Grammy nominations: Do we care?

​As I was driving in to work today, I was listening to Current DJ Jill Riley and programming director Jim McGuinn rehash the nominations for this year's Grammy Awards, which were announced last night.

"I feel so out of touch," admitted McGuinn, who had only heard a fraction of the Songs of the Year nominees (Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Maxwell's "Pretty Wings," Beyonce's "Single Ladies," Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," and Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me.")

"I know," Riley added. "It's like the Recording Academy thinks that there were only six people who recorded albums this year."
Riley has a point -- many of the categories revisit the same artists over and over again, with Beyonce leading the pack, and artists with a less-than-celebrity status are barely mentioned. Not that any of this is surprising -- much like how mainstream music magazines put the same A-List celebrities on the cover month after month in order to entice readers, music awards shows have always seemed more like self-congratulatory affairs for those that are already famous that they did opportunities for exposing underappreciated talent.

But all of this raises the question: With the Grammy Awards nominees announced last night, does the average Minnesota music fan care? How many of us will actually tune into the show, versus watching the highlight clips of embarrassing celebrity faux pas and outrageous outfits the next day on YouTube?

Over on the Artcetera blog, Jon Bream gives us a rundown of locally-significant Grammy nods, with Brian Setzer, Prince, Dylan, Jonny Lang, and Ann Nesby all up for awards. For the full list of nominations, visit the Grammy website.