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Grammy's

2K views 42 replies 15 participants last post by  mhammer 
#1 ·
Anyone watch last night? Ya it was bad. Anyways a couple highlights for me; William Bell and Gary Clark Jr., and the guitarist for The Time during the Prince tribute killed it. Metallica had a Mic fiasco...very Spinal Tap.

 
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#2 ·
I saw the Metallica debacle. I didn't care about the mic thing (that sucked though)...but those fake mosh dancers and gaga...no thanks.

That Prince guitarist was a hack, imo. I don't think I've seen a guitarist stick so tightly to one pentatonic scale position in a show of that size.
 
#4 ·
You mean Bruno Mars? Well he's not really a guitar player, obviously, but outside of singing, dancing, and everything else, he also plays drums, and a bit of guitar :)

 
#3 ·
Now, I like Bruno Mars. He's a terrificly talented guy with a great sense of humour. And I'm a HUGE Prince fan ever since 1977 or so. But the Prince "tribute" was lame. It was the funk version of an Elvis impersonator. The fact that he tried to nail Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" solo on his cloud guitar, note for note, was lame, made even lamer by attempting to dress him up like Prince. I was reminded of a roast appearance Jeff Ross made dressed the same way, playing heavily flanged Strat like he was some space-ae Henny Youngman. Mars's earlier number, where he simply got to be himself, was MUCH better. As for Morris Day and Co., well he's just 110% smoove, and nothing can change that. Not time, not TV producers, nuthin.

Gaga seemed to be trying to channel Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics.

Gary Clark held his own, and it was nice to see William Bell up there with him. I miss Stax records.
 
#13 ·
Not really. It's not unusual to use one or more mics on a multi-speaker cab. The normal practice is to use two different mics for variety of choice in the mix. Using two different ribbon mics is quite unusual, and the placement even more so. To be fair, the Shure KSM313 (the red mic) is pretty warm, so maybe they compensated by getting it out towards the edge. I haven't used the other ribbon mic (looks like an Audio Technica), so can't be sure that isn't as dark sounding, although I doubt it.

Hey, it's the Grammy show, so glitz, glamour and shiny white teeth are most important.

Resuming my listening stream of scruffy dudes and dudettes playing "Americana" now......
 
#16 ·
Not really. It's not unusual to use one or more mics on a multi-speaker cab. The normal practice is to use two different mics for variety of choice in the mix. Using two different ribbon mics is quite unusual, and the placement even more so. To be fair, the Shure KSM313 (the red mic) is pretty warm, so maybe they compensated by getting it out towards the edge. I haven't used the other ribbon mic (looks like an Audio Technica), so can't be sure that isn't as dark sounding, although I doubt it.

Hey, it's the Grammy show, so glitz, glamour and shiny white teeth are most important.

Resuming my listening stream of scruffy dudes and dudettes playing "Americana" now......
Outside of what is normal or best practice I actually thought he sounded terrific.
 
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#10 ·
Master of Puppets was played as Megadeth walks to the stage for their grammy.
Kinda awkward sounding coverband version at that.

For all the "Mustaine's an Ahole" stuff I've read, he seemed like a really cool guy in that acceptance speech. And his response on Twitter later "Ah, you can't blame 'em for not being able to play @Megadeth". Perfect.
 
#8 ·
Gaga is a legit superstar. Last week she won the Super Bowl and last night she crushed the Grammy's with Metallica. She's awesome! I'll fight the internet if it says otherwise :)

I thought the Axe-Fx powered Metallica tones were very good all around (everyone is Axe-Fx direct.. except Lars).

Bruno is a pretty great talent as well, but he's no Prince. I don't think he should have done the purple jacket and Cloud guitar thing.. seemed off and wrong.

Taken overall, I thought the Grammy's show was pretty weak. Weaker than recent weak years.

BTW.. what do you think of Gary Clark Jr's mic positions in that picture? Both mics look right on the very outside edge of the cone. Maybe not so odd for thick blues tones?
 
#9 ·
BTW.. what do you think of Gary Clark Jr's mic positions in that picture? Both mics look right on the very outside edge of the cone. Maybe not so odd for thick blues tones?
See my post above.... LOL

Poor placement, but what does it matter for R&R? I didn't see the show, so no idea if the guitar was played live or "mailed in".
 
#14 · (Edited)
I thought gaga was great. She should become a metal singer. I would watch her a lot more. Ed Sheeran's looping was pretty good too. And of course I thought Gary Clarke Junior was awesome. None of those were worth the time spent watching the rest of the crap. I was looking forward to Sturgell Simpson but he was just so so. I've never been a Bruno Mars fan. Adele is just getting old with her start over routine. Lars showed how a professional deals with equipment failure.
 
#18 ·
Good (for me)
Ed Sherian playing solo with looping station and sample triggers
Bruno Marrs (first song)
Katy Perry's song
The TIME!!!
Prince tribute was ok, well done but emotionless.



bad:
Gagatalica. dancers added nothing, The now internet famous mic snub. Might be I just do not like the new album. Just not as good as previous efforts
Keith urban/carrie underwood song. just didn't like the song
Beyonce: The costumes, made me think she was going for an Egyption thing, but the song was horrible. Has she put out anything good since "Single ladies"?
Bee Gee's tribute: Don't know what they were going for but it sounded like a high school for the performing arts musical version of the bee gee's. No groove, no fun.


Pretty much gave up on the show after that.
 
#22 ·
i didn't watch it but i've seen a couple clips...as such...i ask the following:
1. was megadeths grammy at the pre-show, or were the seats really that empty?
2. Mustaine seemed to take Master of Puppets light heartedly...he couldn't freaked RTFO
3. i understand papa het's frustration, but i didn't see the need for him to throw a guitar
 
#23 ·
i understand papa het's frustration, but i didn't see the need for him to throw a guitar
I noticed that too. But I rewatched the clip and noticed, he didn't throw it as if in frustration to destroy something. It looked like he was pissed and just wanted backstage asap, and tossed it off to his tech

Pretty gentle actually, not much anger in the throw
 
#26 ·
Not really all that crazy about Ed Sheeran, but his performance was as good an ad for loopers in performance as one is likely to see. Well, Reggie Watts would probably be better, but Reggie has less popular appeal than Ed, so Ed it is.

Of course it helps to have a song that is highly repetitive. But kudos to him for recovering so quickly from a pre-1:00AM performance the night before on SNL, and holding up his end 22hrs later on the Grammys.

Bruno Mars has had several excellent performances on the Grammys. In 2013, his song-of-the-summer (Locked Out of Heaven), sung with Sting - and the tune IS the best thing the Police have done in 30 years - rocked the joint. The year before, he did a tribute to Jackie Wilson that was an absolute showstopper.
 
#31 ·
Bruno's been in Gretsch ads for a few years. That's not to prove or disprove his guitar abilities, but I think he has quite a few talents besides that.

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There ya go then. When I first heard/saw him I though he was a very good singer with some great Motown moves - a real nod to James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Prince. Then he did his drum solo at the Superbowl and I though that there was more to this guy. Now after his guitar performance at the Grammys (and your posted Gretsch ad) I'll be waiting to catch him on a piano or a saxophone - and I won't be surprised if he nails it.

What a great talent - and I love his humour and humility.
 
#32 ·
While I'm not trying to turn this into a Bruno-mania thread, there is a video posted of him as an Elvis imitator when he seems to be about 5 or 6. He had a lot of the moves even then.

Another Michael Jackson? Not so sure. Certainly VERY capable, and multi-skilled. As much of a one-man show as Prince himself? Nah. But capable. Maybe he needs to pair up with someone equally capable, the way that Jackson and Quincy Jones paired up. For the time being, I'll just chalk up the ill-conceived Prince "tribute" to some Grammy producer, rather than to Mars himself. I imagine several years from now, he'll likely say in an interview that he thought it was dumb, but simply went along with it.
 
#34 ·
My own comment was not in regards to his "career success", as measured by sales and popular appeal. He's had that nicely wrapped up for a while, thank you very much. My comment was much more with respect to his creative vision.

Had Jackson been left to his own devices, or simply worked with Motown, I don't think he would have had the creative and genre-changing output that he had because he worked with Jones. Mars is entirely capable of making music that pleases people. Could he do something all by himself that transcends, that changes the industry, the yields a new direction? Not so sure. SOME folks can work on their own, in a bubble: Prince, Zappa, for example. Others need a muse or co-worker to bounce ideas off of, the way that David Byrne and Brian Eno, or Bowie and any of his collaborators did. Not to take anything away from Mars, Bowie, Byrne, or Jackson. But it's just like the relationship between a great writer and a great editor. Sometimes, artists go one better by working with someone else who can say "What if you tried this instead?". Not in a mindless way, like some girl group doing whatever Phil Spector tells them, but in a synergistic collaborative way, where both parties stumble onto something new, through their mutual efforts.
 
#39 ·
My own comment was not in regards to his "career success", as measured by sales and popular appeal. He's had that nicely wrapped up for a while, thank you very much. My comment was much more with respect to his creative vision.

Had Jackson been left to his own devices, or simply worked with Motown, I don't think he would have had the creative and genre-changing output that he had because he worked with Jones. Mars is entirely capable of making music that pleases people. Could he do something all by himself that transcends, that changes the industry, the yields a new direction? Not so sure. SOME folks can work on their own, in a bubble: Prince, Zappa, for example. Others need a muse or co-worker to bounce ideas off of, the way that David Byrne and Brian Eno, or Bowie and any of his collaborators did. Not to take anything away from Mars, Bowie, Byrne, or Jackson. But it's just like the relationship between a great writer and a great editor. Sometimes, artists go one better by working with someone else who can say "What if you tried this instead?". Not in a mindless way, like some girl group doing whatever Phil Spector tells them, but in a synergistic collaborative way, where both parties stumble onto something new, through their mutual efforts.
Sure, I get that. His latest solo effort was, to put it mildly, boring. But he's had a really steady stream of smart, funny and heartfelt songs for a while now, so I can see the potential for a little bit of a dip. His work with Ronson on Uptown Funk was very strong. Ronson has been a hitmaker for a while now and was one of the reasons why Amy Winehouse was so successful. I could see him teaming-up with Ronson again, but it would be hard to top Uptown Funk. I heard Beck is going to be working with Greg Kurstin again - that could be a good partner for Bruno, who seems to want to cross genres as much as possible, rather than stay firmly a R&B/Soul guy.

Yes he has. I've been enjoying his music and talent since he first hit the scene years ago. What I meant by "go far" was that I feel he won't merely continue spittin out hit songs. I feel he will become a major player and innovator/game changer in music. Really, he's just getting started and look at him go. He's got it all and he knows what to do with it.
Agreed. He's only 31, and already has a lot of credentials.
 
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