As a person who admittedly likes to wade into energetic and artistic indie waters I usually don't watch the Grammys. Quite frankly the whole rarefied atmosphere can make me sick to my stomach and usually all that stuff has little to do with the kind of music that turns me on or music at all. It has to do with networking and being seen and showing off that fancy outfit but not really music. I care not to waste my time in this world and if there is a stellar performance I figure I can always view it on You Tube.
I had a tough day at work but a productive one and looked forward to heading home when good ole Kyle had to peak my interest, "Hey man, did you see Lady Gaga do that tribute to Bowie (knowing I am a huge Bowie fan)?? It was pretty rad man." "Naaaa" I replied, "I don't really care for the Grammys. I mean who can respect an organization that in 1992 awarded Eric Clapton "Best Rock Song" for an acoustic version of "Layla" over Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I have this startling Grammy faux-pas at the ready because it stops people in their tracks scratching their heads anytime the Grammys is brought up and while it did have that effect on Kyle, the man did plant this seed and so while eating dinner I found Lady Gaga's performance on You Tube and summarily lost my appetite.
Lady Gaga's tribute to David Bowie is just horrible, just fucking horrible. Somehow she managed to reduce a portion of this amazing man's art into some tacky vapid Las Vegas act. Bowie transformed himself and us by feeling whichever song he was performing but Gaga doesn't look like she is feeling anything. She is too busy hamming it up. Not only that, her vocal performance itself lacks anything that is remotely engaging. After watching it, I just felt bad and sad. Not only was it horrible it was framed as a marketing tool for Intel and that just twisted the knife. And don't try to convince me that this performance was not bad because Nile Rodgers participated in it because it was bad, real bad.
Oh well, the Grammys is always consistent at disappointing me.
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Robb Donker
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