Top 10 Grammy Album of the Year Mistakes

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http://www.411mania.com/music/columns/224592

From Nirvana's Nevermind getting snubbed in favor of Natalie Cole's Unforgettable...with Love to both Eminem and Radiohead losing out to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature and more, 411's Christopher Bell ranks the top 10 Worst Grammy Album of the Year Mistakes!

The List

Well, I was just going to try and write another nice little fluff column praising Grammy song collections. But, you all had your say last week and convinced me that taking a look at where Grammy got it wrong would be more interesting (and surprisingly more difficult). The annual Grammy Awards are enough to make most music fans want to pull their hair out. We've been burned so many times by snubs, sales-driven award winners, and outright crimes of mislabeled genre (I grumble about Dylan's Love & Theft being in the Folk category to this day). At their best, you wonder if the people making these decisions are secretly your parents. At worst, you wonder if they've actually listened to any of the music they are awarding. For that matter, do they listen to any music at all? This week's list obligatory will be taking a closer look at worst all time Grammy decisions in the Album of the Year category.

This one might seem a bit tricky because the listed record is the record that actually won the award, not necessarily the record that should have won. So, I've looked at all of the past winners and matched them up against the other nominated records and (in egregious cases) albums that were completely snubbed for the award. For those snubs, I have tried to take into account a bit of historical thinking. I think it would be a bit demanding to expect the American Recording Industry to have recognized Pink Floyd's debut record, not to mention the litany of underground and indie releases that receive massive critical support only decades after the album was released. In other words, I think Wire was a great band too, but it is unrealistic to have ever expected them to win a Grammy (and I doubt they would have even wanted one). Another important note to consider with snubs is the Academy's extremely discretionary eligibility policy with release dates. Typically, they give themselves the entirety of the previous year and a few months of overlap into the year preceding that. Even with that, with a seemingly strict rule set in place, the 2012 Grammys offered several nominations to a Mumford & Sons record that was released in the spring of 2009. I will be considering records that were released during the year immediately before the award show. So, without further ado, let's get down and dirty with the Grammys' ten biggest mistakes in history.