2011 Grammys: New Year, Same Trainwreck

This will probably be the last Grammy rant I ever post.  Usually I complain about the horrible music, the pathetic entertainers, the irrelevance of the awards in general, or anything else that comes to mind.  But this year, I think I’ve finally figured it out: I have The Answer, which will save me having to write my yearly rant from here on out.  The Answer?

The Grammys are bad on purpose.  Think about it:  the Grammys are like the juiciest gossip around the office water cooler.  If something good happens, you’ll hear about it between co-workers at the cooler.  If something is bad, it spreads like wildfire throughout the entire company.

Witness the 2011 Grammys.  Based on the various posts I waded through in various places a few hours ago, this year’s was one of the worst ever…which pretty much echoed comments from each prior year.  And yet, think about it:  people were talking.  Whether they hopped onto Facebook, lit up Twitter or hit their favorite music forums to complain, they were talking.

Free publicity, folks.  They often say bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.  The Grammy folks are probably soaking this up!  Viewers already titillated by promises of “f” words, wardrobe malfunctions and Kanye moments will tune in to watch the trainwreck firsthand.  And that’ll boost those ad revenues even more for next year’s spectacle.

Years ago, the Grammys became irrelevant to music.  This year, from what I’ve collectively read, I would say they have firmly made the move into being 100% pure product, with enough free publicity to fund them well into the future.