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11 Reasons You Should Watch the 54th Grammy Awards

Posted: 02/ 9/2012 12:15 am

Size matters, and Music's Biggest Night is this Sunday on CBS -- the 54th Grammy Awards hosted the coolest friend I have -- the great LL Cool J. This is going to be a Grammy night to remember. Am I biased having worked on the show for the past decade as a writer? Damn straight, I am, and proudly so. So here then from my backstage perspective are just ten reasons to watch every second of the show. Tune in and see for yourself. And until then, follow @TheGRAMMYs and me @wildaboutmusic for much more breaking Grammy news:


Because Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be playing, and he's the only boss still polling well in America.

Because Sir Paul McCartney -- who for my money is even more Fab than Sir Mix-A Lot -- will be performing too. Paul's excellent album of standards is called Kisses On The Bottom. Which is much classier than the album's working title -- Pecks on the Tushy.

Because the wonderful Nicki Minaj is performing and if you say her name three times quick, it sounds kind of dirty.

Because Adele -- who has six big Grammy nominations this year -- has now recovered from her throat surgery and doctors have declared that she is finally able to sing again -- unlike Mitt Romney.

Because Rihanna is performing with Coldplay, which should heat up the band's play considerably.

Because the fantastically prolific Taylor Swift may very well both start and end a relationship during the Grammy show, and then write a great, angry song about it by the end of the night.

Because this is Black History Month, and Jack Black is presenting.

Because you'll hear a sexy duet from Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson -- or as the tabloids have sexily dubbed them, "Jasonson." Okay, no one dubbed them that -- until now. Also Tony Bennett is singing a sexy duet with Carrie Underwood, and frankly, people are beginning to talk.

Because Newt Gingrich may be hosting the first-ever lunar Grammy party, but I hear ticket prices are out of this world. Speaking of out of this world, don't miss a typically exciting performance by Bruno Mars, who is all that's left of our American space program.

Because the remarkable Glen Campbell is going to give his farewell Grammy performance joined by Blake Shelton and The Band Perry.

Because the Beach Boys are not only reuniting and performing on the Grammy Awards -- they're also completely redefining the use of the word "Boys."

 
 
 

Follow David Wild on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Wildaboutmusic

Size matters, and Music's Biggest Night is this Sunday on CBS -- the 54th Grammy Awards hosted the coolest friend I have -- the great LL Cool J. This is going to be a Grammy night to remember. Am I bi...
Size matters, and Music's Biggest Night is this Sunday on CBS -- the 54th Grammy Awards hosted the coolest friend I have -- the great LL Cool J. This is going to be a Grammy night to remember. Am I bi...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AsISaid
08:14 PM on 02/13/2012
David - if you were one of the writers for the Grammys, you had a daunting task to add in tributes to Whitney. Knowing how you work these shows down to virtual seconds, you did a decent job, given the circumstances.

However - whoever allowed that Minaj debacle to so closely follow the beautiful Hudson tribute song to Whitney should be flogged. From class to trash.
04:34 PM on 02/11/2012
Wasn't going to watch but then Carrie and Tony where announced so I will definitely be tuning in (at least for their performance). I do hope that Adele has an amazing night and I hope Mama's Song finally gets some love but if not - I am still good because I saw Carrie sing with the legend Tony Bennett again.
04:18 PM on 02/10/2012
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson. Their song is so good. Also, Sophia Grace and Rosie as interviewers on the Red Carpet. That should be a hoot.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
10:14 PM on 02/10/2012
They will be great

Thanks
02:54 AM on 02/10/2012
seems good to read, keep updating.. *appreciable*
www.currency.com.pk/
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
04:05 AM on 02/10/2012
What?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
GoodDog0325
Sit, Stay, Love
11:48 PM on 02/09/2012
I was going to boycott the show@Chris Brown, but you sold me. Thanks.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
12:28 AM on 02/10/2012
Thank you
10:02 PM on 02/09/2012
You made some points there, DW, and I applaud your well-intentioned effort to inject some life into the pop music industry.

But I've sat down and listened to everything Taylor Swift has recorded, and it wasn't easy. Prolific, yes. Great . . . sorry. I wish I could report otherwise. As long as corporate America rules the music industry, marketability is going to continue to replace talent.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
12:29 AM on 02/10/2012
I just watched her rehearse, and her performance is lovely and charming.

I hope you'll watch the show and judge us on its merits.

Thanks
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AsISaid
08:37 PM on 02/09/2012
The last time I saw Frank Sinatra live was on the Grammys. He was quite emotional, being at an advanced age and in ill health.

He was given a Grammy, and a nice video highlighted his career. Thunderous applause. Sinatra was highly emotional.

Yet, his comments were just shut off, as if he were some schlep. As if another 15 seconds would have mattered.

The 'Voice' silenced by the very industry he helped make massive fortunes for.

I've never forgiven the Grammys for this base humiliation for one of the greatest recording artists in the history of all recording artists.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
12:30 AM on 02/10/2012
I'm sitting with the director who did the show then -- I am quite certain we were asked to cut to protect him by his team.

So give us another shot.

Thanks
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AsISaid
09:29 AM on 02/10/2012
I can buy that to an extent. But it was clumsy and humiliating nonetheless.The viewing audience only saw what they saw. Thanks for the reply - I respect that.
08:17 PM on 02/09/2012
Without Carl and Dennis, it isn't the Beach Boys. I'm not so sure Brian is still Brian either. Who does that leave, Al Jardine and Mike Love? And did he actually say "the remarkable Glen Campbell" ??? However, since Bruce and the E Street Band, and the Foo Fighters, will be there, so will I.
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PatA
Pink is a 4 letter word
10:45 PM on 02/09/2012
You may be not have enough life experience to appreciate the 'gift's that Glen Campbell gave to music. He was never a favorite of mine but he usually had a song in the top 5 at the peak of his career. He was a genuinely funny man and he had a very successful television show.

He has alzheimers now and I imagine the Grammy society is honoring him for his contributions to the industry while he can still appreciate the award.
01:12 PM on 02/10/2012
I'm 63 and I have plenty of life and music experience. I don't think one hit song back in the 1970s merits "remarkable".
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ozmas mirror
Sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often
07:16 PM on 02/09/2012
Because the Foo Fighters are performing.
04:17 PM on 02/09/2012
Beach Boys are a bore. I'd rather see the Brady Bunch reunite. More talent.
07:03 PM on 02/12/2012
If you have heard "God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations" or any number of amazing BB songs and feel this way then you are either deaf or dead.
04:17 PM on 02/09/2012
The only really good reason to watch the Grammys is that the women in the music industry have far more "interesting" clothes than will be worn at the Oscars in a couple of weeks. Guess that's the difference between being a pop star and a Serious Actress.
03:36 PM on 02/09/2012
You had me at the Boss.
04:22 PM on 02/09/2012
But no Clarence...RIP
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
04:47 PM on 02/09/2012
He is missed.
04:50 PM on 02/09/2012
True... but Clarence's nephew Jake is playing with the band now!
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
04:47 PM on 02/09/2012
As long as I had you.

You were great.

Thanks
02:28 PM on 02/09/2012
This article needs to address the title of the show, "Grammy Awards". Grammy may have started out as a slang on the word Gramophone, but now it is subconsciously making us think of our grandmothers, contextualizing the agelessness/timelessness of music in terms of our grandmothers (vs. music being a pop culture/teenage kind of thing). This has confused our inner psyches on the very nature of agelessness/timelessness, and we must not stand for it!
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millebocca
veni, vidi, clicki
07:49 PM on 02/09/2012
more like contextualizing the mega-latent way the institution recognizes great talent and the way it tends to stick to that which it knows (aka mainstream products i.e. major network fodder)
classic moment: when jethro tull got an award for best (urp) heavy metal band, about 20 years after it had first made waves.
02:07 PM on 02/09/2012
Beach Boys are performing!? Now that I hadn't heard.. how exciting. Hopefully Brian Wilson's voice is healthy.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Awake-and-Sing
named after a great play written by Clifford Odets
01:10 PM on 02/09/2012
I still love the Grammy's after all these years even if I don't take the winners too seriously.

That Milli Vanilli won Best New Artist for 1989 and that Lionel Ritchie's "Can't Slow Down" beat Prince's "Purple Rain" and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" for Album of the Year in 1984 taught me not to take who wins these awards seriously. Like the film and television Academies, the average age of the voter in the Recording Academy is 65.

However, I totally support the way that the Grammy's celebrate music and the whole spectrum of musical genres and I wish the Grammy's made the nominees listenable to the general public so that we could all share in their celebration the night of the ceremony.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
David Wild
01:30 PM on 02/09/2012
I think you'll love the show

Thanks
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kapalabhati
Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
01:45 PM on 02/09/2012
You bite your tongue. Prince in the same breath with Milli Vanilli?