The Decemberists are vying for the best rock performance Grammy. Photo by Autumn DeWilde.
Foo Fighters or Coldplay? Radiohead or The Decemberists? Who deserves rock honors?
Ah, the Grammy Awards. It’s a love-hate relationship for sure.
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Despite the lofty industry stature of The Recording Academy’s annual musical love-fest – and its marketing power for nominees, especially those in high-profile categories – there’s always “the groan factor,” the ditzy, over-promoted popular songs and albums that elbow more deserving, serious artists out of deserved nominations.
And then there are the sometimes-goofy, mega-hyped superstar duets during the show itself.
Nevertheless, the world will be watching Sunday night when the 54th annual Grammy Awards – with newly contracted and revamped categories for 2012 – will blast out of the gates on CBS with performances by Bruce Springsteen, Adele, Coldplay & Rihanna, Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney, Glenn Campbell, The Band Perry & Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Tony Bennett & Carrie Underwood, Alicia Keys & Bonnie Raitt, Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson, and Katy Perry (who I’d actually like to see duet with The Chipmunks and Metallica).
Because featured awards for record of the year and best new artist hog much of the attention anyway, I’ll highlight nominees in other key categories every day between now and Sunday so Spins on Music readers can be well-informed, well-rounded Grammy watchers … or, at least, they’ll be able to intelligently carp and moan when the wrong artist gets called to the podium.
Today, it’s best rock performance, so take a listen to the choices — which actually represent a pretty strong lineup this year — and decide for yourself. By the way, it’s the exact same lineup for rock song of the year. And the nominees (with videos of their nominated songs) are:
– Coldplay, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall – Chris Martin steps into Bono’s shoes (once again) for a pop-hused, U2-like affair in a colorful, paint-splashed video.
– The Decemberists, Down By The Water – It’s no secret that I picked this band’s last recording, “The King is Dead” as my album of the year, partly because of this R.E.M.-influenced tune. But is it rock, or something else? (You can see all my 2011 album picks here.)
– Foo Fighters, Walk – Hey, this is an honest-to-goodness rock song with a silly, rock-as-rebellion video starring David Grohl to accompany it.
– Mumford & Sons, The Cave – Once again, this catchy-cool track, which has been around for quite some time, deserves some kind of award. But should it come in the “rock performance” category?
– Radiohead, Lotus Flower – A typically “Radioheady” and spacey tune from “The King of Limbs,” the video for this song has more than 15 million views on YouTube. But how much support does it have from Recording Academy voters?
My pick: Foo Fighters, Walk
The Decemberist 🙂
It’s one of my absolute favorite songs of the year; my band even does its own version of it with a saxophone replacing the harmonica.