The Grammy Privilege

As if on cue, there's an article on the Guardian about how BAME (look it up) artists have been neglected by the Grammy voters throughout the Ages.

The author goes on to quote some people who share his opinion that Beyonce should have won the album of the year. Since they share his opinion, they must be right, right?

He then takes us on a tour through some cherry-picked years, and treats us to his opinion of who coulda/shoulda won, all the while testing our patience with repeats of "not that there's anything awful about the winner, it's just that..." He lists a number of black bands/artists, and then some token white bands, showing us, in his unbiased wisdom, that the Grammys didn't overlook just the BAMEs.

Some moments are actually pretty amusing, like saying the Grammys "missed" AC/DC's "Back in Black" in 1981.

Funny he should mention that. Because the remarkable Grammy "visionaries" created the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1989. They didn't so much miss AC/DC, they completely ignored the entire genre. And when they finally acknowledged its existence, it was to award that giant of metal, Jethro Tull. Funnily enough, there was also plenty of whining vocal discordance at the time, because everyone had already decided that Metallica were going to win. The song remains the same, only these days time it's more colorful.

In fact, forget this weird Hard Rock/Metal thingy, let's just look at good plain ole Rock, shall we? The year is 1992, and these were the nominees who lost:

• Bryan Adams - "Can't Stop This Thing We Started". Fair enough, it's a rock song.

• Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing". Never heard this, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I'm pretty sure it's quite different from Bryan Adams.

• Metallica – "Enter Sandman". Er... Dear Grammy people, this isn't Rock. This is Metal. Shocking though this revelation may be, there is a slight difference. Which, I presume, is why you created the "Best blah-blah Metal etc..." 3 years earlier.

• Tom Petty – "Learning to Fly". OK, another rock song.

• Queensrÿche – "Silent Lucidity". Right. Let's nominate for Best Rock Song a ballad from a Progressive Metal band.

And the winner was... Why, it was that unavoidable staple of Rock... Sting. Yeah, I know, it happens to me all the time - when I think about Rock, the first person that comes to mind is Sting.

If I had to choose a band that epitomized Rock, I'd choose Queen. And yet, they never won a single Grammy. In 1977, they were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (sorry, I don't know who comes up with this crap either), with "Bohemian Rhapsody". And who won that year? Chicago, with "If You Leave Me Now". Not that there's anything awful about the winner, it's just that... God, it's awful. Even by 1977 standards, it's a mellowish idiotic song... I mean, "Bohemian Rhapsody" lost to "Ooooooh, now, Baby, please, don't go"... Ugh! And looking at the other nominees for that year, you don't see anything that comes even close to the genius of "Bohemian Rhapsody".

But it's not just Queen. Let's keep on the same category and travel to 1974. Gladys Knight & the Pips won with "Neither One of Us (etc...)". One of the beaten nominees was "Live And Let Die". I know which song is best, and it ain't the winner. For the record, though, "Midnight Train To Georgia" is a fantastic song, and it wouldn't have shocked me to see it taking the #1 spot here.

Or let's look at 1971. Is anoyone really convinced that "Close To You", by The Carpenters is a better song than "Let it Be"?

The Grammys are a politicized award, just like the Oscars. In fact, just like pretty much any award where subjectivity reigns. Look no further than the Eurovision Song Contest. Last year, Ukraine won. Naturally, because they had the best song, not because everyone wanted to make a political statement. Ditto with the "Bearded-Lady-From-Austria", a few years ago.

The solution, as always, is more diversity. You see, all these people pushing white guilt upon non-BAMEs because their goddess lost to "privilege" aren't concerned that the Grammys are a political vanity fair where merit is redundant. Their problem is that the "right" people aren't winning. And the way to solve that is by creating quotas in the voter demographic.

In fact, the solution itself speaks volumes of how political these awards are. This "change in demographics" is also the solution Democrats (and liberal/progressives, in general) are counting on to ensure their perpetual victory at some point in the future.

I suspect the future may have some surprises in store for them.