In 1988 Milli Vanilli won the Grammy award for Best New Artist. When it was discovered that the two dancers who lip singed (lip sank?) the songs in the videos were not the same guys who recorded the vocals on the CD the Grammy folks took back the award. I personally would never have awarded Milli Vanilli the Grammy for Best New Artist anyway but neither would I have given it back. This is Show Biz, people, it is in large part, illusion. Grammies, if I’m not mistaken, are given out by the recording industry. Did the CD not sound as good once they found out Fab Moran and Rob Pilatus weren’t the singers? Somebody sang the vocals on that CD, did they deserve to have the Grammy pulled from them? Was the music any less because the actual vocalists, Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, Jodie and Linda Rocco were less photogenic than the two dancers in the videos and models on the CD cover? Did the songs suck after the fraud was exposed?
I’m tired of hearing music industry professionals always saying, “It’s the music.” I had one big time music industry marketer actually say that to me when I mentioned that Green Jello’s claymation video to the song, Three Little Pigs, sold remarkable well (I was trying to sell him on the idea of producing animated music videos). “It’s the music?” I exclaimed in disbelief. “It’s The Three Little Pigs!” If “it’s the music”, then Milli Vanilli, whomever that may have been, should have been able to keep their Grammy.
This is supposed to be Entertainment . . . not just Music. And who cares anyway? I don't! If it were just about music, why did they dress up the Beatles?
ReplyDeleteHere's how The Grammies works. Musicians and labels can submit recorded music to the Recording Academy for consideration. A group of 150 Grammy Academy members receive each submission to make sure it meets the qualifications for being considered for a Grammy in that year for which it has been submitted. (WHATEVER THAT MEANS) The individual members of each group that votes for which submission they want to see nominated in which category. These votes are tabulated and the five leading vote getters in each category become the Grammy nominees.
At this stage, voting is opened up to all voting members of the Recording Academy - these are members who have been credited on at least six commercially released songs (credits can be technical or creative). Recording Academy members can vote in each general category (i.e., Song of the Year) and a limited number of subcategories. These votes are then counted, and the winner in each category becomes the Grammy winner.
I don't watch the Grammies. And what happened to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame! Let's all go to Cleveland and celebrate the new Rock form . . . DISCO!