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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Pop Rock Nation

  • Fergie Vs. The Censors – Grammys 2010

    SLoretta Lynneal brought the crowd to life with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Leonard Cohen. Then he opens up with another performance. No boring awards here.

    Roll out the songs.

    Here’s Pink, doing herself proud in front of the industry and a worldwide television artist. Her outfit is a cross between nun’s habit and none habit. She is glamour and spins through the track without blemish eveas she disrobed into truly none. If Jerry Falwell hadn’t died, this would have killed him. Our girl spins as though in a circus, looking sexier by the minute until she is drenched in water and hit every note while spinning above the crowd in fabric.

    Amazing.

    Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban, both beautiful, look pretty pedestrian after that. They announce Loretta Lynn’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a Trustee Award for long-timer producer Walter Miller.

    Best New Artist, the Kiss of Death Grammy, that Gaga should have been eligible for rolls up. I told Money Mike that Hilson was the safe Academy choice although The Ting Tings or MGMT should win. Zac Brown Band pulls the well-deserved upset! The boys look happy, yet even though they are performing later, they get played off.

    Miley Cyrus, all growed up, introduces the Peas. Fergie gets “mother-father” in place instead of the lyric and CBS reacted too late for the delay. CBS began experiencing audio difficulties. Language. After watching Pink spin above the crowd, dripping water and dressed in ribbons, do we really need to worry about some lyric. BEP does their typical strong musical theater performance. I’ve Got A Feeling brought everyone out, robots included.

    Welcome to the Future, they exhort the crowd. Except, you know, for the censorship part.

    Loretta Lynn photo: Scott Schram http://schram.net/

  • Gaga, John Open Grammys

    beyonce
    Beyonce: How A Star Shines.

    Live blogging the Grammys tonight and away we go once Ryan Seacrest scampers in from the red carpet after letting slip (yeah, right) that he’ll be performing on We Are The World.  To quote Lionel Richie, “We had Dan Akroyd there so yes, you can sing.”

    Gaga updated the opening with the real Gaga that mashed a circus, steampunk and a power ballad that has the likes of Alice Cooper and Elton John gushing to mainstream media about the latest to ascend the throne they built. Lady Gaga relises being a monster. That’s why Sir Elton donned specs years after shedding them from his act.

    Gaga pulled all the specs and eye patches off and dueted with Sir Elton brilliantly. Alice Cooper said it best. Gaga works as an artist because she can sing.

    Stephen Colbert does his schtick to a flat crowd including a once-over glance from Jay-Z. One liners: Jeff Beck has the all-time high score on Guitar Hero. Then he told his daughter to stay away from Katy Perry.

    Finally Song of the Year on an iPad. Beyonce and co-writers win for Single Ladies. I’m not sure the songwriter award belonged to that track. It was certainly my choice as Record of the Year. Colbert talked so damn long that they played the songwriters off lightning-fast.

    Jenny from the Block is up. We told you years ago that American Idiot would be a Broadway show. The Broadway cast and the once-punkers met onstage for GD’s title track. Writing hellacious hooks was never a problem although Joey Ramone probably revoked their place in Punk Heaven. The good news is that Tres Cool’s kids will never want for college tuition. So Green Day has been Glee’d. They won’t be the last.

    There’s a promo for When in Rome masked as presenting. The actors shill for people to get interactive and vote for Bon Jovi to play one of three songs. Oy. The Pro Bowl is before the Super Bowl and now we get to vote on Grammy performances.

    Best Country Album was Taylor Swift’s when the nominations were announced although Zac Brown Band sure had a chance. No Kanye sighting although Taylor’s delight is getting a bit tired. Taylor, you’re winning everything on every show. Accept it. Nice young woman. I’m sure it’s a dream.

    CBS shills The Mentalist by trotting out Simon Baker without worrying about his accent. Hugh Laurie was undoubtedly jealous. I’m simply jealous because he introduced Beyonce. She is our generation’s Streisand and Cher rolled into one mixed with a supermodel’s looks.

    The mix sounded off on my set, but was resolved about halfway through. The holding pen she sang to moved a little of the gravitas from the show, but music is about people so no complaints here. Beyonce threw a fake cold ending at the audience and owned the venue.

  • A Few Words in Defense of…Nickelback

    by Pat Johnson
    I know I’m supposed to hate Nickelback, but…I just can’t.

    Before I go on I should mention that I have not downloaded a single Nickelback song ever.  They are completely absent on my iPod.  I have never seen them in concert, and I probably never will.

    I am well aware of the disdain people have for Nickelback.  I know of the many popular Facebook groups denouncing their existence.  Hell, when I’m in a conversation with someone about their hatred for this group, I don’t even defend them.

    But I can’t hate Nickelback, and that’s because of one thing.  When I’m in the car listening to the radio, or one of their songs comes across my XM receiver, I do one thing: I fucking wail.

    That’s right, I admit it, I am a car singing man that will rock out to Nickelback.  I’ll belt out the chorus, I’ll hum along to the verses, or sing the wrong words.  And for a few short minutes I’ll bob my head to Chad Kroeger’s strained vocals as he sings about…something.

    I’m not sure where this association comes from.  Perhaps it’s because Kroeger doesn’t really have that good of a singing voice, thus it’s easier to sing along with.  Maybe it’s because his refrains have an annoying ability to get stuck in your head.  Or maybe it’s because a small part of me actually likes them  –  dear god, could that be true?

    I know what’s going through your head: Nickelback sucks.  But I can’t hate them.  I remember on 9/11 when we needed to get away from the news and there, on MTV, was the video for “How You Remind Me” playing over and over, and I remember singing along with friends because we were able to do something than watch the horrible images of the day.

    I just can’t hate a band whose last 4 albums have sold almost 17 million copies, here in this age of illegally downloading music.

    I know some hatred could come from being overplayed on the radio, but hey, crazy me thought that you were played on the radio because you were popular, not because you sucked.

    So there you have it.  I won’t buy your music Nickelback.  I won’t go to your concerts.  I won’t even defend you in a conversation where people put you down.  But don’t worry.  You’ll always have me in my car singing along to whatever song of yours comes on the radio.