The O' Leary Grammy

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Is there any footage of Brian winning the grammy? or was it not broadcasted?

[Aegir]

Probably wasn't broadcast... I don't remember ever seeing someone winning "Best Instrumental" on TV.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I guess it would be kind of counter-intuitive to give a speech after winning Best Instrumental.

[Jason]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

[Tristero]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

In what way an insult?  I agree that the institution is bass ackwards!

[Jon Stebbins]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

In what way an insult? 

I think it can be construed as an insult that the leader of rock's greatest vocal group...and the greatest vocal arranger of the rock era... is given his first and only Grammy for an instrumental. Sh*t like that has gotta mess with Brian's mind.

[oldsurferdude]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

In what way an insult? 

I think it can be construed as an insult that the leader of rock's greatest vocal group...and the greatest vocal arranger of the rock era... is given his first and only Grammy for an instrumental. Sh*t like that has gotta mess with Brian's mind.

And everyone else's mind as well.

[onkster]

The fact that such a weird track is the one that got the Grammy is really kind of miraculous if you think about it. It's probably the least commercial track on there, and yet the commercially-minded Grammys put out for this one.

I wish it had been broadcast--as long as the studio orchestra would have played a cheesy show-biz arrangement of it as Brian walked up to collect.

[bgas]

It ranks right up there with the GV grammy loss to Winchester Cathedral....

[Wirestone]

Adding to the weirdness: Brian and his band sing on the track that won the instrumental Grammy ...

[Andrew G. Doe]

My feeling is they gave it to him much in the same way they give someone an honorary Oscar.

[The Shift]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

In what way an insult? 

I think it can be construed as an insult that the leader of rock's greatest vocal group...and the greatest vocal arranger of the rock era... is given his first and only Grammy for an instrumental. Sh*t like that has gotta mess with Brian's mind.

But wouldn't Brian and/or his organisation have been the ones that entered the tune for a Grammy?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Adding to the weirdness: Brian and his band sing on the track that won the instrumental Grammy ...

Good one!

[cablegeddon]

I think Jeff Beck has a subscription to that award. He wins every year.

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

It's a weird category , is Mrs. O'Leary's Cow really rock?..... and I bet the overall instrumental award is more prestigious but a grammy is always a grammy.

[Alex]

Just remember this...the year prior to Brian getting that Grammy, the best rock instrumental winner was none other than Linkin Park (Don`t ask me how I know this). Either the Grammy people got their sh*t together in `05, or they`re just really inconsistent from year to year.

[Shady]

Brian looked really happy holding his award

[Rocker]

I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is.

In what way an insult? 

I think it can be construed as an insult that the leader of rock's greatest vocal group...and the greatest vocal arranger of the rock era... is given his first and only Grammy for an instrumental. Sh*t like that has gotta mess with Brian's mind.

I believe Brian was nominated for best vocal album (or something similar) but lost to Ray Charles, because the latter just died shortly before the Grammies. His "Genius meets company" was a nice album but far from being great and you could see how that whole stuff works by looking at how many Grammies that one won.

[guitarfool2002]

You cannot beat the sympathy, pathos, or recent death factor in awards like this. You simply can't top the emotions, or in some cases the politics (internal and external), no matter how deserving of the award the artist or creation may be. This is why I rarely if ever actually watch these phony love-fests, but I do consider and use as historical reference the results. I admit there is my contradiction, and I would have watched an awards show for the first time in many years if Eddie Murphy had actually hosted this year. Alas, the inner workings of it all prevented that from happening.

Do I think Brian's Grammy was in some way an "insult"? I can't see the connection, so absolutely not. I feel he did have the most innovative instrumental song of that year, and remember if we remove our fan goggles for a minute, most of the general public had never heard "Fire" until BWPS, and the reaction there was probably similar to when the hard-core fans first heard it on a bootleg in the 80's or whenever. So I think the Grammy folks got this right, there was no better instrumental release than "Fire" that year. Unless we think Yanni, Kenny G, or John Tesh got robbed of a deserved prize...

[Jon Stebbins]

The insult has nothing to do with what he got. Its about what he didn't get. Brian should have a few Grammys for songs with vocals. He's pretty good at those.

[guitarfool2002]

The insult has nothing to do with what he got. Its about what he didn't get. Brian should have a few Grammys for songs with vocals. He's pretty good at those.

Of course I agree, but at the same time I was reacting to this original statement: "I always thought that Grammy was an insult. Only more proof of how backwards that organization is." It's one thing to say that something which should have taken place but didn't for various reasons is an insult, it's another thing to put the negativity onto an event that actually did happen, like Brian actually getting a Grammy award to put on his mantle, and suggest it's an insult in light of what could have been done decades ago. He had an incredible song released that year in "Fire", he received an award for it, good for him; What "should" have happened can be separated from what did happen in that issue, otherwise everyone up for an award can start whining publicly over Grammy and MTV losses like Kanye West.

This is why I put little or no stock in the validity of such awards, especially given the list of recent Grammy recipients in certain categories who have no business at all winning such things. Or how about those categories where PDQ Bach and Jimmy Sturr, as good as they may be at their craft, were given the award in their category year after year after year almost as an afterthought. Is or was PDQ Bach really that fucking great and funny of a classical satire act to get a handful of "Best Comedy" awards? Was Jimmy Sturr the best Polka act to warrant almost 20 Grammy awards in his category? Who knows.  Don't get me going on spoken word...But I do consider the award results for historical reasons, things like Geoff Emerick winning engineering Grammys for Sgt. Pepper when he was 22, they are important for telling the story. Again, that's my own contradiction and/or hypocrisy about these awards.

[Wirestone]

The Grammys are simply stupid. Elton John's first was shared for That's What Friends are For in 1987! Now, I know that opinions on Elton differ, but surely some of those 70s classics would have won something, right? Nope. Not a single thing.

[Dr. Tim]

Seconding what guitarfool says, the Grammys have always been out of step like that.  In the mid-sixties, when the Beatles were sweeping everything, the record of the year was Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass's "What Now My Love."  Now I like Herb Alpert, but that was just ridonculus.

[Jason]

I think the Grammy for What Now My Love was basically the Grammys capitalizing on the huge media boom around Herb Alpert at the time; remember, in 1966 he had five albums in the top 20 on the Billboard charts, and four of them (S.R.O., What Now My Love, Going Places, and Whipped Cream & Other Delights) were top 10. He also won Record of the Year in 1965 for his cover of A Taste Of Honey.

If you want to talk about a big Grammy error, look no further than Elvis Presley. Not that How Great Thou Art and He Touched Me aren't excellent albums (they're two of his best), but to award the guy only for his gospel work is wrong. From Elvis In Memphis and Elvis Country could easily have won a few awards, if only for the engineering alone.

[Ron]

My feeling is they gave it to him much in the same way they give someone an honorary Oscar.

I agree.  I'm no fan of the Grammys, but when he won it, my immediate thought was it was a way for them to say "Brian, even your craziest song deserves a Grammy"

There's a lot of legend around that song and it's mental effect on Brian; I thought it was pretty classy that they did that for him.  





I remember around the time on his website Brian was posting (or Melinda as Brian) from time to time, and the next day or whatever after the Grammys he was posting a lot of schoolgirl giggling like "We Won'! We actually Won! Can You Believe It? ? ? ? !!!!"

So I think it meant a lot to him.  

[Rocker]

If you want to talk about a big Grammy error, look no further than Elvis Presley. Not that How Great Thou Art and He Touched Me aren't excellent albums (they're two of his best), but to award the guy only for his gospel work is wrong. From Elvis In Memphis and Elvis Country could easily have won a few awards, if only for the engineering alone.

Well, the engineering was pretty standard and although it's one of my favorite records of his later years, He Touched Me really is quite weak. But I agree about his better albums really deserving more Grammies. From Elvis In Memphis not only is one of the strongest albums of '69 it also has vocal performances of single songs like "Long black limousine" "After loving you" "Gentle on my mind" that just put a shadow on other songs of that time. Or "I really don't want to know" from Elvis Country, which still is a milestone vocally and in intensity. In fact, just as strange that Brian hasn't gotten any recognition from the Grammies for his vocal work, is the fact that Presley never got a Grammy for a vocal performance (I'm not sure if his Grammy for the '74 How Great Thou Art performance was for vocal).