Wallen's Grammy Snub

"Morgan Wallen Will Not Submit Latest Album for Grammys Consideration - The country singer became the latest major artist to abandon the awards, declining to enter his chart-topping fourth album, "I'm the Problem," for the 2026 ceremony."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/arts/music/morgan-wallen-grammys.html

I've got a bug up my ass about the Grammys. It seems the only people who take the awards seriously are those who need the accolades to justify their work, so they can put it on their Wikipedia pages so we can be impressed.

I'm not.

What makes me further crazy is when obituaries mention winning or nominations for Grammys. As if that evidences a level of status. Will people think less of Morgan Wallen in the future because he does not have a slew of Grammys?

Now I can understand Black artists complaining about racism. Unfortunately, it's true. But the kind of person who is motivated to join the organization, who's got the inclination and the time to vote, tends to be not plugged into the top line of the music business, where Black artists oftentimes dominate. It's a divide as wide as Beverly Hills and Compton. No one in Beverly Hills even drives through Compton, they're too scared, and when Comptonites come into Beverly Hills all the whites are on guard, with their hands on their purses and wallets.

As for Morgan Wallen...

This is another reason Trump got elected, under the rubric of free speech. Yes, Wallen employed the N-word, but it was clear that he was drunk and using it in a way evidenced in Black culture, he was imitating the rappers and their videos as opposed to making a racist comment.

I know, I know, you absolutely can't use the N-word, and I agree, I give Wallen no pass, but does he have to be a pariah forever? Can he never be let out of jail?

Not that Wallen himself probably cares. But when the biggest recording artist in America is snubbed by an award-granting organization...what does that say?

Actually, this is rock star behavior from the old school. From when the Grammys were irrelevant and the musicians showed up for events in their everyday streetwear instead of tuxedos. Now it's techies who do that. Because the techies believe they're above the rest of us, whereas the musicians are all subservient...to the organization, to the corporation, to the BUCKS! God, a techie will speak truth before a musician. Ain't that sad.

I don't want to defend Wallen the man. Throwing that chair off the roof. But back in the seventies antics like this were celebrated. And you wonder why men are neutered.

Let me try to thread the needle here. There's no reason Wallen should have thrown that chair, but the constant pressure to behave drives men nuts. They feel neutered. Do you really expect them to vote for Kamala who is in bed with all those strident women?

WHEW! "Strident"?

It's kind of like the troops in D.C. I don't believe Trump should have brought in forces, but now even Maureen Dowd has gone on record that there's a crime problem in D.C. We can't be so busy being politically correct that we ignore the problem.

And the Grammys are a politically correct organization run by small men drunk with power. It's like those short men who become policemen. They want to get back at all the bullies, and the Grammy gatekeepers want to get back at all those acts they see as no-talents who get all the money and attention. Who'd want part of that? Not Wallen.

He's put out one monster album after another and all we hear about is Taylor Swift and the circle jerk of friendship bracelets. But Wallen is more dominant in recordings and sells out stadiums too! But that doesn't mean anything to the arbiters of decorum. Wallen is on the wrong side. He's always on the wrong side. Nothing he can do can satiate those who hate him in principle. A hick from nowhere with an accent who dominates all the charts? Screw him, WE'RE GOING TO TEACH HIM A LESSON!

The Grammys are like the school administration, lording it over you. You can't wait until you graduate and are done with them. God, if I think about all the things teachers said to me in my schooling. They wanted to break me, rub off the rough edges, make me just like them, AND WHO ARE THEY?

Yes, I've got a problem with organizations. But when it comes to art...

Then again, we can't even have a legitimate chart in the music business. They weigh physical more than streams and it's all ridiculous. And unlike the manipulators of the game, Wallen isn't releasing endless vinyl variations of his albums to maintain his chart position, in his case, THE MUSIC IS ENOUGH!

Think about that... You don't see Wallen boasting that he's number one. He's going on none of the victory laps seemingly every other successful artist does today. He hasn't gone Hollywood... No wonder people hate him, he's not doing it their way!

And let's say he didn't utter the N-word and didn't throw that chair, what are the odds any of his projects would have gotten Album of the Year? ZILCH! We don't give that to hicks playing that music... We need to give the award to respectable people, like Herbie Hancock.

Now don't e-mail me trying to justify the Grammys, I don't care. The bottom line is an artist is an outsider who questions precepts, not someone who drinks the kool-aid to get along. You become an artist because you want to avoid the rules, not play by them!

If the Grammys had balls, and it doesn't, they would give Wallen a special award during the telecast. Acknowledge the level of his success.

But no, they can't do that... Once again, there are rules. He didn't submit, so he's out.

No, you messed with him and it's your move. Why don't you do the right thing? Don't expect him to show up for the award, don't even invite him, just do it.

Or maybe we just give Grammys to everybody. That's another thing that pisses me off about the organization. There are nearly a hundred categories, if you can't get nominated you don't make music. The awards become meaningless.

If Michelle Obama can win a Grammy, and Bill Clinton too (well, at least he played the saxophone)... What do the two of them have to do with music, other than having ears to listen?

You could whittle the categories down to just the majors, like the Brits, but then the rank and file would complain, they need to win their Grammys, what about them?

And isn't that exactly the point???


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