The Night They Changed America: The Beatles 50th Grammy show - My Thoughts

I have to say I have a mixed reaction to this Beatles anniversary special they aired last night on CBS. It was weird, stellar, and bad at varying moments.

My biggest complaint (if you've noticed my other posts on here you'll realize I'm no short of complaints - but this is America I can complain all want to so long as the 1st amendment stays intact) was the amount of slush garbage artists they had perform. Now I am of the 90s generation and technically this "my" music but I hate it. There is a massive artistic vacuum in the world right now, especially in mainstream music and this special helps prove my point. I realize that a lot of the artists that the Beatles worked with are either dead or retired or CBS said we'll never get a wide enough viewing audience if we just have older talented people, so we'll have young talentless people messing up on Beatles songs. So, they go and get artists who weren't even alive when the Beatles were together (in fact most probably weren't alive when John Lennon was). Most probably had vague interests in the Beatles or almost didn't know who they were or could just plain care less (do you really think Pharrell McWilliams's favorite album is Rubber Soul ? or LL Cool Jay's loves Starr's solo work ?).

In order to see where this is coming from you have to understand that there is a new head of music award show marketing. Who or where ? I'm not sure. But I know their method. Their method is to get older artists to perform with newer artists. Essentially somewhere along the lines you have to come to the realization that mainstream America is filled with dull minded people who give enormous credibility to people in front of cameras while being broadcast on a box or slab in their living rooms (TVs) and that the products of the mass media manipulation machine are the teenagers in my generation whose musical artistic scope (the majority) isn't beyond the past 10 years and who are as dull as ever and don't expand their minds on anything let alone arstically. My generation tends to be very superficial and thinks that just because you're over 60 and perform music you're undesirable (ask one of them yourself for perhaps a more accurate answer - I don't represent my generation at all). Anyways, this new selling method works both ways in that the older artists get a boost in their record sales from the people who haven't bought them yet (my generation) and the newer artists who suck gain credibility from performing with the older artists and the parents may potentially waste their money on the new music. At least make the collaborations make sense (especially at the Grammys !) and not just haphazardly throw people together who don't even have the same kind of musical background of history. Especially in the context of this Beatles show.

Now, why this was done for the Beatles special I have no clue. The Beatles have a very secure status with my generation (and I can speak for them on that note) and a lot of their collaborators and contemporaries are still alive ! But what was done with this special wasn't needed. First off Maroon 5 trudged their way through All My Loving and actually messed it up. The bass player had no clue what he was doing and I actually got the feeling that this was the first time they'd played real interlocking greatly composed music. Katy Perry "sung Yesterday like it was an American Idol audition" (to borrow a quote from the New York Times) bizarrely stressing each line with a little too much effort and it just sounded so phony. But who I am I to complain when it comes to Dave Grohl literally destroying the drum part to While My Guitar Gently Weeps with meandering brainless thrashing overdone with no soul. This guy should still be practicing in his garage let alone performing at a Grammy awards conducted ceremony (people think this guy has talent ?). Brad Paisley was all over the place with his weak thin shredding type guitar style that lacked massive amounts of melody and real structure (you know the thing that actually kept the Beatles music alive and great !). And one small complaint but why was Tom Hanks there ? I swear the camera showed him more than it did Paul and Ringo. Hey guys remember that moment when Tom Hanks was involved with The Beatles back then ? Neither do I. Eric Idle came out to at least make the show relevant and funny (Monty Python has a way bigger real connection with the Beatles than Sean Penn who hear d Hey Jude in his living room in 1968) in character from his tv movie spoof The Rutles. Which I am positively convinced that no one in the audience except for Paul, maybe Ringo, even got.

What about Paul and Ringo ? Well, Paul is great as usual (now sounding like a pedophile singing about girls who are just 17 and you know what I mean - he should just change the lyrics to "just 18" at least for his age) . Not much to say except that at age 71, soon to be 72, his voice is almost over. He can still hit some good notes (I think he really bottomed out singing the intro to Sgt. Peppers). Ringo comes on and plays the drums for one song (why put too much real effort into it - after all we all know Ringo for being the lead singer of the Beatles that's why he's afraid of the drums now and he feels he needs to work on his singing career and dance around up in front like Bozo the Clown). Allow me to go off on a side note: Ringo has always played duel drums ever since he left the Beatles on every single album and concert - except for some of his more recent albums. But here he really shows what worth his drumming skills are at 73 soon to be 74. The man didn't play one single drum phil or roll leaving all the real work to studio vets, Kenny Aronson and Abe Laborial, Jr. Ringo could've not just played and you wouldn't have noticed. It's pretty sad, considering the fact that the Beatles songs weren't written for two drummers and having two drummers to play a song written for one is almost pointless. I think he's either too weak (powerhouse drumming becomes hell after a certain age) or he just lost it all while partying way too much in the 70s.

To be honest the best high points for me were the interviews and short documentaries in between like the ones with the Ed Sullivan staff and David Letterman interviewing Paul and Ringo. But they kept them too short and focused little on the Ed Sullivan show, which had itself a tremendous impact on American culture at the time, and the overall effect of the Beatles on the world and especially the U.S. Kids today are familiar with crazes like Justin Bieber and Star Wars, but what should've been stressed in their faces was that Beatlemania was bigger and will always be bigger than both of those two phenomenas alive today. I would've just been happy with a documentary on the anniversary then concert performances - the majority of which were lame.

Here is my list of who should've performed. Please notice the relevancy and forget the whole made up world and the meaningless word "famous" (I'm talking to you America, CBS in particular) . Some did perform last night though.
The Rolling Stones (no explanation needed)
The Beach Boys (no explanation needed)
Robben Ford (guitarist/singer who worked with Harrison on his Dark Horse album and only US concert tour of the same name)
Tom Scott (arranger/saxophonist who worked with Harrison on the Dark Horse tour as well as on multiple of his solo albums. He also worked with Ringo and Paul in the studio)
Dhani Harrison
Jeff Lynne
Eric Clapton (hello ???)
Peter Asher (lived with McCartney, sang songs written by Lennon/McCartney, and Paul dated his sister - more relevant than LL Cool Jay)
Neil Innes (knew the Beatles, was in Magical Mystery Tour, and co-created The Rutles)
Sean & Yoko Lennon (they would've been horrible - but more entertaining and relevant than that schmuck who sang In My Life - I mean I thought I sucked at guitar)
Julian Lennon (I guess he died - that's why he wasn't there last night ?)
James McCartney
The Monkees (Dolenz and Nesmith were present at the Sgt. Peppers sessions and Tork worked with Harrison on his Wonderwall soundtrack)
Bob Dylan
Robbie Robertson & Garth Hudson (worked on Ringo's album Ringo and performed live with him)
The Fab Faux (with Paul Schaffer ?) (best Beatles tribute band comprised of top studio musicians - aren't an impersonator band)
Steve Lukather & Peter Frampton (who backed up almost everybody but worked overtime and Frampton didn't get any real notice until Starr pointed him out on stage. Frampton and Lukather have toured numerous times with Starr)
and just about anyone else !

also you could've had people like Klaus Voorman in the backing band or George Martin conduct an orchestra arrangement of a Beatles song (however he's very old now and I know I'm pushing it on that one), but he wasn't in the audience but Tom Hanks was ?????? By the way for all of you Readers Digest fans - Tom Hanks is not the most trustworthy person in America today !!! In fact all of Monty Python should've been there at least in the audience and not Tom Hanks !

And possibly an Ed Sullivan impersonator to host the whole event (that would've been hilarious and more relevant than anything in the world !!!) Notice the word relevant plays a big role in this hyperventilating comment/review. Something that wasn't on the minds of the bureaucratic Grammy award organization last night.

 

Already two threads on this.

 

try posting here:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/beatles-it-was-50-years-ago-today.342896/page-12

 

Did you really need to create a new thread just to regale us with your magnum opus?

Which by the way, I gave up on after plowing through a couple of paragraphs.