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The 51st Grammys: Hours To Go Before We Sleep!

Posted Sun Feb 8, 2009 11:11pm PST by Billy Altman in And The Winner Is...

We have to admit that, compared to recent years, the 51st edition of the Grammy Awards ceremonies did carry a bit of suspense. For instance, Would Lil Wayne be the first rapper to win Album of the Year, and if so, would his pants stay up? If they won Song of the Year for "Viva La Vida," would Coldplay get coldcocked onstage by Joe Satriani, the guitarist whose instrumental "If I Could Fly" surely seemed to have been stolen lock, stock, and riff by Chris Martin and crew? Would ultra-pregnant M.I.A., appearing on her actual due date, become the first Grammy nominee to drop a baby right in the middle of a performance? And what on earth happened between Chris Brown and Rihanna, both of whom were no-shows on the telecast owing to a late Saturday night post-party altercation that apparently left Rihanna injured and Brown arrested on battery charges?

Well, over the course of a three-and-a-half-hour program in which a grand total of 10 (!) awards were actually given out (believe it or not, the rest of the 110 total Grammys up for grabs were all doled out, as has been the practice for some time now, in a hurried pre-telecast ceremony on the floor of L.A.'s Staples Center), we did get answers to the first three of those four questions: respectively, no, no and no.

Lil Wayne won Best Rap Album, but not Album of the Year, which, as per the Recording Academy's usual conservative bent, went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Americana album Raising Sand. Coldplay won Song of the Year without anyone yelling, "Thief!" And M.I.A., wearing a sort of maternity leotard thing, made it through her part on "Swagga Like Us" without going into labor--though for any of us who actually made it through the whole darned show, labor was indeed the operative word.

As for the Chris Brown/Rihanna flareup, we'll probably need to wait for the police blotter sometime tomorrow to find out about that one.

Still, the 51st Grammy Awards show did overall have its share of moments to remember. And to that end, here's our own top 10: Yahoo!'s 2009 Grammy telecast "And The Winner Is" awards:

The "Rising To The Occasion" Award goes to Jennifer Hudson, for surpassing her dramatic rendition of the national anthem at last week's Super Bowl with a riveting (and decidedly non-lip-synched) performance of her uplifting "You Pulled Me Through."

The "Stooping To The Occasion" Award goes to Thom Yorke and Radiohead, whose whiny rendition of "15 Step" was so bad-vibed that you kind of wished they'd have just left the stage and allowed the USC Trojan Marching Band accompanying them to do the song by themselves.

The "Haven't We Seen This Picture Before?" Award goes to Whitney Houston, who looked and sounded as out-of-it as a presenter in 2009 as she did as a performer in 2000, when they had to remind her that her song was over and she kind of needed to leave the stage so the show could continue.

The "I Wonder What They're Thinking Right Now?" Award goes to Dean Martin's son and daughter, who after hearing Queen Latifah salute their late dad's Lifetime Achievement nod, then heard her introduce Kanye West, T.I., Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z as the "Rap Pack." Somewhere, Frank Sinatra is spinning in his grave.

The "Best Date Placement" Award goes to Paul McCartney, for using his upfront aisle-seat pull to show off new gal pal Nancy Shevell. Oh, Heather...

The "I Went To The Grammys And A Boston Red Sox Game Broke Out" Award goes to Neil Diamond, for his pluperfectly cheesy rendition of the Fenway Park 8th-inning staple "Sweet Caroline." And how 'bout those eyebrows?

The "Works Well With Fruit" Award goes to Katy Perry, for making the kitchiest most out of her performance of "I Kissed A Girl," complete with an entrance out of a giant peeled banana (insert your favorite Freud joke here) and a trash 'n' vaudeville outfit that, were she alive today, Carmen Miranda would kill for.

The "Was This In The Script?" Award goes to presenter Samuel L. Jackson, who actually began his intro of T.I. and Justin Timberlake with the following salutation: "People of Earth!"  Somewhere, Ed Wood is smiling.

The "Was This In The Script II?" Award goes to presenter Craig Ferguson, who announced that he was up for a Best Sex Tape Award: "It's me vs. Screech." Even Paris Hilton blushed at that one.

And, finally, the "All Kidding Aside" Award goes to NARAS chief Neil Portnow, for noting the organization's commitment to improving health care, saving music education in schools, and protecting musician's intellectual rights. And yes, past Grammy Award winner Barack Obama, a cabinet position of Secretary of the Arts is a pretty good idea. Just ask Quincy Jones.

392 Comments

101. Yahoo! Music User -
MIA was the ugliest thing i have ever seen in my life. the swagga performance was unbeleivably painful to hear and watch. kanye? this guy needs to quit and isolate himself in a tropical island for good. hudson was like a fat cow moooing all the time. JT and TI great performance, as well john mayer & the other 3.

102. SonofTroy -
USC marching band, FIGHT ON!

103. Celina -
the jonas brothers were awful...they can't sing

104. T.S -
... Why did Boys 2 Men sing back up? How did they fall so far? LOL I couldn't even hear their voices over the instruments. They should have just sat down a watched like everyone else. People can say what they want about Jennifer Hudson, but she was a show-stopper last night. Her beauty and talent are well matched.

105. Johnnie -
Sorry, while I can appreciate that MIA performed pregnant, she could've made a better decision in her attire. What she wore was horrid and disgusting and soo disrespectful to her unborn child. The last thing people wanna see is a big ole pregnant belly, partially exposed and bouncing around on stage. No class there at all!
And speaking of class...wtf was up with Lil Wayne? Why was it necessary for him to show his ass on TV like that...COME ON NOW! Pull your freaking pants UP! The riding low thing was brought about by men in prison who took it up the butt, and if that's his preference, then keep that crap to yourself!

106. Robin -
In reference to M.I.A.'s polka dotted outfit, we now know how Minnie Mouse would have looked pregnant.

107. neiko d -
jonas brothers killed a classic song with stevie!! im pretty upset

108. Richard W -
Who wants to see a pregnant woman's belly at any time. About 90% of these people cannot sing, have no talent,do not know how to dress or even visit a hair stylist or a barber shop. Have they ever heard about shampoo or a razor. They do not sing they scream. No one in rap can sing or even have any talent.. Isn't the word rap misspelled. They left off the letter"c'. What ever happened to good music. I guess all of the good song writers have died off.These so called singers just cater to the masses.

109. Yahoo! Music User -
to who ever thinks radiohead performance was unique is stupid its been done so many times by hip hop at the grammys kanye did it like 2 yr ago the performance by radiohead didnt suck but somthing was off the band did a great job but the lead singer seemed to be off track with the beat or somthing

110. andrew -
does anyone else think that mia should have been sitting down and not performing pregnant?

111. jp -
yo dope: samual jackson didn't introduce ti and jt...morgan freeman did. and how could you overlook how awful the jonas brothers were/are.

112. Kayce -
The Jonas Brothers and Stevie were actually painful. Really bad. I think really that the show went pretty well considering all the scrambling that had to take place since Rihanna and Chris Brown were no-shows.

113. Kathy -
KID ROCK got robbed. As usual, the people in charge have no idea what the REAL people of America really like....way to go music industry....congrats to those who won

114. Vargas -
I do wish Yahoo! would get rid of this writer (Billy Altman?) for being so whiny, ignorant of the business, and having the mentality of a pimply 11 year old boy. He can't write a single column without complaining, even if he has to invent something to whine about (which is generally the case). I could do a much better job than him, and I'm actually a musician.

Radiohead was AMAZING! M.I.A. is a 100% professional; going on with the show when she could have easily called in pregnant. And the list goes on.

115. Yahoo! Music User -
it kinda bugs me they said nothing about blink 182.

who cares about a bunch of rappers who cant sing.

116. DR Phil -
The "rap pack" proved to be a bunch of no talent knuckleheads who should be working pumping gas for $6.00 an hour. Kanye flat out blows!!! Whitney was wasted. Only real good grammy moment was McCartney

117. Fred -
The only "WINNER" was Neil Diamond.The man is so far ahead of the rest of the so called performers,he could have carried the whole program alone with all his tallent.

118. Yoh Yah -
The last time i watched the grammy's was in the 90's when that guy with "soy bomb" written on his chest danced with Bob Dylan.

I watched them last night and was reminded why I don't like popular music and haven't bought a CD in yrs.

Trivial, glittery and as deep as a wad of snot, give it up for the Grammy's!

119. RachelR -
That's Josephine Baker that Katy Perry was ripping on with the fruit get up, not Miranda. Get your "Lovely women of color who rocked history" straight.

120. bobby -
Its ok to voice your opion about the the bad acts on the grammy's but the name calling is a bit much. The grammy's is a commerical show that's it. The name calling of people is a little to much. I have seen all kinds of bad words refering to MIA. I also, did enjoy radionhead, but no one metion how bad the sound was you could not even hear kid rock the music was loud....
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