The Grammy nominations took the collective breath away from the music blogosphere last night with an amazing roster of artists who, almost without exception* deserve the recognition. Not only is Lil Wayne nominated for album of the year, for instance, but there's no Steely Dan reunion album to steal away that honor from him on the big day: If Coldplay, Ne-Yo, Radiohead or Robert Plant and Alison Kraus win the big award, it'll be hard to cry foul—all of them put out pretty strong records. The list of nominees is littered with deserving talent: Kanye West, M.I.A., Duffy, Leona Lewis, Death Cab For Cutie, Gnarls Barkley, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, T.I., Al Green, etc. It's a hell of a list, a testament to how great of a year 2008 was for pop music from a source so comically out of touch that they gave a jazz tribute to Joni Mitchell the top honor over Kanye West's Graduation this year.
* Yeah, John Mayer is always an exception. He deserves no recognition of any kind. But I'm trying to stay positive here.
