Instant Grammy Review: David Guetta, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Foo Fighters & Deadmau5 Dance Tribute
Posted by on 02/12/2012 at 11:44 PM Rolling in the Grammys
The Popdust Files: chris brown, david guetta, deadmau5, foo fighters, lil wayne, raise your weapon, rolling in the grammys, rope
Conversation happening around countless water coolers tomorrow:
What was up with that guy with the Mickey Mouse head that played behind the Nirvana guy? My wife told me to turn it down, and all my kids did was make fun of him…
If you’re going to introduce square America to an underground-to-them music form, wouldn’t it make sense to let the music more or less be itself? Consider the 1985 Grammy tribute to the synthesizer: not innovative, totally canned, and yet memorable and cute, because it was fundamentally true to the geek chic of then-cutting-edge Rolands and keytars.
It’s hard to know what was worst about the Grammys’ tribute to EDM: the ’90s-era overuse of glowsticks; the showcasing of a self-satisfied David Guetta essentially spinning a pop tune while pretending to do a whole lot more; the choice to bring back Chris Brown (was this NARAS’s idea of penance?); the incongruity of anti-computer-music dude Dave Grohl playing next to bass-dropper Deadmau5, who didn’t so much “remix” the Foos’ “Rope” as come stumbling into it.
It was a borderline-disaster, guaranteed to satisfy no fan of the music, nor make newbies any smarter. Whatever your opinion on bro-bass-dropper (and Best New Artist loser) Skrillex, he would have at least known how to make EDM both modern and palatable to a network TV audience. Tomorrow morning I think we’ll all respect the guy that much more, for being smart enough to stay the hell away.
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