Years ago my buddy Money Mike gave me a new CD by Mark Ronson. I loved it, and Mike’s instincts were right on the, err, money again.
Now this is going to be tough so follow along:
Mark is a Gen X guitarist , DJ and *amazing* producer. He produced most of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” album. He signed Wale to his label. He’s produced Adele and the Kaiser Chiefs, Christina Aguilera and Ghostface Killah. Mark is a genius producer who has worked with some of pop music’s best names and produced songs you’ve heard on the radio.
Years ago, there was another genius named Ronson: Mick Ronson. MIck was an even better guitarist. He was at David Bowie’s side for eight albums, including the Spiders from Mars phase. He played with Dylan and The Who. Mick Ronson is rock music royalty.
But Mick Ronson and Mark Ronson are NOT related. Mark, the guy born in the ’70s, is the stepson of another music legend: Mick Jones. Now Mick Jones of The Clash is music royalty too, with a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But before you scream, “Oh, I love The Clash” or “London Calling is my favorite album”, there were two British guys named Mick Jones playing lead guitar in famous bands. There’s Mick Jones of The Clash and Mick Jones of Foreigner. It’s the latter guy, Mick Jones of Foreigner, who is Mark Ronson’s step-father. And darn if Foreigner wasn’t a whole lot more successful than you might remember.
So let’s review:
Mick Ronson is an original guitar hero.
Mark Ronson is not his son.
Mick Jones is Mark Ronson’s step-father.
But not Mick Jones of The Clash.
Mick Jones of Foreigner is Mark Ronson’s step-father.
If you’ve got all that straight, or even if you didn’t, here is the hottest single in multiple countries: Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk, featuring Bruno Mars, a name that’s about as original as they come. Because you see, Bruno’s real name is Peter Hernandez, and no one would want to confuse him with one hit wonder Patrick Hernandez, who had a worldwide hit in 1979 with “Born to be Alive”.
Without a sing-off or a judges/mentors’ vote or a double elimination, this elimination was the single most legit one of the year. It’s purely about who the audience wanted to see the least based on their votes.
And being that it was the last elimination before the season finale, the drama was turned way up.
So what happened?
Well, Fifth Harmony happened. Simon’s plea worked. Fifth Harmony was fairly clearly the worst of the acts on Wednesday’s show. But near the end of the show, Simon was begging the audience to give Fifth Harmony a chance.
Mario and Khloe pushed Fifth Harmony through to the finals. Britney was so surprised, she gave the greatest Britney face of the year.
But drama ensued and you had to wonder if Simon’s plea for Fifth Harmony would be to the detriment to his other group Emblem3. Because the next act to get through was Tate Stevens, leaving Carly Rose Sonenclar and Emblem3 as the two acts left. One would go home and one would move onto the finals.
(To me, Sonenclar and Emblem3 were the two who had to go to the finals for this show to have been worth anything. But oh well.)
Oh yeah, and Bruno Mars performed.
Who went home?
If Carly Rose gets eliminated, we riot!
And thankfully, we don’t have to riot. Since early in the season, I had three acts that I really thought had a chance to go far in this show. Beatrice Miller took a L way too early in the ball game, but Carly Rose and Emblem3 fought on. Sadly for Emblem3, they didn’t make the final three even though they should’ve been in the finals.
What was the voting order?
They’ve locked the voting order because they don’t want to give away the final before the final. I have to imagine it’s a two-act race between Carly Rose and Tate with Fifth Harmony as a distant third. But you know that Simon is going to go with the hard sell and we’ll really see what kind of pull he has with the fans.
What does it all mean?
I still think Carly Rose is the one to beat, but now that Emblem3 is gone, does Tate pick up some of their fans?
Whitney HoustonIt’s the 54th edition of the Grammy Awards. And with the sad passing yesterday of Whitney Houston, I imagine it’s a much more somber celebration than usual. Our own Paul Lorentz wrote a nice piece on Houston earlier this morning. I participated in Popblerd’s appreciation piece earlier today as well.
They always say the show must go on. And it will, though I’m not sure I’m ready to remember Houston yet.
LL Cool J is the host for the show. Yes, a guy who was one of the first hip hop stars is hosting the music industry’s most celebratory day. I don’t imagine many would’ve predicted that when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won the first ever Rap Grammy in 1989, that 23 years later, a hip hop star would be hosting this show.
(While this show has already happened since it started 3 hours ago and I get the West Coast tape-delayed version, I’m going to pretend this thing is live.)
7:59 – How many times will LL lick his lips tonight? I think the over/under is 100. I’m going over.
8:00 – The Boss opens up this show. I count three earrings. I once had an earring too … when I was 18. Come on Bruce, the gray hair, receding hairline, and earrings together aren’t a good look. Plus, you don’t need them bruh.
8:04 – In a matter of seconds after the Boss finished his song, the cameras cut to Katy Perry with blue FU Russell Brand colored hair, Lady Gaga wearing a veil, and before I could anticipate it, Fergie’s face popped up out of nowhere. I could take Perry and Gaga, but I haven’t been that scared after seeing Fergie’s butter-face since watching The Poltergeist.
8:08 – LL just gave a classy speech about “his sister” Whitney. Who says hip hop can’t be classy?
(I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through this show with all these Whitney clips.)
8:15 – Holy ****! Bruno Mars just sold a whole lotta albums tonight with his performance.
8:16 – And can we just be clear about one thing? Mars’ pompadour is nothing more than the Brandon Walsh/Dylan McKay hairdo from 1992. I may have to bust that out too. It’s coming back.
8:23 – The first Grammy Award is for Best Pop Solo Performance and it goes to Adele. I think Miss Adele is going to have a big night tonight.
8:25 – I go away to check on my dinner and I miss Chris Brown’s performance. Oh the horror. Chris Brown has a very special talent. His talent is to do some pretty impressive and athletic dance numbers and make them seem so unimportant. I don’t remember any MJ performance ever being so insignificant.
8:36 – Kanye West and Jay-Z win for Best Rap Performance and you’re telling me Kanye isn’t there? Well, he did get screwed by not being nominated for Album Of The Year. I guess I’d skip too.
8:58 – I could say that Rihanna’s wig is very Tina Turner-esque, but I’m going with Farrah Fawcett’s dry perm. I think I just dated myself twice. By the way, if you didn’t know based on the hook that was repeated about 75 times, “We found love in a hopeless place.”
9:14 – The Foo Fighters win for Best Rock Performance. New York Giants wide receivers Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham presented them with the award. I wish they had numbers on their suits so I could tell who was who.
The Grammys, where Maroon 5 does “Surfer Girl” and everyone dies a little inside.
9:37 – From Paul McCartney to Common shouting out Gil-Scott Herron? This must be 2012.
9:37 – Chris Brown wins R&B Album Of The Year and shouts out Team Breezy. Yawn. El DeBarge was robbed.
9:45 – Give out more awards, give us less Taylor Swift performances.
9:51 – Adele and producer Paul Epworth win Song Of The Year. Epworth says that he couldn’t have done it without Adele. Really Paul? You mean you couldn’t have won this without Adele’s star power and voice?
9:59 – Lady A won for Country Album Of The Year and I’m happy just so that we don’t have to see Hillbilly Taylor come up with her banjo again.
10:10 – So Adele performed and she put boots to asses on everyone. It’s her night. She better win the whole damn thing.
10:24 – Talk about catchy. “Like a rhinestone cowboy…” From @IAMJericho:
Watching McCartney clapping along to Glenn Campbell is true class. #rocknrollisfamily
10:31 – Carrie Underwood is on stage singing “It Had To Be You” with Tony Bennett. Another Tony, Tony Romo just pointed at the TV and said, “Me?”
10:33 – That’s how you pronounce Bon Iver? And I’m so confused how they are a new artist, but oh well.
10:45 – I really wanted to like Jennifer Hudson’s performance and I’m sure it came straight from the heart. But I don’t think it was very good and it was the wrong song to sing. Also, Melanie Amaro channels Whitney better than Jennifer does.
11:04 – Common presented earlier and now it’s Drake’s turn. Sweet. I mean, um, yeah.
11:08 – I think Nicki Minaj thinks this is her Lady Gaga moment. Sadly, it’s not.
11:11 – This is Adele’s year. You can’t stop Adele. You can only hope to contain her. She also wins Record Of The Year.
11:21 – And she wins Album Of The Year. She gives a raw reaction and not something preconceived or prepared, unlike a lot of what’s wrong with music in 2012.
11:25 – Sir Paul McCartney goes HAM to end the show. See you next year.
