- A whole lot of Adele going on.
- Possibly getting closer to EGOT: Tina Fey, Trey Parker/Matt Stone, Daniel Radcliffe.
- How the hell did Kanye not get nominated for Album of the Year? How can you have a Record of the Year category without one Lady Gaga song?
I'm not someone who follows or cares about EGOT (there - I said it), but are some of these folks up for spoken-word recordings? And if so, is that a REAL EGOT? I assumed that, insofar as EGOT suggested something about a broad range of talent, it connoted some achievement in *musical* composition or performance. (But, again, I don't follow this.)
ReplyDeleteIf EGOT required singing for the G, there would be no EGOT winners except Rita Moreno, who I assume sang somewhere on the Electric Company soundtrack album. They're otherwise all either for songwriting or for speaking (comedy, spoken word).
ReplyDeleteA few thoughts from a post I was writing at the same time:
ReplyDelete1. Interesting the several nods for Mumford & Sons in top category given that they lost Best New Artist to Esperanza Spalding last year.
2. The top category nods are all for "Rolling In The Deep," but "Someone Like You" got into pop vocal. Wonder how close Adele came to getting two nods in the top categories.
3. Who the hell is Skrillex? Looks like he's got 4-5 nominations, including Best New Artist.
4. Others for the EGOT Watch? Seth MacFarlane (Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Song Written for Visual Media), Louis C.K., Lonely Island (Comedy Album), and Zooey Deschanel (Song Written for Visual Media). Unless they've changed the rules, performers don't typically get Grammys for musical show albums--those go to writers/producers--otherwise, we'd need to add Sutton Foster, Joel Grey (who's OT already), and John Larroquette.
5. Snubs? Beyonce (no love for any of the singles or the album), Taylor Swift (no top category nods, though several nods in country categories), and Watch The Throne (rap album/song, nothing more).
1. Once you're nominated for a Grammy once, you keep getting nominated for them forever.
ReplyDelete4. They're listing "principal soloists" for each such album. Hm.
There's been a lot of talk the last few years about how the concept of the "album" is dead, that thanks to the internet, an album is just a grouping of songs. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy proves that that talk has been greatly exaggerated. Listening to it from start to finish, I'm not sure anyone else would attempt what he did, let alone accomplish it. It's not good. It's historic good.
ReplyDeleteBut didn't it come out last year? What are the rules here?
MBDTF was eligible and snubbed--eligibility period was albums released 9/1/10-9/30/11. Other big albums from that period not nominated in top category include "Incredible Machine" (Sugarland), "Speak Now" (Taylor Swift), "Collapse Into Now" (REM), "So Beautiful or So What" (Paul Simon, who may have declined to submit in protest over category reductions), "4" (Beyonce), and "Watch The Throne."
ReplyDeleteBecause George Bush does not like black people, is why.
ReplyDeleteWell, songwriting (what I called composition above) certainly should count. Spoken word just seems silly. I mean, the whole EGOT thing is silly. But if it means something, I assume it is meant to honor some musical ability. But whatever - I won't lose sleep over it. :)
ReplyDeleteJohn Larroquette has an Emmy and a Tony. He is a Grammy away from an EG_T.
ReplyDeleteI would add that the album that DID win Album of the Year last year, Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs", also shows that the concept of an "album" is not dead.
ReplyDeleteA couple of Grammy comments:
ReplyDelete- I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake" didn't get a nom for Alternative Album.
- You guys, EL DEBARGE HAS A GRAMMY NOMINATION.
Good to see Bon Iver nominated. But why best new artist? Is this one of those categories with wonky rules?
ReplyDelete3. Dubstep. Or, apparently a post-dubstep variant called brostep (didn't know the second half of this before, and I'm obviously better for it). In other words: whatev.
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt. I took a look at some of the rules, and given the ephemeral nature of pop music, this one is pretty strange. But not as strange as the one Maddy alludes to below, where best new artist means best artist who hasn't been nominated before.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Rita Moreno (as noted above) has her G for performance on a soundtrack album.
ReplyDeleteMoreno's win was in "Best Recording For Children," which is a category that historically goes to performer. "Musical Show Album" traditionally goes to the writers. (See, e.g., Rodgers and Brooks' EGOTs.)
ReplyDeletemy bad.
ReplyDeleteThe "Best New Artist" award is "For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist." There used to be a rule that if you were nominated in any category previously, you were ineligible for BNA, but that was changed a few years ago after it disqualified Lady Gaga from a BNA nomination and likely win--she was nominated in 2008 for "Just Dance" in Dance Recording, but didn't release her album until 2009. Now, you're DQed if you win before and have released a full album before.
ReplyDeleteTough sell to me than Bon Iver should be eligible, since their first two albums sold/charted in a measurable way. Then again, Shelby Lynne had released 5 albums before winning her BNA Grammy, and last year's winner has three albums already.
Huh, I'd have sworn Parker/Stone would have had a Grammy, but I see South Park: BLU wasn't even nominated in 2000 (Tarzan won, which just reminds of the horror of Phil Collins beating people like Aimee Mann for his Oscar).
ReplyDeleteAs for audiobooks and EGOTS, if we're counting Whoopi Goldberg's Daytime Emmy I have no problem counting an audiobook performance.
"For Emma Forever Ago" was #8 in the Pazz & Jop Poll, on both Rolling Stone and Spin's best of 2008 list, and made several "best of the decade" lists. Totally wonky, I agree. Foster the People would have made a lot more sense.
ReplyDeleteThe best blues album category features the solo albums of three different members of the Allman Brothers Band.
ReplyDeleteThe best classical instrumental solo features four different concerto albums and only one actual solo work.
Actually, as of 2012, the principal performers of a musical theater album will also win the award:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.playbill.com/news/article/149605-Grammy-Awards-Changes-Include-Renaming-of-Best-Musical-Show-Album-Category
That's an interesting change, and certainly makes it maginally easier to EGOT. It has the potential to put Foster at GT, Grey at GOT (somewhat surprised he doesn't have an Emmy for a guest acting role), and Larroquette at EGT.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite bit of EGOT trivia (which I am sure I have shared before) is that Jonathan Tunick, Stephen Sondheim's longtime collaborator, has EGOT but Sondheim does not. Tunick's seems fairly legitamate under Russ's suggestion, as they were all for orchestrating/conducting/music directing. Sondheim, I believe, just needs an Emmy. Maybe he can write a song for Smash?
ReplyDeleteGoldberg has the diciest case, because not only is her Emmy a shared Daytime Emmy for Best Talk Show Host, but her Tony isn't for any personal creative achievement--it's for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie.
ReplyDeleteA few other interesting tidbits I've seen:
ReplyDelete1. Even though Kanye is viewed as a loser for not getting into the big categories, he has the most nods of the year because he's eligible in a broad stream of the rap categories with guest apperances and Watch the Throne, while Adele had much more limited opportunities.
2. Apparently, you have to choose to submit tracks, and Gaga and her people were pushing "You and I" and "Judas" for the top categories rather than "Born This Way" and "Edge of Glory," which would have been been stronger contenders.
I'm going to have to disagree with Russ here. EGOT means that you received each of the four specified awards. If the Grammys decide in a given year that a particular category (say, spoken word) is award-worthy, and you get the award in that category, it goes to EGOT.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to think that EGOT does mean something. Look at how few people have ever achieved it, and the majority of the ones who have really would be considered giants in the entertainment field. Ultimately, you have to win in three different arenas (TV, stage, and movies), as well as do some sort of recording that wins a Grammy. That's really difficult.
All I know about Skrillex I learned two days ago via Gawker's Old Person's Guide to Skrillex. But I do enjoy one song of his for running.
ReplyDelete