Proper Song of the Day: End of the Road
We haven’t done a Proper Song of the Day in a while (truth be told, we haven’t done much around here in a minute…we’re working on some things, so forgive us). There’s no telling if we actually would have thrown these daily songs in the can, but then the Grammys proved why the music industry is in the toilet, and we felt obliged to keep the good times rolling. Your radio won’t drop the good stuff, or the oldies but goodies, so Proper Talks is to the rescue!
Now truth be told, I’m a sucker for award shows but last night was abysmal right? I’m not even a fan of Radiohead but they (out of alllll of that star power) were the highlight of last night’s show, and not because they shared the stage with the Trojan Marching Band…we like that though.
Last night was full of bad collaborations: Miley Cyrus & Taylor Swift, Ne-yo, Jamie Foxx, Smokey, and that other guy from the Four Tops, and for some God awful reason, Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers. All I want to know is who tricked Stevie into okaying the Jonas Brothers’ rendition of “Superstitious?” So not cool!
But the MAJOR FAIL of the night was that Rev. Al Green collabo with Justin Timberlake. Don’t get me wrong, I love the blue-eye soul but really Grammy people, Timberlake was the best you could come up with to pay tribute to thee REV. AL GREEN?! And to make things worse you have BOYZ II MEN sing background?
Background!
They were actually nominated last night. Not for anything new-new, but still I would have loved to see Boyz II Men front and center and I’m not even that huge of a fan of the group. When I was little they had too many songs that made me cry and I preferred to listen to stuff I had no business listening to, like Bootsy Baby!
Still, Boyz II Men should not have been singing background to JT. I’m thinking the boyz are short on dough to have agreed to that deal, and I did catch them on that Wayne Brady show awhile back where you have to guess the lyrics, but times couldn’t possibly be singing background to Al Green rough.
They’ve gone from the most successful Male R&B group of all time to watching JT strut with one of the greatest of all time. The Grammys once showed them major love for one of their greatest hits, “End of the Road,” giving them two awards for the single, but now it seems they’ve finally reached the end, for real. If somebody would have let them perform for real at the Grammys they could have sang about it! Thank God for YouTube.
Boyz II Men “End of the Road” circa 1992.
Tags: Al Green, Boyz II Men, Grammys 2009, Jamie Foxx, Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Ne-Yo, Proper Song of the Day, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift
February 10th, 2009 at 00:50
First, I’d like to clarify that Boyz II Men were nominated for TWO Grammy Awards. The other was given out during the pre-telecast show, ironically enough, to Al Green.
The Boyz are by no means ’short on dough’ as you put it! They agreed to ‘that deal’ because that’s just the kind of humble and professional artists that they are. They have always been a class act; ready and willing to place their egos aside for the sake of the greater good. They were asked to step in and perform at the last minute and that’s just what they did and I would expect nothing less of them. Having been fortunate enough to meet them on several occasions, I have experienced their humble and down-to-earth nature in person.
I am certainly not surprised that they went along with the idea. What surprises me is that the Academy would have the gall to even put them in that position to begin with. Initially, being the die hard fan that I am, I was outraged at the sight of them singing background vocals. With a little time to cool off, I began to see the logic in the arrangement. They are a group, after all, and their amazing harmonies took the performance to another level. So in that sense, they were the perfect choice to fill the position of background singers. It also didn’t hurt that they knew all the lyrics, considering they did a cover of the song for 2004’s ‘Throwback’ album. My guess is that the Academy proposed the idea knowing full well that, based on their stand-up reputation, Boyz II Men would gladly step in to help out and not make a big stink over it. Had we been talking about another act (Kanye West comes to mind), they wouldn’t even bother asking!!! I know, cheap shot… but soo true! ;D All in all, I think the performance turned out very nicely. Us loyal Boyz II Men fans were once again reminded of why we love and respect Nate, Shawn and Wan so dearly; not only as incredibly talented performers, but as human beings.