It wouldn't make a difference. People who watch the Grammys aren't music fans; they're TV addicts who long ago stopped listening to and supporting new music (if they ever did in the first place). Regardless of what they see and hear on the Grammys, they're going to cling to their opinion that modern music sucks.
The Grammys have nothing to do with music.
Suggestion: Instead of watching the program, do yourself a favor by listening to some new records the night it airs.
I'm a Musgraves fan who feels the album is a total misfire. Divorce albums tend to be horrendous, and 'Star-Crossed" is no exception. From everything I've seen and heard, Musgraves herself is probably not much into the album. A shame, though she's plenty talented and entirely capable of bouncing back.
Not saying I'm a huge fan, but Billy Idol (and Steve Stevens) sound good in this live performance from September.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alHharY0FTA&t=649s
Since most people aren't music fans, it stands to reason that most people haven't heard of Big Star. This includes people who claim to be big-time music fans. When Chilton, a former co-worker of mine mourned his death on Facebook. When I engaged her in conversation, it turned out she was clueless about Chilton himself, Big Star, and the Box Tops. She just knew the name from "that Replacements song." We all know people like that, right?
No lie, I had high school classmates (Class of '76) who don't know who The Byrds are. These people were born in 1958.
As for R.E.M., why should they be getting wall-to-wall airplay when they broke up a decade ago? James Brown doesn't get much airplay either even though he was probably the most influential pop music force of the last 60 years. His influence is all over the radio, just not him personally.
The Cars' first album was a big deal for me. A few months after it came out, the band made a promo appearance in the record department of Korvette's department store in Paramus, New Jersey. I took my copy to the store and had each guy autograph beneath their picture. A couple of years later, I joined my college's radio station where I met a female member who was a huge Cars fan. She was super-impressed that I had their autographs. One day, she asked if I could bring it to the station on a Friday so she could look at it and keep it for the weekend. I did this and she returned the album to me on Monday. This went on two or three more times. I would bring in the album and she would keep it for the weekend. Sadly, she never invited me to join her and the album at her house. All these years later, I'm thinking I might have missed some kind of sign. Too late now as the album later perished in a house fire with all my other stuff.
Pretty good though I prefer the version Aimee Mann released in 2020. The song apparently means a lot to Mann for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the Cars-influenced 'Til Tuesday was beginning to get considerable attention around Boston as "Drive" was in the midst of its chart run. A few months later, "Voices Carry" was all over the radio on the same stations that were playing "Drive." For me, hearing her perform the Cars song live is always a transcendent experience. A fantastic artist who I feel is taken for granted in some circles. Mental Illness was a top-five album for me in 2017 and I Iook forward to hearing Queens of the Summer Hotel when it drops at midnight along with the new ones by ABBA and Curtis Harding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mkulw2T5Lc
Andre Ethier would be a good one. I'm a Dodger fan and wish they'd bring him into the broadcast booth. Tampa Bay Rays play-by-play man Dewayne Staats is a huge music fan who loves the Replacements, the Plimsouls, Dom Mariani, and power pop. Peter Gammons is also a serious music fan whose interests lie beyond what's spoonfed by mainstream radio.
Denny McLain on organ if health will allow him to do it. He hit the Vegas circuit after the '68 World Series.
Barry Zito and Tim Flannery have made records. Bernie Williams. Jack McDowell. Larry Dierker still goes out to hear live music and has supposedly penned a baseball musical.
Chuck Brodsky should be invited as well. His "Baseball Ballads" album is fantastic. And, of course, the Baseball Project. The second of their three albums is among my favorites from 2011. It's a shame David Olney died last year because he would be another outstanding choice. The linked song gets me every time. A reminder of why baseball resonates with its fans in ways other sports don't. It's the only sport I still bother with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReAgQfj2waU
Springsteen and especially Petty are the direct opposite of War on Drugs. Urgent, well-constructed (and edited) rock 'n' roll songs that are melodic, have big guitar hooks and sound fantastic in the car. If you listen to WOD in the car, you might fall asleep and plummet into a ditch. Their songs go on forever and not in a good way. I guess they're not a Philly band anymore, which is okay by me. I'll take Low Cut Connie over them any day.
The Replacements were assholes of the highest order. Making fools out of yourselves in front of paying customers isn't a badge of honor. It's stealing money. I saw one of their headlining debacles and would have felt sorry for them if I wasn't so angry. They didn't finish a single song and assaulted the female DJ who introduced them by dousing her with beer against her will. They didn't deserve the many opportunities they were given. The thought of them opening for Petty is a bigger joke now than it was then. Still teenagers in their late 20s. If you can't handle the gig, don't take the money.
I saw them twice in the mid-80s at the Capitol Theater in Passaic and Radio City Music Hall. Mediocre both times. Lots of bands could write, sing, and play rings around them.
The Replacements regularly had "off nights." They weren't just pathetic drunks but also lazy and disrespectful to anyone who tried to help or support them. The night I saw them, they assaulted the female DJ who introduced them by dousing her with beer against her will.
Paul Westerburg, if you're out, stop ducking me because I still want my $12.50 refund for that sham you pulled off.
My one time seeing the Replacements in 1986 was the worst show I've ever attended. All four guys drunk off their asses on stage; I don't think they finished a song all night. Two days later, they fired Bob Stinson for public drunkenness when they should have fired the whole band. The truly great bands bring it every time, not just once in a while.
I saw Rockpile twice and would have seen them a third time had they not broken up a few days before a Passaic, New Jersey, show I had third-row tickets for. And I would have seen Billy Bremner this week had the U.S. leg of his Rockfiles tour not been postponed until next month.
Here's Dave Edmunds from his final gig in 2017. It's a shame a proper sendoff tour wasn't arranged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLwQwNKBWAM
My first concert was Fleetwood Mac during their Rumours Tour. March 24, 1977, at Nauseau Veteran Memorial Coliseum. Nearly two decades later, I successfully scheduled a phone interview with Peter Green. A condition was one of his handlers listening in on the extension, which I agreed to. The interview was set for the next morning but canceled because Green sadly couldn't handle it. A few days later, I attended Green's Splinter Group show at Tramps in NYC, a performance that ended early due to excessive bleeding from Green's fingers. Green and Kirwan are gone. Jeremy Spencer is still playing but I have zero desire to see or hear that guy.
It figures the video is age-restricted. It's the clip where Nicks talks about her drug problems and carrying a gram of cocaine in her boot. Why shield kids from what is essentially a public service announcement?
Stevie's cocaine advice: "Save your money because it will cost you $50,000 to go to rehab. And you will have to go because if you don't, you will die."
The band's entire history is filled with people who were oddballs, to say the least. Watching FM Behind the Music several years ago, I thought Nicks came off as the normal one (granted, the bar was set really low). This four-minute video should be required viewing for all school children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GVZYLC2y-M
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