I think we all know by now that Whitney Houston died yesterday. It could have made the Grammy’s into a disaster had they handled it inappropriately. Fortunately, they had great writers and the perfect host in L. L. Cool J. His opening of the Grammy’s was pure class, and it made it into a celebration, not a wake. My hat’s off to those who prepared this show in light of recent events. When the host said: “We’ve had a death in our family”, I knew they would do it right. And they did. The show must always go on, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it should. They fixed that, with a wonderful tribute to Whitney, and with a celebration of the music industry she loved. A very good job.
One funny thing, though: L. L. Cool J. said the Grammy’s always had unforgettable moments, and it reminded me of one. Yes, I’ll never forget when Metallica played the Grammy’s for the very first time, and Jethro Tull won the Grammy for “Best Metal Performance” anyway, even though they’re not a metal band. Yes, I’ll bet Metallica will never forget that, either.
Also, Dave Grohl’s band Foo Fighters won for “Best Rock Performance”, and at the end of his acceptance speech, he yelled: “Long live rock’n’roll!” And it struck me that a friend of mine recently said rock’n’roll is basically on life support right about now. And then I wondered, if someone wanted to take rock’n’roll off life support, would Rick Santorum try to stop them? I wonder because rock’n’roll advocates and celebrates such naughty and inappropriate behavior, like sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, and that’s what Rick Santorum seems to hate most of all. But could he not choose life, even for the notoriously turpitudinal rock’n’roll? I’ll bet he would be very torn about preventing the removal of rock’n’roll from life support, but I think ultimately he’d fight for its life: after all, if rock’n’roll died, what would he make his career complaining about?
And congrats to Adele on her awards sweep! Did 60 Minutes know she’d win them all, or was it an educated guess? They’re good at getting the inside story, so they probably knew.
