This is complete horseshit. The album is serviceable at best and, to use your word "transcendant", no one will be talking about it as soon as G Dub is out.

I do think that the best-selling female artists (whom I actually like) of all-time being black-balled by their core demographic is completely fucked, but it DOESN'T make their music any better. Frankly, what the Grammys did is almost the parallel opposite but equally fucked in its own right.

If I were the Dixie Chicks I would promptly acknowledge that they won under this pretense, and for no other reason. Actually, I wouldn't, because I'd be a pompous artistic ass too, but it has to be in the back of their head, right?

Here is the logic used by Ms. Maines:

free speech=Grammy-winning music

Pete is saying bullshit to that. Although winning a Grammy is of little relevance for the reasons GA outlined.

I'm glad this got brought up today because it's really been bothering me and up until now I couldn't articulate why.

But I must disagree that "Crazy" is a transcendant song. It will be looked upon historically as somewhat of a novelty, IMO.
 

Do you still listen to the Chicks when no one is around? You know who you are.
 

These award shows are fucking pathetic. Today I had three people ask me if I watched the grammies last night when I actually had no idea that they were on. Even if I would have known, there's no way in hell I would actually watch. Those shows are so self-congratulatory and fake. Did they mention that major record sales fell 20% last year or that the major labels have had to lay off staggering numbers of their employees? They for damn sure wouldn't mention that independent labels had their best year in history and actually netted more money than the majors because they don't have the studpid, inefficient, and beaurocratic infrastucture that the major record labels do. Apple actually made more off of the iTunes music store than the record companies. Hopefully, this trend will continue and we can stop having terrible, scripted music stuffed down our throats by the major record labels.

I guess I kind of got off point there, but the Grammys, the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and every other award show is basically a night for the hollywood big shots to sit around and suck each other off for a while. They're not actually there to award great films. Case in point: How in the name of fuck does Martin Scorsese not have an academy award yet? The man made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, and Casino. Evidently, his direction was good enough in those movies, but Peter Jackson's was when he played with Hobbits, Elves, and Orcs. Granted I love those dorky movies more than anybody, but they're not on the same level as a Scorsese or Roman Polanski. Scorsese probably will win this year, but its more of a lifetime achievement award than an actual nod to the greatness of The Departed. Polanski got his best director nod in a similar way, he made Chinatown and Tess, and then got his lifetime achievement Oscar for The Pianist (it was a good movie, but its no Chinatown). So I guess in closing, these award shows are all bullshit.
 

Don't you feel like an idiot when you're calling someone stupid and you mispell "stupid"?
 

Don't get me wrong, the grammies are crappy and I don't think the DCs probably deserved all the awards, however I think that you guys forget that not everyone has music tastes the same as you. Let's take someone like my mom for instance. Her opinions on american music are just as valid as anyone elses. She has the DCs album and likes it very much and am sure is a big fan of "Not Ready to Make Nice" So she, and the millions of other people who have the DCs disc are happy that they won, regardless of their political stance. The same cannot be said for her and Gnarls Barkley. My mom has probably never heard of Gnarls Barkley and last night would have been the first time she has ever heard that song. Her opinion (and rightfully so, because that performance sucked) would have been that they didn't deserve even a nomination. Now I am not saying that my mom should be the authority on music, but her opinions are no less valid than yours or mine. Not everyone's music tastes are as dynamic, eclectic and earthshaking as everone on this blog (myself included) thinks theirs is.

Also, Duece, it may be a shame that Scorsese doesn't have an oscar yet but I take issue with your calling out of Peter Jackson. His work on TLOTRs was arguably one of the greatest undertakings in movie history. To convert those books to a movie in a way that made the historians, the dorks, the casual fan, the people with no clue of the books, etc all happy was a great achievement. The making of the movie special features on the DVD are amazingly interesting. Sarah and I have spent hours watching the behind the scenes footage and Jackson's work and attention to detail is outstanding. He was incredibly hands on in every aspect of the movie. Whether you think TLOTR is for dorks, his directing skills on that trilogy are amazing. I think the academy could have honored him every year one of those movies came out, instead they honored "The Return of the King" as a colective for all three movies.