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Author Topic: The O' Leary Grammy  (Read 4600 times)
guitarfool2002
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« Reply #25 on: November 19, 2011, 03:03:08 PM »

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.

I will say that A Taste Of Honey is an all-time classic instrumental, a great record and a great sounding record. So if Alpert won that year, a case could be made he deserved it - that record is a stone-cold classic. Some of his others which won and were nominated...perhaps not.

And he was a superstar at that time, he was even given hosting duties on shows like Hollywood Palace and his own TV specials, so the Grammys were going with a popular choice that several age groups enjoyed, I agree.
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Ron
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« Reply #26 on: November 19, 2011, 03:43:27 PM »


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).

I don't understand why the grammys would pander to people like oh... ANY of the modern acts that make music just because they're popular, but at the time didn't pander to Elvis or the Beach Boys who were both hugely popular.  Then they pander to Herb Alpert. 

I have no problem with Herb Alpert winning, because I can see that not only is his music popular, but it's also very good... how come they didn't see that with Elvis or the Beach Boys?
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hypehat
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« Reply #27 on: November 19, 2011, 06:31:40 PM »

....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.

Sorry, but...

'Inner workings'?! Brett Ratner was being a colossal skull of Dick Reising, and Eddie Murphy hasn't been funny in about 30 years and insists on impregnating Spice Girls.

oh hell, we've gone OT. Er....

Ahem, yeah, the foremost vocal arranger of the late twentieth century getting an instrumental grammy! That sucks!

Fantastic wordfiltering there, too - If I ever meet the moderator who put that in, they're getting a beer  LOL
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« Reply #28 on: November 19, 2011, 10:37:54 PM »

....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.

Sorry, but...

'Inner workings'?! Brett Ratner was being a colossal skull of Dick Reising, and Eddie Murphy hasn't been funny in about 30 years and insists on impregnating Spice Girls.

oh hell, we've gone OT. Er....


Eddie Murphy was on Jimmy Fallon's show a few weeks ago where he confirmed he would host the awards, and in that interview he was funny, insightful, and clocky enough to make it seem like we were seeing the Eddie Murphy who was probably most responsible for carrying SNL on his shoulders and saving it during a bad time.

My friends and I used to do the skits and voices from his stand up comedy albums and crack each other up, have you heard those albums? Are comedy albums even made in 2011, and are they even funny? Bottom line, Eddie in his prime was funny and innovative, something guys who do commentary on politics and current affairs couldn't touch or don't understand. Or guys who rely so much on a schtick or a character that they can't break it to be a normal person in public every now and then.

frig Ratner, would his comments have ruined the dignity of the awards if he stayed on? I doubt it. Eddie would have been unpredictable AND funny, it's something that has nothing to do with Spice Girls and something the awards don't understand when the writing teams get together to create the supposed comedy.

OT. Smiley
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« Reply #29 on: November 19, 2011, 11:39:43 PM »

Just happened to think of how many times Brian Wilson and/or The Beach Boys have been tagged with the "hasn't been good in XX years" line, and how much good music we would not have in 2011 if they had quit instead of moving forward. For all the horrid "comebacks" in pop culture, there are a few diamonds in the rough. I think BWPS is one of those. Smiley But before Brian's comeback tour in the late 90's, I remember hearing the "he hasn't really done anything for 30 years" line leveled at him, too. Should Brian have quit then because his best work was three decades in the past?
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Ron
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« Reply #30 on: November 20, 2011, 08:49:10 AM »

I think Eddie Murphy has the talent to be funny anytime he wants to be.  He just hasn't chosen to be much in the last 20 years (30 is a bit harsh).  I saw previews for his lastest movie and to me, it looked like the old Eddie Murphy.  I haven't seen it, though.

BTW, what's wrong with impregnating Spice Girls?  Haters gotta hate. 
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« Reply #31 on: November 20, 2011, 09:35:00 AM »

Back On Topic, and wrapping this up:

Let's not confuse things.  Herb Alpert's "A Taste of Honey" deserved all it got the year it won.  It broke everywhere, the oldsters liked it, the Hip Kidds liked it, even top-forty WABC had to play it.  A lot.
 
And I do like "What Now My Love."  My point was: by that time, the Beatles had flattened everything else in their path, and who did the record of the year and other Grammys go to?  Herb Alpert.  Yeah he was big.  But the Grammys were out of step, which I believe is what the OP was talking about with Brian getting a "best instrumental" as his first Grammy after being otherwise snubbed for 40 years. (as in wins, not nominations).
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« Reply #32 on: November 22, 2011, 01:22:37 PM »

Regarding past (and possibly current) habits of the Grammies, there's something you need to realize to understand some of it...if I'm not mistaken, the Grammy Awards tend to favor music that your parents wouldn't be scared of. Also, IINM, "Sing Along With Mitch" Miller was involved in the founding of said awards. Put the two together, and the safer the mush, the more likely it is to win a Grammy.

That explains why the trippy, weird "Good Vibrations" lost to the adult-friendly, Murry-pleasing schmaltz of "Winchester Cathedral" -- which, btw, spent more time at #1 than "Good Vibrations" did. And why "Michelle" won Song of the Year in 1966 despite it not being a single. And why The Who never won a Grammy. (Too loud!)

It doesn't explain just plain STUPIDITY, though, like how Fountains of Wayne won Best New Artist, oh...six years after they had their first hits.

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