(I really like Green Day and The Killers and hoped they'd get a foot in the Grammy door... Green Day did.)
The Edge dedicated the Best Performance by a Rock Group or Duo award to his daughter, Sian, who is suffering from leukemia right now (hence the almost cancelled tour).
Bono looked genuinely surprised by the honor of three wins for Vertigo, expressed that he thought this was the best set of Grammy performances ever (I agree!), and then went speechless (most notable speechlessness of the night).
Then Larry stepped forward to speak directly to the fans who felt jilted by the ticket presale fiasco. It was touching that U2 would use that public occasion to directly apologize (again) to the fans when the vast majority of the audience for the Grammys must not have had a clue what he was talking about. The general hub bub on @U2.com is that they are forgiven.
A few pics and then on to other topics:
Bono with Green Day's Bille Joe Armstrong
Bono singing to his dad
4 comments:
I posted mostly snide dismissive comments about the Grammys on my blog, but I did hear Mullen's apology to the fans and that impressed me. They all four seem pretty "regular" for being such world conquering demigods of rock.
How could they be surprised to get Grammys though? They are odds on favorites in the Rock category because they simply own the scene. They are big-time corporate and also still hip and relevant at the same time. And their musical style is nearly canonical as far as the genre is concerned, though it's also uniquely their own.
They have been very impressive in their ability to not become an over-the-hill walking fossil of a band.
I have never watched enough Grammys to compare if this was the "best ever" lineup or not. But you know, I didn't see much of the "American Idol" style of music, no Mariah Carey, Celine Dion or Whitney Houston, no boy bands or teenyboppers to speak of really, so that automatically ups the quality a bit, I'd agree there.
Did "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" win anything? That song probably does deserve an award over "Vertigo" because it's had the longest shelf-life and still doesn't seem to have slowed down at all, maybe even still picking up steam a bit!
I read your Grammys comments. I enjoyed them but I'm noticing that reviewers didn't so much. For me, it was the first time in years that I thought there *were* any good performances and these Grammys weren't overshadowed by controversy and half naked women. :)
U2 has become more humble the bigger they've become. I think they know they are close to the end of their careers. Really. I would be surprised if they are still touring in their fifites. They seem aware of the need for new blood in the rock scene too so I like to see them encouraging young bands.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams wasn't up for anything. I think it was released as a single too late for the Grammys, perhaps? It is omnipresent on pop 40 and rock stations. I agree. We all like that song around here.
I really like Green Day. They are a terrific band. "Dangerous and fun" as their lead singer says. :)
Julie
The main reason I missed big chunks of the Grammys was that my sons were more interested in watching "Footloose" on AMC, so we kept switching back and forth. Actually, I had more fun watching "Footloose" with them than the Grammys - it was an opportunity for me to give a bit of a history lesson of the strange, remote era in which the film was made.
I realized watching it with my boys that this film was to them pretty analagous to what early Elvis and 50's sci-fi movies were to me - the cultural soil that preceded my birth and set the stage for the world I was about to enter.
That last comment didn't have much to do with what you said so...
You think U2 wants to avoid doing what the Rolling Stones have done? You think? That's what I think! It would be nice to think of them going out on top or pretty close to it. Would you be surprised if this were their last album? Or maybe they have one or two more left in them? Is there speculation along these lines in U2 fandom?
BOBD actually just cracked the Billboard Hot 100 Top Three list which is nice to see these days. It's rare that a non-hip-hop/RnB track makes it that high on this chart. The last one was Hoobastank's "The Reason" which made it to #2 last year but other than that, you have to go back to Clay Aiken's "This is the Night" (2003) or Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" (2002) to get much rock action on the top of the hit parade, and I'm being pretty generous with Mr. Aiken, I think you'll agree.
I will have to give Green Day a serious listen. As a former underground punk rocker, I never really took to GD's mainstreaming commercializing approach to the music but that's probably more snooty trendy close-mindedness on my part than actual disdain for their music. This impression was made when "Dookie" was their current release and not much has happened since to get me to rethink my position. But I've heard nothing but good stuff about "American Idiot" so I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
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