Last night the 54th annual Grammy Awards took place and in its 3-and-a-half-hour glory, I can confidently say it was quite the show.
Here are some of the highlights:
- LL Cool J hosted and wore some cool hats
- Maroon 5 and Foster the People did painfully stiff covers of the Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girls” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” but then the Beach Boys performed “Good Vibrations” and all was forgotten
- Jack Black repeated the words “indie cred” over and over again while he introduced Foo Fighters
- Jennifer Hudson sang a beautiful rendition of “I Will Always Love You” in honour of the late Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt did an equally beautiful tribute to the late Etta James
- Glen Campbell’s performance received a standing ovation, except for two women who were caught seated and staring at their iPhones. They were probably tweeting “What the hell is a rhinestone cowboy?”
- Chris Brown, David Guetta, Lil Wayne, Foo Fighters, and Deadmau5 had a rave in a tent
- Nicki Minaj’s performance was an over-the-top, sacrilegious escapade, and probably the worst homage to The Exorcist. She probably offended all of the good Christian country singers in the audience like Taylor Swift
- Adele won a bunch of awards and said “snot” on national television
- Paul McCartney closed the show along with Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and a bunch of other male guitarists and had a homoerotic guitar-solo-off
With all the joking aside, some deserving artists went home with that “prestigious” Grammy Award. One of those artists is of course, Bon Iver. So, I guess the Foo Fighters weren’t the only ones repping that “indie cred.” During the pre-telecast, Bon Iver won Best Alternative Album for their sophomore self-titled LP and beat out Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, and Foster the People. During the live show, Bon Iver walked away with Best New Artist and beat fellow nominees Nicki Minaj, Skrillex, J. Cole, and The Band Perry. During his acceptance speech, Bon Iver’s front man Justin Vernon was surprisingly nervous. He stumbled through his speech but still managed to be humble and shared some insightful words about the current state of the music industry.
Vernon said, “It’s really hard to accept this award. There’s so much talent out here on the stage and there is a lot of talent that’s not here tonight.” He continued, “It’s also hard to accept because when I started to make songs, I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I’m a little bit uncomfortable up here. With that discomfort, I do have a sense of gratitude. I want to say thank you to all the nominees and all the non-nominees that have never been here and never will be here…I’d like to thank all the voters — sweet hookup!” In addition, he thanked his parents, his label Jagjaguwar, his hometown of Eau Claire, as well as his girlfriend and date for the night, Kathleen Edwards (awww).
Bon Iver was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Holocene,” but lost to the all-powerful Adele with her hit song, “Rolling in the Deep.”
Below, watch the Grammy’s “We Are Music” commercial featuring Bon Iver’s song “Holocene.”
http://vimeo.com/35927400
- WATCH: Justin Vernon and The Roots play an extended version of ‘Perth’
- WATCH: Bon Iver “We Are Music” Grammy spot
- WATCH: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon talks Grammy diss, ‘selling out’ for whiskey, Kathleen Edwards, defends Kanye West
- Quoteworthy: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon disses Grammys (from earlier this year)
- 54th Grammy Awards: The Year of Bon Iver?
