Who Cares About the Grammys?

So how do I think the Grammys will turn out?  I don't give a twit.  Because rock and roll is pretty much left out of the major nominations, what with all the rappers and the popsters and the good ol' country boys dominating everything.  Here is the list of nominees for Album of the Year:

25, Adele
Purpose, Justin Bieber
Views, Drake
Lemonade, Beyoncé
A Sailor's Guide to Earth, Sturgill Simpson

Obviously, Adele is the only artist here that I'm interested in, and I would love to see her win this award.  But I know that Beyoncé is going to win it, if only because Kanye West will disrupt the ceremonies if she doesn't.  I say, give the award to her to shut him up.  And she'll probably win Best Urban Contemporary Album for the same LP as well.   But Beyoncé picking up the Album of the Year prize would be better than seeing the the Album of the Year Grammy to go Drake or . . . Justin Bieber?  How did he get in here?  If he wins, I hope Kanye does take the stage in protest.  As for Sturgill Simpson, I don't know much about him . . . I know he's a country singer, and he doesn't have a chance anyway.  Suffice to say that I am not a big fan of contemporary country.  

And here are the Record of the Year nominees:

"Formation," Beyoncé
"Work," Rihanna, Drake
"Hello," Adele
"7 Years," Lukas Graham
"Stressed Out," TWENTY ØNE PILØTS

Again, I'd root for Adele if I cared about these awards, but the other mononymic performers will be in a dead heat for this one.  As for Lukas Graham and TWENTY ØNE PILØTS . . . never heard of them.  Shows how much I know about current music when I listen to a college-indie station play current artists that don't sell a lot of records, assuming they sell any.   Beyoncé will likely get this Grammy too, over Rihanna and Drake.  And Beyoncé will likely win Song of the Year and Best Video for the same song.

If rock didn't have its own award categories, it wouldn't win any Grammys at all anymore.  But at least Beyoncé wouldn't be nominated for anything there, right? Wrong.  Her song "Don't Hurt Yourself" - considered a rock song because Jack White is featured on it - is up against "Joe" by the Alabama Shakes (at last! a current band I've heard of!) David Bowie's "Blackstar" and Disturbed's astonishing cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence."

And she'll probably win that too.

It's obvious, though, that, even if Queen Bey weren't a factor, hip-hop and electronic pop are in vogue and rock is so out.  Beck's Album of the Year win for Morning Phase may very well have been the last time a rock album won a Grammy award without having to be in its own special category.  Which means that even though Kanye West - who has a problem with rockers like Beck winning anything - isn't up for a lot of Grammys this year . . . even if he doesn't get an award tonight, he's already won.

Forget it, rock fans - our time is up.

Note to Beyoncé fans who think I'm putting her down and are ready to leave hateful comments telling me to go to hell and giving me directions . . . I never said Beyoncé is not a good performer.  I merely note that she's not a rocker.