Grammys 2011: Arcade Fire Beats Lady Gaga And Eminem

BorowitzReport Andy Borowitz
In honor of Arcade Fire's big win, I am killing myself. #Grammys
3 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

That was the most hilarious Twitter tweet of a large number of them in the wake of the conclusion of the 53rd Grammy Awards.

They're still talking about it on Twitter: that an obscure Canadian indy rock band called Arcade Fire could beat Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster and Eminem's Recovery for Album of the Year. Many people had never heard of Arcade Fire, and while The Dan Patrick Show, or more to the point just Dan Patrick, had been promoting the band, this blogger thought it was some kind of paid sponsorship.

Arcade Fire sounds like your typical indy bar cover band. Their music is largely bland and certainly not the soulful, heartfelt music that Eminem and Rihanna created or with the massive dose of creativity of Lady Gaga.

Because The Grammys are just wrapping up on The West Coast, we still have Twitter tweets of shock and anger coming in:

ciruelas_rojas ciruelas by delirie
#EminemGotRobbed #Grammys
2 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

cturnip Christy Turnipseed
Wow #Grammys you really had us, for @arcadefire to play, accept album of the year, then close out the show #thiswasagiven #suckitmainstream
6 minutes ago

VoodooDahl Anders Dahl
Hopefully it will be awhile before we have to hear Lady Antebellum again #grammys
6 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

And Andy Borowitz of The Borowitz Report posted several classic tweets, in addition to the one used to open this blog post:

BorowitzReport Andy Borowitz
I don't see why we'd give a Grammy to a shitty Canadian band when there are so many shitty American ones. #Grammys
3 hours ago

BorowitzReport Andy Borowitz
Good night, everyone. I'm going to go out and shout "Fire" in a crowded arcade. #Grammys
3 hours ago

BorowitzReport Andy Borowitz
BREAKING: Muse Announces Plan to Start Ripping Off Arcade Fire Instead of Radiohead #Grammys
3 hours ago

On top of Arcade Fire, that Lady Antebellum could take Record Of The Year over Eminem and Rihanna was a joke to many, but my 76-year old Mom called it.  She said, in observing a constant stream of white singers placed in position to sing black songs - and in one case with Lady Antebellum screwing up a tribute to Teddy Pendergrass, who died last year at the age of 59 - that The Grammys seemed to want to show whites far more than blacks.

It was an observation I resisted with vigor, but then, after a time of watching that culminated with Mom's epic assertion that "Lady Antebellum" was going to win because they were a country white band and that's what The Grammys wanted - and they won and the Twitterverse erupted - I agreed with.

It's a sad statement on American society that race-biases have to be pushed on the public.  The U.S.A. is far less interested in "which color group wins" than in having the best one get The Grammy.  There's an overwhelming sentiment that didn't happen this year.   Moreover, some in the Grammys may have the perception that the music World is still black vs. white, but that's not so for the country at all.  It's no wonder so many people are unhappy with the Grammys in 2011.

Andy Borowitz has a good point: the Grammys look more Canadian than American. Looking back, it's not the first time The Grammys had a racist look; but can't it stop in the future?

And if you doubt that a number of people think The Grammys is racist, go to Twitter and do a search for "#grammys and racist" and see what you get.

Stay tuned.