With 83 categories, the Grammys have plenty of opportunities for surprises. Here are some prime examples of wins that were surprising — and in a few cases, downright bizarre.
1. Beck’s ‘Morning Phase’ took Album of the Year in a mild upset over Sam Smith’s ‘In the Lonely Hour.’ The third time was the charm for Beck, who had been nominated in the category twice before.
2. Comedy rock duo Tenacious D won for Best Metal Performance, beating some of the biggest, actually legitimate bands in the genre: Anthrax, Mastodon, Motörhead, and Slipknot. Tenacious D consists of guitarist (and actor) Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass. They won for “The Last in Line,” a track from the tribute album ‘Ronnie James Dio — This Is Your Life.’
3. Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” won as Song of the Year, even though its writers were forced to share credit on the song with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, the writers of a similar 1989 song, “I Won’t Back Down.” The weird part: Neither Petty nor Lynne has ever won a songwriting Grammy.
4. Malcolm-Jamal Warner has yet to receive an Emmy nomination for his TV work (despite having played Theo for eight seasons on the top-rated ‘The Cosby Show’), but he is now a Grammy winner. He won for his featured role on Robert Glasper Experiment’s “Jesus Children,” which was voted Best Traditional R&B Performance. Warner has been quietly building a music career for two decades. (Warner’s former boss, Bill Cosby, has won nine Grammys for his comedy albums.)
5. Swedish hit maker Max Martin won as Producer of the Year (Non-Classical). But, oddly, none of the hits he produced won in their categories. His 2014 hits, all of which were shut out, included Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” (featuring Juicy J), Ariana Grande’s “Problem” (featuring Iggy Azalea), and the Jessie J/Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj smash collabo “Bang Bang.”
6. Four years ago, Christina Aguilera teamed with household name Maroon 5 for “Moves Like Jagger.” The smash was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance but didn’t win. Last year, Aguilera teamed with the then-all-but-unknown A Great Big World for “Say Something.” The hit won for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Which proves the Grammys aren’t just about name power.
7. “Drunk in Love” by Beyoncé featuring Jay Z won two Grammys: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Little Big Town’s “Day Drinking” was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Did anybody keep track of how many ads for booze there were on the Grammy telecast?
8. Kendrick Lamar’s “I,” which borrows heavily from the Isley Brothers’ 1973 smash “That Lady,” won two awards: Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. The weird part: The Isleys’ classic wasn’t even nominated for a Grammy.
9. Rosanne Cash won three awards for her album ‘The River & the Thread’ and its song “A Feather’s Not a Bird.” The weird part? Her father, country legend Johnny Cash, never had such a big Grammy night. He took home two awards twice, in 1969 and 1970.
10. Ziggy Marley’s ‘Fly Rasta’ won for Best Reggae Album. It was his sixth win in the category. The weird part? His legendary father, Bob Marley, never won a Grammy in competition. (The Grammys didn’t have a category for reggae until 1984, three years after Bob Marley’s death.)
11. Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun” won for Best Rock Song. The weird part? The group’s performance of the song wasn’t even nominated for Best Rock Performance (though it was eligible). And here I thought they did a good job on it!
12. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga shared a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album for their collabo ‘Cheek to Cheek.’ This is the sixth time Bennett has beat Barbra Streisand in this category. Streisand, a Grammy legend if there ever was one, hasn’t won a Grammy in 28 years. That’s closing in on Meryl Streep’s losing streak at the Oscars, where she went 29 years between awards. What does Babs have to do to win one of these things?
13. A movie about unheralded background singers beat films by chart-topping pop and rock megastars to win Best Music Film. ’20 Feet From Stardom’ took the prize, besting films by Beyoncé & Jay Z, Coldplay, Metallica, and Pink.
14. With her eponymous fifth album, St. Vincent became just the second female solo artist to win for Best Alternative Music Album. The first was Sinéad O’Connor.
Paul Grein, Writer
https://www.yahoo.com/music/this-year-s-most-surprising-c1423462189980.html
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9 POPULAR SONGS THAT DON’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK
Pretty in Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
Due to the success of the 1986 film, many people associate the song “Pretty in Pink” with a misunderstood girl looking for love.
John Hughes even created the movie and based Molly Ringwald’s character around the tune. However, the lead singer of The Psychedelic Furs says he got it dead wrong.
“The song was about a girl who kinda sleeps around, and thinks it’s really cool and thinks everybody really likes her, but they really don’t,” he told Mojo magazine.
“She’s just being used. It’s quite scathing.”
Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler
The song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is a beautiful ballad about everlasting love, right? Well, kinda.
The song’s writer Jim Steinman told Playbill, “with Total Eclipse of the Heart, I was trying to come up with a love song and I remembered I actually wrote that to be a vampire love song.
If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love’s place in dark…
Blackbird – The Beatles
The lyrics of “Blackbird” are rather ambiguous, but the true meaning was actually inspired by racial oppression in the 60s.
Paul McCartney claims that: “I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States.”
Harder to Breathe – Maroon 5
Many of the songs from Maroon 5 debut album are inspired by a former lover of Adam Levine’s. The band’s first hit single “Harder to Breathe” was actually written about a different stressful relationship; the one between the band and their label.
“That song comes sheerly from wanting to throw something,” Levine told MTV. “It was the 11th hour, and the label wanted more songs.
It was the last crack. I was just pissed. I wanted to make a record and the label was applying a lot of pressure, but I’m glad they did.”
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