2008 Woodie Awards
The Jewish Grammy Awards
Lamenting the deplorable state of Jewish music
Mordechai Shinefeld
Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: Arts & Culture
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The 47th Grammy nominations were announced last week. In a trend that seems to be growing every year, many of the top nominations went to non-rock outfits. Album of the Year nominations, generally considered the "grand prize" of the Grammy Awards, went to Ray Charles, Green Day, Alicia Keys, Usher and Kanye West. While I would love to speculate about the absence of other worthy albums or give my predictions for the winners, something more troubling came to mind while reading over the exhaustive list of nominations. In looking at the quality of this year's nominations, an indictment of Jewish music came to light which I will hold off on directly addressing until I explore this year's Grammy Awards.
"This year's nominees truly reflect a trend of music makers participating in multiple aspects of the creative process, while also often collaborating with a diverse slate of other artists in various genres," said Neil Portnow, President of The Recording Academy. "And with new artists emerging in rock, country, pop, R&B and rap, as well as in many other fields, we are pleased to see the robust health and creativity of all genres of music."
While Portnow's statement seems like an excellent promotion, trying to entice viewers to watch the Grammy Awards and boost ratings, there is a lot of truth in his words. Whether you agree or disagree with the nominations, quite clearly the music being spotlighted is music that bends genres and swings out. Ray Charles is an obvious example of this. His album, Genius Loves Company, is a duet album that pairs him off with a variety of artists from all over the world of music. He sings with Elton John, Norah Jones, James Taylor, B.B. King and a number of other artists. His album epitomizes the collaboration of genres. The other albums being recognized break their genres, if not more subtly, just as solidly.
Green Day, the pop-punk band that became famous with songs like "Basketcase," "Brain Stew" and "Good Riddance," wrote a political punk opera, complete with 10 minute thematic tracks with names like "Jesus of Suburbia," and "Homecoming." Billy Joe, the singer for Green Day, relates that this album was born out of their realization that they hadn't poured their hearts into the album they had been working on. Not satisfied with penning another dozen songs about self-exploration and insomnia, Green Day took a huge risk and produced one of the best albums of their career.
"This year's nominees truly reflect a trend of music makers participating in multiple aspects of the creative process, while also often collaborating with a diverse slate of other artists in various genres," said Neil Portnow, President of The Recording Academy. "And with new artists emerging in rock, country, pop, R&B and rap, as well as in many other fields, we are pleased to see the robust health and creativity of all genres of music."
While Portnow's statement seems like an excellent promotion, trying to entice viewers to watch the Grammy Awards and boost ratings, there is a lot of truth in his words. Whether you agree or disagree with the nominations, quite clearly the music being spotlighted is music that bends genres and swings out. Ray Charles is an obvious example of this. His album, Genius Loves Company, is a duet album that pairs him off with a variety of artists from all over the world of music. He sings with Elton John, Norah Jones, James Taylor, B.B. King and a number of other artists. His album epitomizes the collaboration of genres. The other albums being recognized break their genres, if not more subtly, just as solidly.
Green Day, the pop-punk band that became famous with songs like "Basketcase," "Brain Stew" and "Good Riddance," wrote a political punk opera, complete with 10 minute thematic tracks with names like "Jesus of Suburbia," and "Homecoming." Billy Joe, the singer for Green Day, relates that this album was born out of their realization that they hadn't poured their hearts into the album they had been working on. Not satisfied with penning another dozen songs about self-exploration and insomnia, Green Day took a huge risk and produced one of the best albums of their career.