The Oblivians reunited to pay tribute to Jay Reatard. Silver Mt. Zion and Guy Picciotto helmed a touching celebration of Vic Chestnutt's work. Animal Collective won the most awards, and Ian MacKaye accepted a lifetime achievement award via satellite. None of these things happened at last night's 52nd Grammy Awards.
Instead, viewers were subjected to the standard high-profile performances, stupid outfits and frustratingly obvious awards. Lady Gaga wore her usual menagerie of ridiculous getups and shocked the audience with her performances (see above). Beyoncé, who won six Grammys, decided to cover Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" for some reason. Taylor Swift won album of the year, while Kanye West was locked away in his Hawaii recording studio. All in all, it was as predictable as every other Grammy Awards.
There were a few artists who did win some much-deserved awards, most notably Phoenix. The sophisticated French popsters beat out Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Depeche Mode, and David Byrne and Brian Eno for best alternative album with their beloved Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
Green Day also received a memorable performance, debuting material from their long-anticipated American Idiot musical. They performed their recent single, "21 Guns," with a full choir and orchestra. Despite the fact that it was incredibly cheesy, there was something charming about the whole thing. Check out the performance below.
Legendary rocker Neil Young won his first-ever Grammy, though the award in itself was a bit of a non-award. After all, the award was given for the packaging on his Archives box set. It's 2010, and the only Grammy Neil Young has ever received is for his packaging? Unbelievable!
Instead, viewers were subjected to the standard high-profile performances, stupid outfits and frustratingly obvious awards. Lady Gaga wore her usual menagerie of ridiculous getups and shocked the audience with her performances (see above). Beyoncé, who won six Grammys, decided to cover Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" for some reason. Taylor Swift won album of the year, while Kanye West was locked away in his Hawaii recording studio. All in all, it was as predictable as every other Grammy Awards.
There were a few artists who did win some much-deserved awards, most notably Phoenix. The sophisticated French popsters beat out Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Depeche Mode, and David Byrne and Brian Eno for best alternative album with their beloved Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
Green Day also received a memorable performance, debuting material from their long-anticipated American Idiot musical. They performed their recent single, "21 Guns," with a full choir and orchestra. Despite the fact that it was incredibly cheesy, there was something charming about the whole thing. Check out the performance below.
Legendary rocker Neil Young won his first-ever Grammy, though the award in itself was a bit of a non-award. After all, the award was given for the packaging on his Archives box set. It's 2010, and the only Grammy Neil Young has ever received is for his packaging? Unbelievable!
