The 2015 Grammys: The Best That Could Be Found On Record.

Kanye West performing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back in the 1960s, before the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences began putting its Grammy awards ceremonies on TV, NBC used to air a yearly music special called "The Best on Record".  It was hosted by Andy Williams or someone like that, and featured performers of Grammy-winning songs that had been awarded weeks earlier.  It should also be noted that rock music was barely acknowledged by the folks at NARAS at that time.

Here in 2015, the Grammys have gone back to the future--sort of.  In a three-and-a-half-hour CBS telecast (hosted by LL Cool J, who's taken over Williams' job as the show's perennial host) that was chock full of performances--most of it consisting of made-for-TV collaborations that seldom made sense--nine awards were handed out, with the rest relegated to non-televised pre-show festivities.  What occurred Sunday in Los Angeles' Staples Center wasn't necessarily the best on record.  It was more like the best that could be found on record, or digital stream.

A fellow named Sam Smith took home four Grammys, including Best New Artist, which was more than any other nominee.  His "Stay With Me" also won for Song of the Year (a songwriters' category) and Record of the Year.  Smith, who could be mistaken for any male crooner with a less-than-distinctive voice, earned his trophies despite the following shortcomings:

• "Stay With Me" sounded an awful lot like Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down".  So much so that Smith was forced to add Petty and Jeff Lynne to the songwriting credits, which was part of a settlement of a copyright dispute.
• Smith was outsung on the Grammy telecast by Mary J. Blige, who did a better job on "Stay With Me" than he did.
• Smith has been mentioned as the "next Adele".  So where is his album full of Number One hits that's been played to death on the radio?  Or his next highly-anticipated project a couple of years from now?  That's a lot of pressure to put on a guy.

One major Grammy not won by Smith (though he was nominated) was for Album of the Year, which went to Beck for "Morning Phase".  Kanye West took great exception to the result, almost storming the stage like he did at the MTV Video Music Awards a few years ago, taking away Taylor Swift's moment of glory in support of Beyonce.  This time, West waited until after the show to unload on the Grammy voters for not recognizing that Beyonce, not Beck, deserved the award.  West is entitled to his opinion, but disrupting someone else's triumph is not cool.  Heck, we didn't even know that Beck had a new album.

As for the performances, they varied in quality depending on your tolerance for them.  A brief rundown on some of them:

• AC/DC, who opened the show, turned out to be the only rockers on the telecast.  Unless you count the Target ad featuring a live performance by Imagine Dragons.
• Lady Gaga hammed it up with Tony Bennett, but she wasn't half bad singing jazz.
• Annie Lennox stole the show from that "Take Me to Church" guy with her rendition of "I Put a Spell On You".
• President Obama and a woman who said she's a domestic abuse survivor brought the proceedings to a screeching halt, urging the rest of us to report bad domestic behavior.  Then Katy Perry sang a song that fit the theme.

Maybe someday, the Grammy Awards will simply stop handing out trophies on TV and reward the winners with a prime-time concert.  Those of us who actually care about who won could go online to NARAS' website to see who did, and spare themselves the task of watching the obligatory Taylor Swift reaction shots to almost anything at all.  Only then will the circle be complete.  "The Best on Record" is back on TV.