The Grammys 2019: Three hours of a generation gap
Camila Cabello, Janelle Monae, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Cardi B, Dan + Shay and H.E.R
The 2019 Grammy Awards was last night. The names above were among the artists that CBS advertised as being performers or presenters. I couldn't tell you a single song from any of them. The only one I'd heard of was Cardi B and I wouldn't know her if she knocked on my door.
Generation Gap? Oh yeah!
Last night while watching the show, I saw someone mention on Facebook "Am I too old for the Grammys?" Yikes! If this person, who is probably twenty years younger than me thinks that, is there hope for me and the rest of my people? I'd like to think there is but I'm not sure. In fact, I kind of doubt it.
I consider myself still hip...still with it (although I'm sure those sayings means I'm not)...and willing to try new things, so I prepared for the telecast. I started by checking out the Album of the Year nominees. There are eight of them. I hadn't heard of a single one of the eight. OY! That can't be a good start, can it?
Hmmm...maybe Record of the Year? It has to be easier to hear a single record than an entire album, right? RIGHT? Hey look at this...I know two of the tunes, including the winner, "This is America", by Childish Gambino. Okay now, maybe I'm not as bad as I originally thought.
What about Best New Artist? Would knowing these folks would show I'm still cool now that I'm closer to seventy than sixty? CHLOE X HALLE-Nope LUKE COMBS-Nope H.E.R.-Nope DUA LIPA-Nope...oh man this isn't looking good. MARGO PRICE-Nope BEBE REXHA-Nope JORJA SMITH-Nope...c'mon...JUST ONE!!! Greta Van Fleet- YEAH!!! I know these guys! They're the ones people are always comparing to Led Zeppelin and calling them the new Black Keys. What's sad is I thought the Black Keys were still new...kinda.
There were a few things that I could relate to during the almost four hour telecast. Dolly Parton, Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson are all in their seventies. That made me feel a little younger. St. Vincent is doing a duet. I really like her. She's fairly new, isn't she? What?! She's been around since 2003? Where have I been the last sixteen years?
But the one segment that made me realize there might be a generation gap was the "In Memorium" montage. I know more people who died in the last year than the artists who were part of the show. When that was over, I needed a nap....a long nap.
Well that's it for the Grammys for another year. Maybe next year will be better for us golden oldies, but I doubt it. I just have one more thing to say:
KEEP OFF MY LAWN!
Related Post: At what age do you stop finding new music?
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