A News Flash For You - the Grammys Just May Be a Bit Off-Base

Looking over the list of nominees and winners from last night's 51st Annual Grammy Awards, I'm struck not only by the hit-or-miss, even somewhat haphazard collection of artists featured there but also by the appearance of several still-active '80s artists. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I must say I have a hard time believing that nearly one-third of the nominations in the rock category were snagged by artists active for most of the past three decades.

Let me put it another way: Out of all the hard rock releases of the past year, is it really plausible that releases from Metallica, Judas Priest, Rush and Motley Crue all truly belong on the short list? If the history of arts and entertainment has taught us anything, it's that most artists and authors enjoy a very limited period of peak performance, usually toward the beginning of their careers. A few exceptions inevitably allow a select group to produce at a level of excellence for multiple decades, but I can't get past the feeling that in this case some of these nominations sprang wholly from reputation and past accomplishments rather than broad evaluation of music based on merit. Surely there are enough talented and significant hard rock equivalents to Coldplay, Radiohead and Kings of Leon to go around, right? Of course, it is possible that I could be wrong, perhaps this once...