GRAMMY Awards Archives - Haulix Daily

Honestly, does the opinion of GRAMMY voters and event producers really bother you?

The GRAMMY awards aired last Sunday, which means people everywhere have spent the week discussing and debating the night’s most significant moments. Did you see Tyler The Creator setting the stage on fire? Did you predict Billie Eilish would sweep the night’s biggest awards? Were you blown away by Tanya Tucker’s performance? All of these are great questions about must-see moments that music fans will celebrate for the foreseeable future.

As with every awards show for every area of entertainment, the GRAMMYS also created a lot of discussion for the corners of the industry that didn’t receive very much attention on music’s biggest night. Specifically, rock and metal fans were largely left feeling underserved. Though there were a handful of performances highlighting the most easily accessible rock talent, including Gary Clark Jr. and legendary rock band Aerosmith, the genre awards and their recipients were relegated to the pre-show stream.

Because of this, as well as the fact that rock and metal artists made up less than 10% of the night’s performances, people are once again claiming ‘rock is dead.’

Here’s a counter-point: No, it’s not.

Rock and metal have been declared dead more times in the last decade than anyone can count. I would go as far as to say critics have proclaimed the death of rock more times than any other genre, and every time they are proven wrong by a cavalcade of talented young artists. Rock is alive in virtually every city on the planet, and every night of the week, countless rock and metal artists are performing in bars, clubs, etc.

The GRAMMY awards cater to the largest audience possible using the biggest names in music to lure in viewers who otherwise could care less what some unseen panel of judges thinks of music. Except for a few performances, the vast majority of talent on the GRAMMY stage plays in regular rotation at every top 40 radio station. Rock and metal don’t live on those stations anymore, at least not in a significant way, so it makes sense that we don’t see the biggest bands in the genre performing on the awards show stage.

On the rare occasions when rock acts do play, the same people who claim rock is dead are the first to complain that those groups don’t correctly represent the genre. Unless Tool or Slipknot or Killswitch Engage takes the stage, the scene’s biggest critics (and self-proclaimed biggest fans) will be upset.

And let’s be even more honest: Not all rock and metal bands sound great when they do appear on television. For every show-stopping performance, there are big-name groups whose late-night and awards appearances don’t work due to mixing and production issues. Remember when The Blood Brothers were on TV? Slipknot managed to pull it off on Kimmel last year, but Cory’s vocals were largely lost in the mix.

Here’s the thing: You don’t really care about who does or does not appear at the GRAMMYs. That cannot possibly be true. You fell into rock and metal for all the reasons everyone else does, which includes the sense of rebellion that lives at its core. Rock and metal, especially current iterations of the genres, were never meant for mass consumption. These genres represent boundary-pushing artistic expression that doesn’t shy away from tough topics or tough emotions. It’s outlaw music made for people sick of the system and the oppression they feel while trying to live their lives. The bands rock and metal fans treat like Gods are the same groups who openly loathe corporate events like the GRAMMY awards, so again, why would anyone care that the GRAMMYs don’t recognize them?

Furthermore, if you want to point the finger at people hurting rock music, you need to look first and foremost at the gatekeepers responsible for new music discovery. Do you know why pop and hip-hop continue to thrive while rock music is written off as dated or dead? It’s because the radio stations and entertainment pillars promoting those areas of music follow the lead of their listeners, especially young music fans. When a song takes off online in the realm of hip-hop, radio programmers do everything in their power to get that artist into rotation at their local station. That does not happen for rock bands. Their best hope is Sirius Octane or a single night of play in some ‘new music contest’ hosted by a radio station seeking to fill time in between “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Enter Sandman.”

Rock is very much alive. There has probably never been more rock and metal artists actively recording and touring than there are right now. I receive at least five new rock records in my inbox every single day of the week, and it has been that way for years. There is no shortage of talent, and there is no shortage of fans eager to hear the next song or group that will change their life. Do mainstream audiences care as much as it once did? No, and it may take some time before it does again, but that doesn’t devalue the talent or fans that currently exist.

And if you want rock and metal to become a more important topic of conversation in pop culture, then the fans and aging institutions that support those genres need to evolve. We need to celebrate young artists and appreciate the legends who came before instead of doing the opposite. We need to separate classic rock from modern rock in a meaningful way so that newer artists have a better chance of achieving legendary status. We need to look inward and destroy our pre-conceived notions of what makes a rock or metal band great so that we might be open to the next genre-pushing talent that arises. We need to change, plain and simple, and we need to stop expecting the biggest names in entertainment to make those changes for us.

The GRAMMYs don’t matter. At least, not as much as consumer dollars. Vote with your wallet and support the talent that matters to you. Tell your friends about the artists you love, and invite them to go to concerts. Be the influencer you wish your local radio station or favorite blog would be for the talent you enjoy. Please do your part and do it to the best of your ability. If we all do that, then maybe — just maybe — we will see the focus of pop culture shift in rock’s favor. It also may not, but that’s okay because it doesn’t really matter in the first place.

When I was younger I watched the Grammys every year with awe, rooting for my favorites and even imagining myself as a nominee some day, walking up to the stage to accept my golden award. A singer/songwriter can dream, can’t she? Year after year I surrendered to the glitz and glam, the eccentric performances, and the fantasies of one day holding my very own Grammy, seemingly the most prestigious award in the music community, proving to the world: I have made it!

Time ticked by and I threw myself completely and happily into my career in music and throughout the years, reality carried me on miles of touring, hours in studios, and the day-to-day duties of running my own business. As I lived my dreams, I gradually watched the almighty Grammy show less and less, even outright boycotting it one year, resigning to the fact that a Grammy was meant only for the superstars of the world, which I would never be, nor was striving to be—an unrealistic goal and intangible dream. It was best to stick to my middleclass place of blood, sweat, and tears, I thought—working hard to make ends meet: the real music business. Real life was traveling, singing my songs, connecting with people—not the life we saw projected so disingenuously dazzling on TV.

Then one day, short of a year ago, a fellow musician invited me to a networking mixer at a local bar, hosted by the San Francisco Recording Academy chapter. Having been hibernating in the studio finishing up my new album, I thought it was a good idea to get out and meet people in the local music scene. I ended up seeing a lot of people I knew, as well as making new friends. I learned that the mixer was actually an after-party for the San Francisco chapter’s Music Business Night School, a weekly series of panels that they host every year with professionals presenting topics pertinent to the music business. I hadn’t known this program existed and the more conversations I had, the more I realized that I hardly knew anything about the Recording Academy and in fact, the Grammys was just one thing out of many that the Academy is responsible for—it’s the highest profiled event, so it’s what most people are familiar with. I learned that the Academy is made up of 12 chapters around the country, and I even knew some of the board members. They were musicians and local professionals I had met over the last few years—my peers. Suddenly, the elusive and impervious Recording Academy had faces—familiar faces—and I was instantly less intimidated by the connotations of its title. One of the board members, who I had incidentally met years ago when we both played with the same drummer, encouraged me to go online and read about the San Francisco chapter and apply to become a member. I read that their mission is “to advance artistic and technical excellence, work to ensure a vital and free creative environment, and act as an advocate on behalf of music and its makers.” [www.grammypro.com]. I applied and became a voting member of the Recording Academy, which was actually empowering and fulfilling, knowing that I had a voice in the biggest honor in the music industry: the Grammy!

I met a lot of new people, members of the Academy, independents just like me, in all genres: singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, engineers, both in my local chapter and, thanks to the Internet and touring, other chapters too. And then came the forever-mind-changing nugget of knowledge that slapped me in the face: some of these indie artists have been nominated for a Grammy, and some are even Grammy winners! After a moment of stunned wonder, I connected the two dots: If they can do it, I can do it. In other words, you don’t have to be a megastar to win a Grammy after all. It’s possible for an indie musician too.

This all occurred during submission season and since my new album, Follow Your Heart, had just been released, my fellow members recommended that I submit my new music for the Grammys. With help and support, I did just that and as it turned out, the two songs I submitted were accepted onto the initial voting ballot. I was so excited and proud, and this was another stepping stone to unburying a once improbable dream hidden away—a mirage that turned out to be real after all.

During voting season, I saw the amount of hard work that eligible indies who had their music on the ballot for consideration did to get their music heard, in order to gain more exposure with the hope of achieving enough votes for recognition with a nomination. I learned and networked a lot, and made some amazing friendships in the process. And when the official nominations were announced, I barely gave a moment’s grief to not being on that list as I was so profoundly excited to see some of the names of people and albums I had grown to know and love, and some I had voted for in black ink myself.

It was a sensational whirlwind attending my first Grammy awards show this year. After a week of pre-parties, concerts, and networking events, I got all dressed up in support of music’s biggest night and saw some of my new nominated friends accept their first Grammy at the pre-televised awards show (where the majority of Grammys are presented before the televised edition). When their names were called, it felt like a win for all of us indies in a way. Their Grammy-seeking journey, all the way up to the big win, is nothing short of a massive inspiration to the indie nation and most definitely sends a clear message: It is possible.

I’m still trying to navigate my way as a new member of the Recording Academy, but so far it has been a motivating and educational experience. In recent news, the Academy has announced the Grammy Creators Alliance, with initiatives to advocate for music creators’ rights, an effort in fact for the working musician. I don’t know if I’ll ever be nominated for a Grammy, but I can say that I’m grateful for discovering a whole community of like-minded music professionals that I now have access to, and this experience has given me a sweet reminder, as it should for all artists, signed or unsigned: don’t be afraid to dream big.

Katie Garibaldi is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter, who released her seventh album, Follow Your Heart, in the summer of 2014. It is her first full-length release of all new compositions since her award winning Next Ride Out in 2009. The album, produced by Garibaldi, was recorded at John Vanderslice’s world-famous Tiny Telephone Recording Studios in San Francisco, CA, and was engineered by Ian Pellicci. It features some of Garibaldi’s most personal songs, and includes performances by notable musicians, including the Magik*Magik Orchestra. Brent Black of criticaljazz.com calls Follow Your Heart, “Americana music that transcends genre and geographic location,” in his five-star review of the album.