There is a lot of fuss by fans over the outcome of the 53rd Grammy Awards. They are disappointed the golden-haired boy of the media, Justin Bieber,was shut out by The Recording Academy.
All the hype that surrounds JB is just that – hype. We are in an era when solid, real music is fighting to stay alive in the transition period between the old major label model and the new guard of the independent musician.
When it comes to real and solid, JB isn’t making a splash with anyone over 16 years old. His fans are not members of the Academy, and he’s not a member of the new guard. He represents everything independent music is not. Friends and allies are difficult to make when you’re on the other side of the battlefield.
The Grammy Award is music’s highest honor dignified by a vote of one’s peers. It is not a People’s Choice Award, an American Music Award, or a popularity contest. A Grammy Award is earned with the respect of thousands of music insiders where money can’t buy you love.
Serious musicians who’ve been in this business for decades have paid their dues. They don’t have someone like Usher financing the deal. They haven’t received millions upon millions of media hits to support their careers over the years. They earn a living on the sheer validity of their music. They aren’t seeking fortune and fame based on a pretty face and the sales of bauble head dolls. It’s the music that matters.
So to those who cannot understand the concept, JB is an investment property for those that are backing him. He hasn’t paid his dues and he hasn’t earned the respect of musicians who’ve given everything they have to perfect their craft.
Being a pin-up heart-throb to teenage girls has nothing to do with music. It is a strategy that sells a manufactured sound that Hasbro or Mattel should be selling, just one step up from action figures and Barbie dolls.
JB likely shot himself in the foot from the American Music Awards stage (most probably inside the voting window for the Grammys) when after winning he said, “I’d like to thank Michael Jackson. Without Michael Jackson, none of us would be here.”
The likes of Neil Young, Will Ackerman, Dave Matthews or any other voting member of the Academy who may have heard that statement likely shuddered in utter disgust. Watching the activity backstage, I thought it was very nice Keith Urban took a minute to speak to JB. I don’t believe I’d have been as charitable.
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Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more, and those that cannot understand the point here, are not that interested in music and what it means to be a “musician” – churning out auto-tuned vocals over formulaic pop is what most have come to expect, toiling in the shadows of the cookie-cutter idols are those who make nothing, or never recoup the cost of “crafting” their music for the sake of the music. I won’t go into detail but as an indie artist, one that is constantly told that if I want to “make it” I need to water down and simplify my image, or chose one instrument or my female sexuality to draw in an audience. I could, but I can’t do it, I’ve tried but it feels so corrosive. Makes me wonder how JB feels, of course all that money, adulation and fame feel good now, what happens when that first crease or gray hair pops up? The moment his tween sex appeal is gone, I wager, his big splash in the media is over, let’s hope his perfume and nail polish sell, since he’s obviously not all about the music. Sorry, my 2 cents turned into a few quarters