Grammy Upsets Abound

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 9, 2006 2:38PM

In one of the biggest upsets at last night’s Grammys, one of Chicago’s most talented artists was robbed of the top honors for his stellar work in the past year. As unbelievable as it might seem, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones didn’t win the Grammy for Best Polka Album.

And Kanye West is gonna have a problem too, ya'll.

Unlike last year, we chose not to subject ourselves to the Grammy awards so we’ve been catching up with highlights on the morning news and turning to the dailies for our wrap-up. The full list of winners is here, Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis both run down the show here while Greg Kot and Maureen Ryan check in with notable moments here.

U2 have apparently become the standard-bearers for modern music as they once again dominated the awards, taking home five trophies including both Album and Song of the Year. Mariah Carey and Kanye both grabbed three awards, but the story of the night was more about what they didn’t win as they were favored for Song and Record of the Year, respectively.

Other Chicagoans joining Kanye in the loser’s lounge were Buddy Guy (Contemporary Blues Album), Old Town School’s Ralph Covert (Musical Album for Children), Fall Out Boy (Best New Artist, which is really a blessing in disguise for them) and Common. So it fell to John Prine (for Contemporary Folk Album) and Barack Obama (for the Spoken Word Album titled “John McCain and I: A Love Story”) to bring home the gold for Chicago.

Live performances at the Grammys are usually a mixed bag and last night appears to have been no exception. We assumed Sly Stone was going to be a no-show last night and he turned out to be a sorta-show instead with a brief, mumbled appearance. Kanye and Jamie Foxx did it up “Tusk”-style for “Gold Digger” while Mary J. Blige’s duet with U2 is getting singled out as one of the best performances of the evening.

While we’ve always believed Kanye’s ego overshadows his talent, we’re scratching our heads over his loss in the top three categories. Perhaps the Grammys don’t care for people who talk about people who don’t care about black people?

Image: AP