The 10 Most Idiotic Decisions The Grammys Ever Made
The 58th Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center on Monday, February 15, but if you’re anything like us, you won’t be watching. Although the Grammy’s are perhaps the preeminent award in American music and recording arts, throughout their six decades of existence, they have made unquestionably the consistently worst decisions of any major award show. From their very inception, the Grammys felt dated and out of touch, giving awards to Frank Sinatra in favor of the Beatles, who weren’t even recognized as Best “New” Artists until the year they released their sixth album.
Not every Grammy decision has been terrible. Artists still desperately strive for validation within the industry, and millions will watch the ceremony with wishful eyes, hoping the best for their favorite artists. We wouldn’t hold out breath, though, considering the past atrocious decisions made by the Grammys. Regardless of category, genre or era, the Grammys always managed to get obvious musical genius wrong, rewarding complacency over creativity with great consistency. If a young artist out there wins a Grammy on Monday and it just makes all their dreams come true, then we say, “Congrats, Taylor.” But to prevent any artist from having their dream shattered when they lose, check out these examples that prove just how clueless the Grammys have always been.
10. The First Rapper To Win A Grammy Was Will Smith
No one hates on Big Willie Style, but it seems downright inappropriate the first rapper to win a Grammy was The Fresh Prince. It’s not surprising it took the Grammys a few years to recognize rap, first doing so in 1989 with the award for Best Rap Performance. Celebrating a year that featured landmark hip-hop releases by artists such as N.W.A, Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J and KRS-One, of the bunch, only future Grammy host LL was even nominated. Unfortunately for Cool James, not even the fire of “Goin’ Back to Cali” could win the Grammys over, as they were distracted listening to the Fresh Prince rap about how “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”
No disrespect to the Prince or his DJ Jazzy Jeff. The song itself is lightweight fun, but to call it the best the rap world had to offer was an insult. When the Grammys would finally add an award for the Best Rap Album of the Year, they would show similar lack of insight into the hip-hop community, awarding Naughty By Nature in favor of 2pac. Frankly, though, not even that is bad as what happened to Best Rap Performance in 1990: “Bust A Move” won, defeating “Fight the Power.”
