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The awards’ ward
All’s well in the world of Grammy
BY MATT ASHARE

It’s easy to be a critic of the Grammys. But this year, thanks to a botched Super Bowl halftime show, with Janet Jackson’s bared breast creating an incident much sillier than it was offensive, the National Association of Recording Artists and Songwriters was off the hook. Post-Janet, the Grammys didn’t have to try to be edgy by being risquŽ. Instead, NARAS put the focus on creating a genuine musical event. And though it didn’t succeed at that for the entire broadcast, by the final hour, the good vibes were flowing in the funkified medley dispensed by Earth Wind and Fire, OutKast, pedal-steel master Robert Randolph and his Family Band, and president George Clinton himself, and in a tasteful tribute to the late Warren Zevon.

Regardless of what awards they won or lost, OutKast got the opportunity to steal the show, and they took full advantage. After Earth Wind and Fire had danced back in time to their boogie wonderland, Andre 3000 and Big Boi took control in curiously toned-down outfits and picked up the pace with their Southern-styled synthesis of rap, rock, and funk. This kind of multi-artist mŽlange has become fashionable over the past decade, in large part because MTV, as the producer of big pop events, seems to enjoy throwing as much into the mix as is physically possible. That’s part of what made the Super Bowl halftime show such an undignified mess. It wasn’t the performers’ fault: in the rush to get everybody on, barely any of them got a chance to establish a foothold on the stage, much less a rhythm or a groove. It was short-attention-span theater done poorly.

The Grammys beat MTV at its own game — which is not to suggest that they didn’t have their awkward moments (Celine Dion’s technical difficulties, for example, or Snoop Dogg’s problem with reading a couple of lines off a teleprompter). Or that there wasn’t at least one musical pairing that made no sense at all. Chick Corea jamming his jazz on piano with the Foo Fighters might have seemed like a good idea in the planning stages, but wasn’t someone available at rehearsals to point out that sometimes oil and water really don’t mix, and that piano — particularly Corea’s busy brand of chording — doesn’t mesh with Dave Grohl’s guitar-driven power pop? At least Grohl seemed happy when the rest of his band kicked "Times like These" into overdrive. But you had to feel bad for Corea, even as he did his best to fit bits of ivory into every available crevice of an already dense sound.

Not so for any of the artists involved in the funk fest. Even actor Samuel L. Jackson made a valuable contribution by setting the right party tone as the MC. It was proof that if you throw enough good, compatible music together and put someone in charge, the big sexy spectacle that the Grammys are always after can be achieved without nipples. In contrast to the over-choreographed performance by one of the evening’s big winners, BeyoncŽ, the freedom that reigned on stage for the 10 minutes when the funksters took over was both riveting and refreshing. That OutKast, minus a conspicuously absent Big Boi, got a second chance to strut their Southern stuff right before they won their big end-of-show award for Best Album only certified them as the inspired stars of a program that’s usually a lethargic letdown. (Remember Eminem’s tame duet with Elton John last year, or the silly "soy bomb" controversy from a couple years back?)

As a critic, I still find it strange to be giving the Grammys so much in the way of props. Certainly there was plenty left to criticize by evening’s end. It be wonderful if Evanescence had never existed and Fountains of Wayne had nabbed the Best New Artist award. Or if we’d gotten less Justin Timberlake, who apparently now aspires to be some sort of Ray Charles prodigy (good luck, buddy), and more 50 Cent, who deserved a lot more love than he got on a night when hip-hop was at last adequately represented among the nominations. But the White Stripes not only won Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song, they also acquitted themselves well when given the chance to perform in front of lots of people who were probably wondering where the bass player was hiding. And with OutKast taking such a dominant role with their two chances to perform and their three big awards, all seemed reasonably well in the world of Grammy for the first time in as long as I can remember.


Issue Date: February 13 - 19, 2004
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