We can’t all be winners, but we’d like to believe that those who do take home the trophies deserve them. That’s what makes watching the Grammy Awards such a tough thing to do. Year in, year out, somebody always gets snubbed—or worse, completely robbed. And let’s not even talk about the awkward acceptance speeches and peculiar performances.
This is one awards show that refuses to get with the times. Even with LL Cool J as host somehow we’ve got a feeling tomorrow's 54th Grammy Awards is going to be another night of cliché trumping innovaton. All types of NARAS members get to vote on all types of music they know nothing about.
These are the folks who picked The New Vaudeville Band (Google ’em) over The Beatles. That, ladies and gents, is what you call an epic fail. But that's only No. 19... So let's look back at all the moments the Academy just wants to forget.
Written by Brad Wete (@BradWete)
Follow @ComplexMusic
Dolapo February 11th, 2012 at 07:17 PM
No mention of 50 Cent losing out on Best New Artist to the irrelevant Evanescence? I mean the guy was the biggest thing in the world in 03.
K-yo February 11th, 2012 at 10:26 PM
How about Kanye's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' getting snubbed for Album Of The Year. It was unquestionably the best album of the year.
I Agree February 12th, 2012 at 01:28 PM
Agree
Carlos February 13th, 2012 at 05:03 AM
Truth
yep February 13th, 2012 at 12:32 PM
agreed but i think the grammy's snubbed him for a reason. They knew that his album was one of the if not the best reviewed album of 2010, and deserved to win album of the year but Adele is America's sweetheart right now. If she would have lost there would have been a lot of backlash from it. it's still a bunch of bullcrap but I'd rather him not get nominated for the award if it's already known that he's not going to win it.
DJ Ken February 12th, 2012 at 02:20 AM
Recovery And Eminem show losing to Arcade fire and Norah Jones, Respectively
musicsense February 12th, 2012 at 09:24 AM
arcade fire deserved best album. band of multi-instrumentalists, incredibly talented, sonically and aesthetically rich; eminem just raps and sing his mind.
Davizz February 12th, 2012 at 04:42 AM
Why are you disrepecting Toto???? They wrote Micheal Jackson's "Human Nature"!!!! And "Africa" is one of the best song ever made.
Laky February 12th, 2012 at 10:26 AM
you kidding me? that Layla remake was pretty fucking dope too. I guess nirvana had their movement, but as a song Layla was a hundred times better
EEZY February 12th, 2012 at 01:54 PM
Kind of a fail on Complex's part to not mention the fact that The Beatles only won one Album Of The Year award. How does a band who went on to sell an estimated 1/2 billion - 1 billion total units, only have one win in the AOTY category??? Abbey Road really wasn't a better album than Blood, Sweat & Tears self titled album?!?!? Or Elvis Presley never even being nominated for an AOTY?? How is that even possible? Not only did the guy change music completely, he changed what was allowed to be shown on television at the time! I know last year Steve Stoute pointed out some of the award winners over the past decade that didn't really make sense, but apparently this has been going on almost since the beginning of the Grammys. According to The Grammys, The Beatles & Elvis Presley, with their combined total sales of possibly 2 BILLION units, only made one album that was good enough enough to win AOTY.
Damn Fool February 12th, 2012 at 01:55 PM
Arrested Development was dope at the time. And you said it yourself, the competition sucked. So what's the issue?
Bongocongo February 12th, 2012 at 04:47 PM
The only "fail" is this list in itself. A) Steely Dan's Two Against Nature -is- one of their best and an amazing album from guys who were away for like 20 years. B) Herbie's win was HISTORICAL. Album Of The Year, given to a legendary (black) pianist, on a jazz album. I don't know what the f@ck your problem is. If there ever was a Grammy fail, that would be forcing wildly different artists to perform together just for the sake of it - the Foo Fighters + Chick Corea thing comes to mind.
Who February 12th, 2012 at 05:08 PM
Arcade Fire winning last year's Album Of The Year was pretty questionable. Katy Perry only had the 2nd album to ever have 5 #1 singles. Considering most labels only pay artists to make a dozen tracks for an album I believe, almost half the album ended up being a #1 song. I know sales don't necessarily mean everything, but when you are doing something only Michael Jackson has done, you really must have done something right on the album
Hello February 12th, 2012 at 07:03 PM
How was Pearl Jam's speech a fail? He didn't understand the importance of receiving a meaningless plaque so he told everyone thats how he felt. That's closer to being awesome than being a fail.