LMFAO, OMFG!
The 2010 Grammy Award nominations were released yesterday and I can’t help but be a little put off by some of the nominations. Granted, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift’s several nominations did not come as a big surprise, but LMFAO and the Lonely Island? I almost had to do a double take when reading these particular nominations. LMFAO, of “I’m In Miami Bitch”, and “Shots” fame was probably the farthest from my mind when considering who would be nominated for music’s greatest accomplishment. LMFAO has been nominated for best dance/electronic album while the Lonely Island, SNL satire rappers of “I’m On a Boat”, have been nominated for best rap song by a duo. The fact that a group such as this is even nominated is somewhat disturbing due to the rudimentary style of their self-proclaimed “party-rock” style which uses simplistic synth-heavy beats to support their even more simplistic rhymes in which they encourage partiers to guzzle down as many shots of Patron as possible while girls “take off their polka-dot bikinis”.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for partying and having a good time, and while I can remember attending countless parties where these particular songs are played frequently, I certainly don’t think that their popularity amongst drunken college students warrants a nod from the Grammy organization. Yes, I realize that it is for a “dance” record but even so, where have the Daft Punks and Michael Jackson’s of the world gone. It seems that now much of the quality music that has been frequenting the dance floors in the past has been replaced by overproduced songs that glamorize debauchery and honestly could be written by any number of my fellow fraternity brothers.
What seems even more troubling than that the Grammy’s have chosen them as deserving of a nomination is that sadly, LMFAO may deserve a nomination due to the lack of quality popular music that exists today. The fact that LMFAO can grab a nomination only goes to show the scarcity of music that can compete or even eclipse the poor quality of music that groups such as LMFAO and the Lonely Island are putting out. Hopefully occurrences like this will motivate someone to start making better music, both for my sake, and the sake of the Grammy’s reputation as a reputable judgment of today’s best music.
Can It All Be So Simple? 
Surprised that the Lonely Island was nominated for best rap song. I love “I’m on a Boat” as much as the next person, but I think any recognition or critical acclaim should be kept strictly to the comment boxes on the NBC web site and Youtube. Though, that does raise an interesting question about about who should be considered a legitimate artist. Performers like Weird Al have made their careers on parodies. Though Lonely Island copies the stylings of other artists like T-Pain for humorous effect, it’s hard to deny that the production was strong, the lyrics were funny and the music video amusing. Just because they’re joking, should they be disqualified as artists? It’s a tough call, because people DO enjoy the music. I feel like anything goes when it comes to music these days. I’d take Lonely Island over Taylor Swift any day.
I agree that LMFAO getting a nomination is a little, well, LOL (although I do admit to enjoying their remixes), but I feel that it’s less that there’s no good music out there, and more there’s almost TOO much, but given current content distribution platforms, everyone is listening to different things. Even the most popular artists don’t enjoy the same massive blocs of listeners as their predecessors. At any rate, the Grammys are hardly a bastion of good taste suddenly being sullied – Milli Vanilli?