February is always a great time to be in the business of producing awards shows. It's the busiest time for the entertainment industry — except for summer blockbuster season, of course. First come the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, then the Grammys and the Academy Awards.
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards air Sunday, Feb. 10.
The Grammy awards are some of the highest honors in the music business. Adele has won multiple Grammys, as has U2, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Yo-Yo Ma, Christina Aguilera and the Black Keys. Musicians from all different genres receive Grammy nominations.
But too often the nominated works are songs we've long been sick of, such as Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" or Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know." Those songs had their "heyday," but it's now over.
The "Best New Artist" category is a total misnomer; fun. may be the artist formerly known as The Format, but they are by no means a "young" band. Frank Ocean, nominated in the same category, released his debut mixtape two years ago.
The award show are just not groundbreaking anymore. While we love the awards, we are not into the ceremony.
If an awards show is going to run over its allotted time by an hour, it had better be worth it. The Oscars are an awards show of a much higher caliber. There are fewer gratuitous musical performances and more well-executed theatrics, worthy of a Broadway stage.
The films (and songs and costumes and cinematography) that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences chooses to honor are truly the best of the best. Even the most ardent of recreational film buffs may not have seen all of the entries, and the average person watching the broadcast from home most likely hasn't even heard of a few of the Best Picture nominees.
Few of today's major music acts will make it into the history books. Sure, The Black Keys, Taylor Swift and fun. may be beloved, but they're no Beatles, Michael Jackson or Aretha Franklin.
Today's Best Pictures will be tomorrow's film school fodder. "The King's Speech" and "Lincoln" are on par with "Casablanca" and "Gone With the Wind."
The staying power of films gives more staying power to the Oscars as the authoritative awards shows. By contrast, the Grammys pay homage to the popular acts of today — acts which, when compared to the greatest musicians of the past 100 years, fail to measure up.
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