I guess I should preface this by seeing that I did not watch the Grammy's. All of this is based on various other sources surrounding the show, so if some of the facts are wrong, that would be why.
That being said, the main reason that I didn't watch it is because the Grammy's usually showcase what is wrong with music. The "music" that usually wins most major awards shows almost no musical talent. It is heavily synthesized sound that is paired with vocal tracks that are so auto-tuned that they cannot be performed live because the vocalist cannot mimic the original sound of the recording. This year saw a departure from that, though. For once, someone who actually has musical talent won the most awards. Although I admit, I am getting a bit tired of hearing Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," it is an amazing song. It makes me a bit sad that there are people that are getting angry because [insert hip-hop/R&B artist here] didn't beat her for awards. She is perhaps one of the best pure singer of recent times. Sure she doesn't fit the visual archetype of a pop singer (wafer thin and plastic) and she doesn't have the "performance art" that some other acts use, but this just lets her voice shine through.
What performances I did see cemented one thing in my mind: a truly great musician doesn't need to have some gimmick in order to enhance their performance. This could be seen with Adele; the Foo Fighters; and the closing ensemble of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, et al. They stopped on stage without any fancy costumes or huge performance enhancement techniques like stockades, a screen showing what I assume passes through the brain of someone on a mix of LSD and cocaine, or 30 backup dancers. Instead they did what music should actually be about. They played their instruments and sang live and let the music be the focus of their performance. Too many performers (Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, et al) rely on some grand stage show and image in order to gain fans. In the past, acts like Marilyn Manson, Kiss, and Alice Cooper were criticized for this kind of behavior. Why is it now acceptable?
And please, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, don't call lip-synching to pre-recorded synthetic noise "live music." You aren't faking any intelligent people out by lip-synching. When your lips are moving and an auto-tuned voice is heard, we know what's actually going on. That goes for Adam Levine, too. I don't hate Maroon 5 necessarily, but Levine being a judge on The Voice and critiquing people for their live singing voice is a bit hypocritical after tonight. He was basically making out with the mic so we couldn't tell whether or not he was synced with his pre-recorded vocals. This just made it look like he never opened his mouth during the entire song.
Also, are the Grammy's trying to appeal to hipsters to get them to watch? Last year it was The Arcade Fire, and this year it's Bon Iver. The best part is that nobody wins when this happens, except for people who like true irony. Non-hipster viewers are mad because they have no idea who the artist is. Hipsters don't watch the Grammy's because they are too cool. The Grammy's lose viewers because the hipsters don't watch, and non-hipsters might stop watching. And the artists lose their audience because now that they are "mainstream," hipsters stop listening.
TL;DR: Fuck the Grammy's.
