Originally a respected award from its inception until the 80s, it's now a night of music industry masturbation. 90% of the awards are given based on how well an album sold rather than an
artist's critical and artistic recognition. Mainstream, generic, and record label-designed songs and bands sweep the awards while more talented and deserving artists are either ignored completely or, should they get the
nomination,
left hanging in the wind while a commercially successful artist accepts an award s/he knew would be theirs as soon as their name was called.
Despite this, the jazz, classical, gospel/soul, and folk categories are still respected and the winning artists are held at a
high esteem. These genres are less commercially popular than pop, rock, country, hip-hop, and r&b and as such artists are actually awarded based on merit and talent rather than record sales.
The night is self-contradicting in that there is always a speech about the importance of
music education and the need for new artists, despite the same artists winning every time they're nominated and performances being lip synced and incredibly dull, with very few exceptions.
Example:
"I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything... There's too many bands and you've heard it all before.... Thanks, I guess." -
Eddie Vedder, 1996
"I think the Grammy Awards are nothing more than some gigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a low intellect and they feed the masses. They don't honor the arts or the artist for what he created. It's the music business celebrating itself. That's basically what it's all about."
Maynard James Keenan, 2002
Despite 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' being one of the highest rated album of all time, it was not nominated for
Album of the Year in 2012.
Jazz and soul artists aren't awarded and don't perform on air because the needs of bland Katy Perry fans are more important than those genre's comparative handful of fans.
The only good Grammy Award performances in recent memory were Adele (2012), Dave Matthews Band (2010), and the Elton John/Lady Gaga duet (2008).