Diamonds are Forever

Eugene Robinson has an interesting take in today's WaPo on why Kanye West may have been "snubbed" at the Grammy's. At one point he does make mention of Kanye's "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comment and how that may have played into the Album of the Year voting, but I doubt that. Practically speaking, how many people in the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences would really be that offended by a George Bush slur?

But for whatever reason Kanye didn't win even though I think his album was far and away the best of those nominated. (And as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am not a hip-hop guy but...) One of the things that might make the Grammy's more relevant than the mere "Nielsen Event" that it is would be to focus not so much on what was fleetingly popular at the moment, but what really stood out that year with some staying power. Take a look at that list of Grammy winners in the previous post. How many of those albums have real staying power?

Thriller and Joshua Tree I am convinced will live on as landmark albums well into the future. Hell, they already have so far. Graceland to some extent as well although I doubt you'll ever hear anything other "You Can Call Me Al" on the radio. Anyway, I think the Kanye album could be one of those. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, not so much.