Grammys?

You know, I just found out that the grammys are coming. There is still a little part of me that feels like for some reason I should be paying attention. But the fact that I've been a music critic for almost twenty years, and I have a large, if slightly dated music collection, means I should care, but I don't. I didn't care about them when I was a twentysomething wannabe hipster, and I don't care about them now that I'm a soccer dad veering on middle age. The reason? They are not relevant to me, and aside from some TV and gossip junkies, and some fans of the acts that actually have a chance, I don't think anyone else cares, either.

We're all in our little worlds now. Gone are the days where a record like Thriller would have huge crossover success and go like ten times platinum. We're all into our own little scenes now. Some of the best selling records nowadays will go platinum a few times over, but not become cultural phenomana like in the old days.

I've personally never paid attention. The metal and punk acts I listened to as a teenager either didn't care or knew they didn't have a prayer of winning anything. When a well-past it's prime Jethro Tull took the first hard rock grammy from a young, hungry Metallica, it said everything to me. The college bands I listened to were pretty much in the same boat as the punk and metal bands- didn't know and didn't care. The fact that Paul Westerberg never won one is a crime. there is a long list of brilliant, relevant, and relatively popular artists who never even had a nomination. The artists I listen to nowadays would probably fall into the "don't care" mode either. It is cool to see The White Stripes up for one, Wilco certainly is a great band, but most of the others........who cares?

On Grammy Night, I may channel surf to see who is doing what, but it will share time with the news, CSI re-runs or the Laker games. I'll look in the morning to see if Wilco or The White Stripes won, but that news will share the surfing with the war in Chad and the latest Hillary-Barack gossip. I don't really care, and winning or losing, I'm sure won't make Jeff Tweedey lose sleep. It means nothing to me, and watching it will be a tragic loss of a few hours of my life.

SB