2012 Grammy Recap

Another year, another wasted opportunity. The Grammys have deservedly faced criticism for eschewing artistic merit in favor of commercial appeal, and this year was no exception. With the best-selling album of 2011, Adele swept the major categories (Album, Record, and Song of the Year) to the surprise of no one. While she is a more worthy recipient of these awards than some recent winners, Kanye West seemed the obvious choice for his 2010 instant-classic, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which inexplicably was shut out of the Album and Record of the Year categories (it received a Song of the Year nom for “All of the Lights”) despite massive critical and commercial success. Maybe the voters at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences have become sick of Kanye’s brash personality (though it didn’t seem to bother them on his first three albums), or maybe they’re simply idiots, but for whatever reason, Kanye was snubbed.

The absence of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy left the Album of the Year category embarrassingly thin. In addition to Adele’s 21, Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, Bruno Mars’ Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and Rihanna’s Loud received nominations. I’m sorry, but for a ceremony claiming to reward artistic excellence, one simply cannot make the argument that it is doing so. Looking at the  2010 and 2011 Pazz and Jop Critics’ Polls (the most definitive barometer of critical opinion), only one of the five albums (21) placed in the top 25 in either year. Arcade Fire’s massive upset last year had me hoping that the Grammys were beginning to change, but alas, it seems that it was more an anomaly than a burgeoning trend.

On the positive side, Bon Iver won for Best Alternative Album and Best New Artist, providing a fitting cap to an incredibly successful year. They also managed to score Record and Song of the Year nominations for “Holocene”. And while Kanye didn’t receive much recognition in the major categories, he still ended up with an impressive four wins.

On the negative side, Grammy voters, desperate to prove they were in touch with current musical trends, awarded Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album to Skrillex over the far more deserving Cut Copy and Robyn. In addition, the consistently mediocre Foo Fighters dominated the rock categories, prevailing over Radiohead, The Decemberists, and Wilco. Personally, I’ve never had any major problems with Foo Fighters, but they’re in no way superior to the three aforementioned bands.

Unlike cinema, music does not have a credible large-scale event where its best artists are celebrated. If they could get their act together, the Grammys could be that event, which is why I become incredibly frustrated every year when countless deserving artists are ignored in favor of more popular alternatives. While I’ll continue to hope that Grammy voters will come to their senses, I’m not holding my breath.

Bangarang

Honestly, I tried to come into this with an open mind, but I couldn’t. While I’m not particularly well-versed in his work, I have disliked everything I have heard from Skrillex. Maybe it’s because he’s the unofficial leader of the “brostep” movement, a crass, commercialized misrepresentation of the dubstep genre. Or perhaps he simply has a very limited understanding of musical composition. Either way, I don’t like Skrillex, and his fourth EP, Bangarang, did little to convince me otherwise.

Bangarang is no different than anything Skrillex has done before. Above all else, it follows his overriding musical philosophy: louder is better. What Skrillex doesn’t realize is that there must be something behind a song other than noise to justify its existence. Seriously, this guy has about two ideas per song, which he repeats over, and over, and over until they have become cemented into the deepest, darkest recesses of your brain. As you might imagine, it’s not pleasant by any means. I was hoping he would have shown even the slightest hints of evolution at this point in his career, but unfortunately, he has made absolutely no progress, reinforcing my conviction that he is simply not a talented musician.

It is abundantly clear that Skrillex does not have a strong background in electronic music, as he has a very poor grasp on mood and song structure. From the pop-culture cut-and-paste frenzy of Girl Talk, to Flying Lotus’ playful jazz and hip-hop fusion, mood and song structure are essential components of any successful electronic artist. What we get from Skrillex is a handful of sounds repeated ad nauseam, on each and every song.

Incessantly repetitive, dull, irritating, sloppy, and lacking in any artistry whatsoever, Bangarang is a painful listen. Even the title is obnoxious. Bangarang? Really? What does that even mean? The first two tracks were a slog, but the third song, “Breakn’ a Sweat”, bothered me on such a profound level, I began to wonder if it was some sort of sick joke. An early contender for the worst song of the year, “Breakn’ a Sweat” tries to merge two artists (Skrillex and The Doors) with absolutely nothing in common, with horrifying results.

I understand that many view The Doors as overrated, but for my money, few lead singers had the personality or swagger of Jim Morrison. And for his band to collaborate with a man of such little talent is simply appalling. Literally urinating on Morrison’s grave would have been a more fitting tribute.

But I digress, the rest of the EP is equally unpleasant, ending with a six-minute orchestral tribute to Skrillex because…I don’t know, my brain had stopped working by that point, and frankly I don’t really care. When it was finally over, I was left with nothing but the hope that Skrillex will fade into irrelevance after brostep wears out its welcome. While Skrillex fans have probably heard Bangarang already, I advise everyone else to stay far, far away.