The 2012 Grammy Nominations Are Out, Apparently a Concert Also Happened?

The 55th Grammy Awards are being given out on February 10th, 2013 so that means we have to have some nominees, right? They definitely accomplished that as the Grammy Nominations concert aired last night and featured performances from Fun., Maroon 5, Hunter Hayes, The Who, Ne-Yo and a couple of country artists who escape me. We also got to see Taylor Swift awkwardly host with LL Cool J so that was fun.

Leading the nominees are Fun., Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and Kanye West with six noms each. The Black Keys, Chick Corea and Miguel follow that with five nominations. Notably, Justin Bieber was not hit up for ANY nominations so single tear for that. But that didn’t stop him from making the news as his manager declared the Grammys a travesty because Bieber HAS to be the underdog according to EW.com. Dude, you’re a millionaire teenager that keeps tricking Selena Gomez to go out with you. You’re the opposite of underdog, you’re just a douche at this point if you need a chip on your shoulder. Just be happy you have tickets to the party. Regardless, some highlights have to be Frank Ocean and Fun. just dominated the nominations despite the fact that they were first time nominees. Frank Ocean is great people and you should listen to him.

Also Detroit’s own Jack White gets an Album of the Year nomination for Blunderbuss, which is richly deserved. Alabama Shakes probably cut Carly Rae Jepsen off the Best New Artist and I’m perfectly fine by that.

Mild entertainment at the expense of the Biebs.

There is a cool pattern that Hollywood Reporter noticed and that four out of the five nominees for Album of the Year are rock albums, with Frank Ocean being R&B. No pop nominations in there. Maybe it’s the sign of the times and that everyone is looking for something original out there in the world. No offense to the pop music world, myself being a defender of the pop persuasion despite the shame it brings me, but most of it is the same drivel and more producer based than actual artist based. In fact, pop music is full of entertainers, not musicians so it’s good to see the right people get their due. Speaking of pop music, man did they ever get shut out. Bieber got zero nominations, One Direction got the shaft, and Nicki Minaj got nothing (it’s not rap or hip hop anymore people, she’s gone pure pop). A lot of people are complaining because these artists (or entertainers I guess) sold the most albums out of anyone, they should be nominated right? People, this isn’t the people’s choice awards, or the Billboard Awards for that matter. If the Grammy Awards are trying to set a precedent about actual substance in the music, then bravo. Like I said, these artists/entertainers got nothing because it’s all production work. Yeah, its beautiful escapism but you couldn’t tell me that if they took a random member of One Direction, gave him Bieber’s team and production values, all his marketing and that I would tell the difference between the two? I sincerely doubt it. There were some other snubs like Coldplay, which I buy because as much as I like Mylo Xyloto, this was not as great as Viva La Vida. Lady Gaga was also snubbed as well but I think that also factored in that her last album sort of came off like a fart sound. Also yes, I consider Lady Gaga to be more artist than entertainer just because she does a lot of her own writing and production and has value as a musician, even if some of her songs don’t reflect that.

Anyways, below is a list of the nominees with in some of the major categories and this link will bring you to the full list. Again, the awards are on February 10th, 2013 on CBS so we’ll see if anyone walks away as the new Adele with her gaggle of awards.

http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_cw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fgrizbomb-20%2F8010%2F0edfd9b5-62d1-4314-91c2-c7fd707ec83b&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate

<a HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_cw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fgrizbomb-20%2F8010%2F0edfd9b5-62d1-4314-91c2-c7fd707ec83b&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</a>Album of the Year:
Black Keys, El Camino
Fun., Some Nights
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Song of the Year:
Ed Sheeran, “The A Team”
Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Miguel, “Adorn”
Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”

Record of the Year:
Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Gotye feat. Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Best New Artist:
Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Pop Vocal Album:
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger
Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials
Fun., Some Nights
Maroon 5, Overexposed
P!nk, The Truth About Love

Best Rock Album:
The Black Keys, El Camino
Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
Muse, The 2nd Law
Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Best Alternative Music Album:
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel…
Bjork, Biophilia
Gotye, Making Mirrors
M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Tom Waits, Bad as Me

Best Rap Album:
Drake, Take Care
Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1
Nas, Life Is Good
The Roots, Undun
Rick Ross, God Forgives, I Don’t
2 Chainz, Based on a T.R.U. Story

Best Country Album:
Zac Brown Band, Uncaged
Hunter Hayes, Hunter Hayes
Jamey Johnson, Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Miranda Lambert, For the Record
The Time Jumpers, The Time Jumpers

Best Dance/Electronica Album:
Steve Aoki, Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers, Don’t Think
Deadmau5, > Album Title Goes Here <
Kaskade, Fire & Ice
Skrillex, Bangarang

Country Solo Performance:
Dierks Bentley, “Home”
Eric Church, “Springsteen”
Hunter Hayes, “Wanted”
Ronnie Dunn, “Cost of Livin’”
Blake Shelton, “Over”
Carrie Underwood, “Blown Away

The 10 Greatest James Bond Themes…

With the recent release of Skyfall, the 23rd (canon) James Bond movie, we thought we’d take a look at some of the things that have made the series so popular, and we’re gonna start with the theme songs. Below are what I consider to be the 10 best of 007’s themes, though probably not the 10 best movies…

5 Spins Around the Record Shop – This Week in Music

5 Spins Around the Record Shop – This Week in Music

Here are the top five pieces of important musical information I feel you need to know:

1. Jack White’s debut solo album:

Blunderbuss, is #1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums, and deservedly so. I have been a fan of Jack White since… well… since I can remember. In my opinion, although there are those who disagree, this is his best work. I think that Blunderbuss is exactly what Jack White has always wanted to do, and he is showing a large amount of confidence and an insane amount of talent.Everything Jack White touches seems to turn to gold. I am glad to see he is getting recognition for his work. I will be attending his concert on May 24th. I will definitely let you know how that goes.

2. Andre 3000 to Play Jimi Hendrix

According to Rolling Stone, Andre 3000 from Outkast will be starring as Jimi Hendrix in an upcoming biopic. All Is By My Side is currently in pre-production and is being filmed  in Ireland. The film will be about Hendrix in 1966 & 1967. The film will be Written and directed by John Ridley.

3. NO DOUBT’s New Album

No Doubt, one of my personal favorite bands, has a new album dropping this fall! According to the Hollywood Reporter, September 25th is the magical day! This will be No Doubt’s first album since 2001. After Gwen Stefani’s God-awful solo career, I can only hope she will not have much creative input for this CD.

4. 6 year old LMFAO Fan Suspended…for Sexual Harassment

“I’m Sexy and I Know It”. Pure poetry. The LMFAO song is all over the radio, TV, and the internet. Fun fact, there is a Sesame Street parody that my little nieces love! Is the title lyric alright to say in school, though? According to Guyism, a six-year-old little boy was suspended from school for quoting the tune. The Colorado boy D’Avonte Meadows was in the lunch line at school when he said “I’m sexy and I know it” to a girl in line, which according to the school is an unwelcome sexual advance. Should this little boy be looked at like a perverted monster if he is simply repeating what he heard? Do they think that he even knows what it means? The moral of the story is, if you are going to say you are sexy, take the stick out of your principal’s ass first.

5. Rihanna on SNL

And finally, so unimportant you are probably asking yourself why it is on the music news page, current pop slut Rihanna was recently the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Her elaborate set involved a giant-ass spider-web and lasers. Is she a good enough artist to demand lasers? Regardless, here is a photo:

That’s it for this week’s music news. Join me next week for more melodic shenanigans.

Jack White + Gary Oldman = Awesome Sauce

We at Grizzly Bomb have a collected affinity for one Mr. Jack White. Creative force behind acts such as The Upholsterers, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. He has also worked in some capacity with other musicians like Alicia Keys, The Electric Six, and Insane Clown Posse. That doesn’t even begin to describe his collaborative works industry wide such producing records for country icon Loretta Lynn. So it should come as no surprise when he teams up with someone awesome, but this one takes the cake. This time around Jack is hanging with the one and only Commissioner James Gordon.

White asked Oldman to direct his streaming concert (which happened a couple days ago) and the two seemed to really hit it off. White’s introduction to the famous JFK/Dark Knight/Dracula/Tinker Talior star wasn’t what you’d call conventional, but they both seemed in good spirits after and the result is pretty interesting. Check it out.

Jack White’s New SOLO Album: Blunderbuss – Preview a Sample!

The very talented Jack White is releasing a solo album! I am not sure if I have ever been so excited about anything in my entire life! As sad as that sounds, let me explain. I have always been a big fan of White’s talent. He is an amazing musician in many areas. His voice is remarkably unique and bluesy. His guitar riffs are always chaotic and unpredictable, yet his acoustic sets can be beautifully melodic and soft. Whether it was with The Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, or (my favorite) the White Stripes, he has made an unmistakable impression on the music world.

With this new CD, it seems we will be able to let Jack White out of his cage. No restrictions, no rules.

The CD titled Blunderbuss will be released on April 24th of this year. The album will be released on White’s record label, Third Man Records.

Here is the first sample of his new album: A song called Love Interruption. Prepare yourself for the eargasm.

Jack is also doing a lot of producing for his label. Even actor John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Chicago, Boogie Nights) has a few White-produced singles! – “I’ll Be There If You Ever Want” and “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.” to name a couple.

I will be back shortly after April 24th for an extensive review which I am sure will be full of praise.

New Official Theme Song of GB: ICP’s ‘Leck Mich Im Arsch’

So Detroit’s modern music icon Jack White just produced a song by another group also (unfortunately) from Detroit – the unofficial Faygo spokesmen: the Insane Clown Posse.

ICP, who has maybe the worst collection of human beings on Earth as their core fanbase (the juggalos), has decided to try their hand with some Mozart, and broaden the horizons of their dear ‘hatchet-men’. So they interpreted Mozart’s ‘Leck mich im Arsch‘ to mean ‘Lick my ass‘ and a song was born.

Now, because Jack White endorsed it, I gave it a listen and…

HOLY SHIT – that bell can’t be unrung.

The White Stripes get Thumped. By Themselves.

I am, by no means, a music aficionado. I like what I like and hate most everything else.

A vast majority of my favorite artists are either dead, or long retired. When I go to the bar, my friends complain how sick they are of ‘over-played’ songs which I’ve never even heard. And to those who know me, it’s no surprise that I’d much rather go to the movie theater than to a concert. That being said, there always was one band I really wanted to see live, The White Stripes.