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Ah, the Grammys, the black sheep of the award show family. In recent years, producers have realized that all anyone who tunes in wants to see are musical performances, so they’ve wisely added more songs and fewer retrospectives. It’s a slight step toward watchability, because as is, the Grammys aren’t as “IMPORTANT” as the Oscars or as drunk and goofy as the Golden Globes; they’re somewhere in the oft-boring middle. Which is why many famous artists have taken potshots at them over the years (also, because they’re not good at picking nominees).
Here are some famous examples.
1. Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder
It’s not that Eddie Vedder hates the Grammys (Ticketmaster on the other hand…). It’s more, he’s completly apathetic toward them, as he proved in his acceptance speech for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996. Warning that he’s about to say something “typically me,” Vedder commented, “I have no idea what this means. I don’t think this means anything.” Then he brought up his dead dad, before adding, “Thanks, I guess,” which is how all award speeches should end.
2. Jay-Z
“I didn’t think they gave the rightful respect to hip-hop.” That’s what Jay Z had to say about “music’s biggest night” in 2002, adding, “It started that they didn’t nominate DMX that year. DMX had an incredible album. He didn’t get a nomination. I was like, ‘Nah, that’s crazy.'” This was three years after his first boycott, when he wrote in a statement, “Rappers deserve more attention from the Grammy committee and from the whole world. If it’s got a gun everybody knows about it; but if we go on a world tour, no one knows.” Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life won Best Rap Album that year.
3. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor is like Eddie Vedder, if Eddie Vedder had rabies. The Nine Inch Nails frontman called the Grammys “an utter waste of time” after his performance with Queens of the Stone Age, Lindsey Buckingham, and Dave Grohl got cut off by airline commercials, leading to the following ZING of a tweet: “Music’s biggest night…to be disrespected. A heartfelt F*CK YOU guys.” Reznor would later tell the Hollywood Reporter, “Having won a couple Grammys for stupid sh*t — Best Metal Performance — it’s hard to feel good about the integrity of that.”