, Madonna, and Mariah could muster between them. Madonna, Mariah, Celine, and Janet couldn't even clean up in their genre categories the way Beyonce has over the years (Whitney did win Pop Female 3 times, though). In and of itself that doesn't make Beyonce's losses in the major categories less egregious to her fans, but to me it adds another layer to the issue. The question is why are Adele and Taylor Swift able to clean up in ways previous pop stars have not? It could be that "divas" are regarded more highly now, especially since Adele and Swift are known to write their own music. I don't think R&B acts in general - and certainly not R&B divas like Janet, Mariah, and Beyonce - are seen as writers in the same way even though they should be.

[misplaced validity]

I didn't realize Earth, Wind, & Fire were so huge with the Grammys. They won R&B Duo/Group 4 times and were nominated 9 times. Total wins for some of the big groups of the 60s/70s.

Earth, Wind, & Fire - 4 (for "Shining Star," "All 'n All," "After the Love Has Gone," "Wanna Be With You")
Temptations - 2 (for "Cloud Nine" and "Papa Was A Rolling Stone")
Gladys Knight & The Pips - 2 (for "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Love Overboard")
Rufus - 1 (for "Tell Me Something Good")
Isley Brothers - 1 (for "It's Your Thing")
Four Tops - 0
Supremes - 0 (though it should be mentioned there was no R&B Group category when they started)