I am not a grammy regular or anything, but I do enjoy them when I can. I enjoy what bit I caught of last nights edition. I missed the Police, which I greatly regret, but I did like Ludicriss and Mary J. Blige (missed EW&F in that act), and Christina Aguilara actually did pretty good on the James Brown tribute. I was a littled bothered by the those chosen to sing the Eagle's hits.

One thing that bothered me was the representation of the different eras of Rythm and Blues. I love Smokey Robinson, and I must admit with some embarrassment I enjoyed the dancing on the ceiling era of Lionel Ritchie, but it is interesting that they call what Chris Brown did as R&B. Smokey Lionel Ritchie sang songs that had a great melody, and were beautiful songs. I really enjoyed the music that Chris Brown did, and recognize totally the artistry and talent involved, but if the former examples were R&B, then I see very little of what makes up those great songs happening in Chris Brown's performance. It was mainly if not solely driven by percussion and tempo, with hardly no melody involved.

Rap and Hip Hop are great, and don't need my approval to be recognized as vital musical art forms, but I lament the passing of melody in so much of music today. Even in a lot of rock and pop, it is very much just generic cords with almost monotonal chanting over it. This is seen in bands like the Fray, Snow Patrol, etc. I enjoy this music, and am a fan, but I do miss a melody.