Sure, it's the biggest night in music. But while taking home a Grammy Award is for many artists the climax of their careers, for others those golden statues have seriously lost their luster. Face it, Grammy: These artists are just not that into you.
"We just came to relax. We just wanted to watch the show. I don't know what this [award] is. I don't think this means anything." --
Eddie Vedder, biting the hand that awards him during
Pearl Jam's acceptance speech in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance
"You think I give a damn about a Grammy?" --
Eminem, as heard on 2000's '
The Real Slim Shady,' which went on to win Best Rap Solo Performance the following year
"I didn't think they gave the rightful respect to hip-hop. DMX had an incredible album in 1999. He didn't get a nomination. I was like, 'Nah, that's crazy.'" --
Jay-Z, explaining in 2002 why he was a no-show, despite his numerous nominations and wins
"A 50-year-old white man shouldn't decide whether we are relevant or not." --
Pete Wentz, writing online after
Fall Out Boy were overlooked for an award in 2008 (they also lost Best New Artist to
John Legend in 2006)
"Man, f--- the Grammys! I couldn't care less about the Grammy Awards." --
50 Cent, who
has never won a single award despite being nominated 13 times, venting his spleen in 2009
"The Grammys = the old guard/old media propping up their puppets trying to convince the outside world (and each other) they're relevant." --
Trent Reznor, whose group
Nine Inch Nails have been nominated a dozen times and won twice in past years, sharing his opinion via
Twitter on the night the 2010 awards ceremony aired
"The Grammys don't respect country." --
Toby Keith, nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 2006, going public with his opinion in 2010
"This is the pattern of a dying industry ... [It's] probably why we can live in a society and vote people to offices where they don't belong ..." --The
Dream, upset that his album 'Love vs. Money' was overlooked by the committee for 2010
"Does it really matter to us? No. Absolutely not." --
Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert, on the group's 2010 Best New Artist nomination
"I think [Amy Winehouse] has a great talent, but I don't agree with the Grammys giving her those nods." --
Natalie Cole, a former substance abuser herself, disapproving of Winehouse's winning spree in 2008 amidst a "
stupor of drugs"
"I don't think they acknowledge hip-hop for being the true art form that it is." --
Fat Joe, irked to find out on the red carpet that the award for Best Rap Album of 1999, which was won by him and partner Big Pun, was to be given off-camera
1037 Comments