Lyrics Quiz: Use Somebody

A month and a half ago I named Use Somebody by Kings of Leon the best song of 2009. So I thought I would throw the song into iTunes’ Genius feature and here are the twenty-five songs that it gave back to me. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them. Now onto the lyric quiz:

1. Save some face, you know you only got one. Change your ways while you’re young.
2. Why would you lie about how much gold you have, why would you lie about something dumb like that? Why would you lie about anything at all? Lil' John: he always tells the truth.3. This is what you get when you mess with us. For a minute there I lost myself. I lost myself.  (Karma Police - Radiohead;  guessed by Doug)
4. All these places we’ve grown. All of us are done for. And we live in a beautiful world.  (Don't Panic - Coldplay;  guessed by Doug)
5. Stand up beside the fireplace. Take that look from off your face. ‘Cause you ain’t never gonna burn my heart out.  (Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis;  guessed by Doug)
6. Dani the girl is singing songs to me beneath the marquee... of her soul.  (By the Way - Red Hot Chili Peppers;  guessed by Doug)
7. I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque. I love it to see everybody in short skirts, shorts and shades. I like it in the city when two worlds collide.
8. It seems to me that maybe, it pretty much always means no. So don’t tell me you might just let it go.9. You used to get it in your fishnets now you only get it in your night dress. Discarded all the naughtiness for the niceness. Landed in a very common crisis.  (Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys;  guessed by Anonymous)
10. With a name I’ve never chosen I can make my first steps as a child of twenty-five. 11. So don’t knock it; don’t knock it if you’ve been there before.  (Notion - Kings of Leon;  guessed by Kings of Leon;  guessed by Anonymous)
12. There are certain people you just coming back to; she is right there in front of you. You begin to wonder: can you find a better one?
13. Baby, it’s been a long day, baby. Things ain’t going my way. You know In need you here, here by my side all the time.
14. I knew I had made a horrible call and now the state line felt like the Berlin Wall and there was no doubt about which side I was on.
15. Won’t you kiss me on that midnight street? Sweep me off my feet, singing ain’t this life so sweet.16. It’s not a silly little moment. It’s not the storm before the calm. This is the deep and dyeing breathe; this love we’ve been working on.  (Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer;  guessed by Anonymous)
17. Think it’s not what you say, what you say is way too complicated. For a minute thought I couldn't tell how to fall out. It's twenty seconds until the last call.
18. The evening comes and we’re hanging out on the front step and a car goes down with the windows rolled down. And the War song is playing: Why Can’t We Be Friends.
19. When it comes around and it’s taken away, leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most. Feel it come to life when I see your ghost. Then I’m done, done, on to the next one.20. As she walks out the door your blood boiling, your stomach in ropes. And when your friends say, “What is it?’ You look like you've seen a ghost.  (Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event; guessed by Anonymous)
21. Time is never time at all. You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth.22. Off, off with your head, dance, dance ‘til you’re dead.  (Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs;  guessed by Anonymous)
23. Anger, he smiles towering, shiny metallic purple armor.  (Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix Experience;  guessed by Anonymous)
24. Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white.  (Round Here - Counting Crows;  guessed by Doug)
25. And if there's anybody left in here that doesn’t want to be out there. Watching the people get lairy. It's not very pretty I tell thee.

We on Award Tour: 2010 Grammy Awards

Even though music dying, that isn’t going to stop them from be self congratulatory. And even though the awards themselves are worthless (Hilary Clinton has more than The Beach Boys; Neil Young won his first ever this year… for album packaging), there are still plenty of great performances, here are my thoughts on last night’s festivities.

- Remember when opening the Grammy’s was a big thing. Prince being join Beyoncé, Madonna being backed by the Gorillaz performing in 3-D for the first time, the reunited Police, U2 even got things started last year. This year we get the most overrated thing in music possibly ever. Well at least Lady Gaga only covered herslf in soot instead of fake menstrual blood for this performance. So there’s that.

- In lieu of an actual host yet again, we get Stephen Colbert for a pseudo-monologue trashing the music industry (and they still laugh) all but pointing out how Susan Boyle managed to sell more albums than anyone in the audience (sans Taylor Swift) in less than a month then they did all year). But his bit with his daughter was the highlight, if only the cameraman was a little quicker with the reaction shot.

- Just a reminder, Song of the Year is a songwriting award. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) won a songwriting award. Whoa-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh Oh- oh-oh-oh.

- Who invited Jennifer Lopez? Was it just to memorialize the ten year anniversary since she wore “The Dress”? (If so, where was the twentieth anniversary memorial to Milli Vanilli winning Best New Artist?) It’s been eight years since she put out a song anyone cared about or a movie anyone wanted to see.

- And even odder, she introduces Green Day and the cast of American Idiot which didn’t really work. Had there been distractingly bad lip-syncing, it could have been something out of Glee.

- And cheesiest idea award goes to Lincoln who wants you to vote on which artist will perform in their next commercial.

- You know you are in for a great performance when before a note is played and you go “Oh snap.” That was my first thought when I saw Beyoncé standing in front of her futuristic SWAT team. Granted my second thought was “If they start doing the Single Ladies dance, I’m throwing my remote at the television.” Luckily the SDTV was saved as we get a interesting medley of If I Were a Boy and You Oughta Know. Although I could have done without the crotch grab.

- Interestingly Best Comedy Album gets a primetime spot. I cannot remember that happening before. And finally daughter Colbert finds her dad cool.

- Kings of Leon wins Best Record. Wow, for the first I think ever, I agree with the winner of this category.

- Most actors show up with the Grammy to shamelessly shill their latest movie or their CBS show, but Robert Downey Jr. is just there to call himself, “The Most Self Important Actor of His Generation.”

- Sure Blame It is one of the worst songs in recent memory, but it is hard not to like that performance. They just kept pulling out random people like Doug E. Fresh and Slash who for whatever reason starts shredding the solo from November Rain. Love it.

- Maybe not a good sign for the Dave Matthews Band for Album of the Year when they couldn’t even win the genre specific award. Which begs the question, how does Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas get nominated for the big award over Green Day and U2?

- Why tease that Taylor Swift is going perform with one her idols only to show video of her singing with Stevie Nicks. Huruph. The Rhiannon performance was decent enough, but hearing Nicks singing the kiddie lyrics of You Belong with Me was almost as disturbing as Def Leppard singing Swift's tenth grade poetry.

- Please stop with the 3-D television events until you perfect the art because the Michael Jackson performance was less 3-D and more just a redder version of the performance. At least it was just a couple minutes unlike the hour long Chuck episode that gave me a headache. And Earth Song may be one of Jackson’s most underrated songs along with Will You Be There. And are Jackson’s kids really that old? The boy looked like he is already in Middle School and the girl is starting to look like Amanda Bynes.

- No Kanye West to accept the Rap-Sung Collaboration. Maybe he was banned (nor was invited to perform on the Drake track). Sure he is a douche, but award shows are a little less interesting without Kanye’s ego.

- For those who want to download the Haitian relief song by Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli, go to iTunes.com/target (why Target, I have no clue).

- Old dude alert! And we get our yearly lecture on why downloading is bad. Yawn.

- Adam Sandler introducing the Dave Matthews Band: it like that did that just for me. Beyoncé made a valiant effort, but Dave and the boys, had the best performance of the night.

- Quentin Tarantino may be able to make some entertaining movies but his painfully uncool and his introduction was really cringeworthy.

- Note to Grammy producers, stop inviting artists to perform songs with copious amount of profanity. No one is enjoying these performances where the censors fall asleep on their mute button for most of the song. And did Lil Wayne pull out his Lil Wayne because my screen went yellow for about thirty seconds during the performance.

- One has to wonder if Taylor Swift wins this award for Album of the Year if Kanye West doesn’t turn her into America’s Sweetheart. I thought it was going to come down to Beyoncé edging out Dave Matthews Band with Swift just as a darkhouse (and Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas with zero chance).

- Here is my favorite performance of the night:

The 100 Best Songs of 2009

It is probably not a good sign for the music business that the biggest song of the year was released back in 1969. But for some reason, three artists all used Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam in their songs. Wale started out ’09 sampling it for Chillin’. Then Kristinia DeBarge used it as the chorus for her debut song, the aptly titled Goodbye. Then Jay-Z tried to kill off Auto-Tune with the help of the famous cadence. Despite the overuse of cheesy sports anthems, 2009 was actually a great year for good music (on the flip side, it wasn’t much of a good year for great music) as this was the largest pool of songs, 250 (shoot me an e-mail if you want the full list, I'll send you my speadsheet), which I had to cut down for my Top 100. And here they are and I hope to see everyone back in 2010 (check the bottom of the post for samples of the songs on the Amazon MP3 widget):

1. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

2. Make Her Say - Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Common

3. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna & Kanye West

5. You And Me - Dave Matthews Band

6. Sugarfoot - Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

7. Grapevine Fires - Death Cab for Cutie

8. Funny The Way It Is - Dave Matthews Band

9. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood

10. Magick - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

11. Nothing but a Miracle - Diane Birch

12. Pony (It's OK) - Erin McCarley

13. Too Many Rappers - Beastie Boys featuring Nas

14. Who Says - John Mayer

15. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

16. Staying in Love - Raphael Saadiq

17. Geraldine - Glasvegas

18. A Dustland Fairytale - The Killers

19. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes

20. Even If It Breaks Your Heart - Will Hoge

21. People C'mon - Delta Spirit

22. Notion - Kings of Leon

23. Chillin' - Wale featuring Lady Gaga

24. Melody - Kate Earl

25. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2

26. Fugitive - David Gray

27. Percussion Gun - White Rabbits

28. Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones

29. Under My Bed - Meiko

30. Red Light - David Nail

31. (If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

32. The Fixer - Pearl Jam

33. Fitz and the Dizzyspells - Andrew Bird

34. Wild at Heart - Gloriana

35. 100 Yard Dash - Raphael Saadiq

36. Heartless - The Fray

37. I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week - Mandy Moore

38. Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart - Alicia Keys

39. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

40. Doesn't Mean Anything - Alicia Keys

41. Gravity - Sara Bareilles

42. Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

43. I Love College - Asher Roth

44. Fire Escape - Diane Birch

45. People Got a Lotta Nerve - Neko Case

46. I Like You so Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria

47. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

48. The One - Slaughterhouse

49. Furr - Blitzen Trapper

50. The Fear - Lily Allen

51. A Whole Lot Better - Brendan Benson

52. Everybody Knows - John Legend

53. Laughing With - Regina Spektor

54. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' - Bob Dylan

55. Just Ain't Gonna Work Out - Mayer Hawthorne

56. Little Bribes - Death Cab for Cutie

57. Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event

58. New in Town - Little Boots

59. Goodnight, Travel Well - The Killers

60. Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore

61. Sky - Joshua Radin featuring Meiko

62. I Wanna Rock - Snoop Dogg

63. Hometown Glory - Adele

64. Shining Down - Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthews Santos

65. Bang Bang - K'naan featuring Adam Levine

66. 1901 - Phoenix

67. Chocolate Box - Prince featuring Q-Tip

68. If Rap Gets Jealous - K'naan featuring Kirk Hammett

69. Kinda Like a Big Deal - Clipse featuring Kanye West

70. White Horse - Taylor Swift

71. Radio Radio - Brooke White

72. The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

73. Oscar Wilde - Company of Thieves

74. Swim - Jack's Mannequin

75. Nothing to Worry About - Peter Bjorn and John

76. Show Me What I'm Looking For - Carolina Liar

77. Who'd Have Known - Lily Allen

78. A-Yo - Method Man & Redman featuring Saukrates

79. Wavin' Flag - K'naan

80. Life Is Better - Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones

81. Barely in Love - Q-Tip

82. Fly One Time - Ben Harper and Relentless7

83. Why I Am - Dave Matthews Band

84. Daddy's Gone - Glasvegas

85. Crawl - Kings of Leon

86. Uprising - Muse

87. Don't Forget - Demi Lovato

88. Bulletproof - La Roux

89. On Vacation - Aimee Allen

90. Fireflies - Owl City

91. Just Say Yes - Snow Patrol

92. East Jesus Nowhere - Green Day

93. How I Got Over - The Roots

94. I'm Broke - Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

95. Wonderful - Gary Go

96. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z

97. That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings

98. Love Letter to Japan - The Bird and the Bee

99. Get On Your Boots - U2

100. Let's Take a Walk - Raphael Saadiq

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2009

Today is the one day of the year I turn the 9th Green over to you the readers. I have collected your top ten lists, powered up Microsoft Excel, plugged them in, and here is the list that it spit back out to me. If you don’t agree with this list, you should have sent in you on list and I hope you do so next year. For the list of my 100 favorite songs of 2009, check back tomorrow (a little warning, it may be late as I just started working on it last night and I get a little obsessive compulsive with these lists). So thanks to everyone who did submit their list and hope to see you back here in 2010, here is your list of the best songs of 2009:

1. 1901 - Phoenix

2. Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

3. Bulletproof - La Roux

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West

5. Daniel - Bat for Lashes

6. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. No Sound but the Wind (New Moon Version) - Editors

8. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

9. World So Cold - Three Day Grace

10. Fireflies - Owl City

11. Half of My Heart - John Mayer with Taylor Swift

12. Swim - Jack's Mannequin

13. Houses - Great Northern

14. Impossible - Daniel Merriweather

15. New Divide - Linkin Park

16. Heartless - The Fray

17. Supernova - Mr. Hudson featuring Kanye West

18. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

19. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

20. Help I'm Alive - Metric

21. The Debtor - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

22. You Belong with Me - Taylor Swift

23. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

24. House of Flying Daggers - Raekwon featuring Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, and Method Man

25. Day n Night - Kid Cudi

The 25 Best Mash Up's of 2009

Where I could find them, I linked the mash-up's to YouTube (or embedded them). To download the orginal source, click the song names to be taken to iTunes.

1. Party in the B.I.G. - Hatbanger
Notorious B.I.G. (Party and (Expletive Deleted) vs Miley Cyrus (Party in the U.S.A. )



2. Use the Same Old Song - Mighty Mike
The Four Tops (It's the Same Old Song) vs. Kings of Leon (Use Somebody)



3. Good ol' Fashion Rump Shaker - DJ STV SLV
Beastie Boys (Shake Your Rump) vs. Matt & Kim (Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare)



4. The Trooper Believer - DJ Schmolli
The Monkees (I'm a Believer) vs. Iron Maiden (The Trooper)



5. House of Klezmer - DJ Farfoff
House of Pain (Jump Around) vs. Amsterdam Klezmer Band vs. Pa Brapad



6. Machine Gun Shelter - Party Ben
Commodores (Machine Gun) vs. Rolling Stones (Gimme Shelter)

7. Brooklyn Rocks - DJ Lobsterdust
Beastie Boys (No Sleep 'till Brooklyn) vs. Joan Jett (I Love Rock and Roll)

8. ABC in Central Park - Zamali
Jackson 5 (ABC) vs. Krafty Kuts (Party in Central Park)

9. Give This Way - DJ Moule
Aerosmith-Run DMC (Walk This Way) vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers (Give it Away) vs. Chemical Brothers (Block Rockin' Beats)

10. Everybody's Everyday Girl - DJ BC
Fleetwood Mac (Everywhere) vs. Snoop Dogg (That Girl) vs. Kanye West (This Way) vs Q-Tip (Come Close)

11. Acoustic Alchemy - Norwegian Recycling
Jack Johnson (Bubble Toes) vs. Green Day (Good Riddence (Time of Your Life))

12. Religion in the Wind - Lasso the Moon
Kansas (Dust in the Wind) vs. R.E.M. (Losing My Religion)

13. Paperlong - Mighty Mike
Foo Fighters (Everlong) vs. M.I.A. (Paper Planes)

14. Westside Godzilla Connection - Frogthedog
Westside Connection (Bow Down) vs. Blue Öyster Cult (Godzilla)

15. It's Bigger Than a Prayer - Yold
Dead Prez (Hip Hop) vs. Bloc Party (The Prayer)

16. Radioghost - Norwegian Recycling
Radiohead (High and Dry) vs. Howie Day (Ghost)

17. Crushed Pony - DJ Fac
Ginuwine (Pony) vs. Paramore (Crushchrushcrush)

18. RiverBad - DJ Lobsterdust
Meatloaf (Two Out of Three Ain't Bad) vs. Morcheeba (Riverbed)

19. 2 Many Beastles - dj BC
Beastie Boys and Nas (Too Many Rappers) vs. the Beatles (Taxman)

20. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough Q-Tip - 33jones
Q-Tip (Breathe and Stop) vs. Michael Jackson (Don't Stop til You Get Enough)

21. Complicated Sex on Fire - DJ Schmolli
Avril Lavigne (Complicated) vs. Kings of Leon (Sex on Fire)

22. Gorilla Idol - locK3Down
Gorillaz (Tomorrow Comes Today/Clint Eastwood) vs. Billy Idol (Eyes Without a Face)

23. Fall Out Gloria - Mighty Mike
Fall Out Boy (This Ain't a Scene it's an Arms Race) vs. Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive)

24. Hives For Your Right - DJ Y alias JY
The Hives (Tick Tick Boom) vs. Beastie Boys (Fight for Your Right)

25. Mercy For Roxanne - Mighty Mike
The Police (Roxanne) vs. Duffy (Mercy)

The 25 Best Live Performances of 2009

When it was announced that Jimmy Fallon would take over Late Night I thought it was the bad idea to end all bad ideas. When he finally took over the desk that was basically was the case. One bright spot was the Fallon brought on The Roots as his house band leading to many once in a lifetime collaborations, five of which landed on the list this year. Unfortunately copyright restrictions keep some of these performances hard to find, but I have linked the ones I could find.


1. Let’s Go Crazy – Incubus and The Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)



2. Cowboy Casanova – Carrie Underwood (American Country Awards)



3. Lost/Viva la Vida - Coldplay and Jay-Z (Grammy Awards)

4. Ride Like the Wind – Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald and The Roots (Jimmy Fallon)

5. Da Rockwilder / I’ll Be There for You / You’re All I Need to Get By – Redman, Method Man and Mary J. Blige (Hip Hop Honor)

6. 15 Steps - Radiohead and the USC Marching Band (Grammy Awards)

7. You Belong with Me – Taylor Swift (MTV Video Music Awards)

8. So What’cha Want – Beastie Boys and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

9. Medley - Bruce Springsteen (2009 Super Bowl)

10. East Jesus Nowhere – Green Day (MTV Video Music Awards)

11. Train Kept a Rollin – Metallica, Jeff Beck, Flea, Jimmy Paige, Joe Perry (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction)

12. No Sleep till Brooklyn – Wale, KRS-One, and Gym Class Heroes (Hip Hop Honor)

13. Use Somebody – Kings of Leon (MTV Movie Awards)

14. Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffet and The Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

15. Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z and Alicia Keys (MTV Video Music Awards)

16. Bo Diddly - B.B. King, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, and Keith Urban (Grammy Awards)

17. Lady of My Life – Maxwell (Grammy Nomination Special)

18. Party Up (Up in Here) – DMX and Gym Class Heroes (Hip Hop Honor)

19. Chasing Pavements - Adele and Sugarland (Grammy Awards)

20. Enter Sandman/Master of Puppets – Metallica (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

21. Regulate – Warren G and Trey Songz (Hip Hop Honor)

22. Amen/All Summer Long/Rock & Roll Jesus - Kid Rock (Grammy Awards)

23. Barely in Love – Q-Tip and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

24. Four Tops Medley - Duke Farik, Smokey Robinson, Jamie Foxx, and Ne-Yo (Grammy Awards)

25. Rebel Without a Pause – Public Enemy, The Roots and the Street Sweeper Social Club (Hip Hop Honor)

We on Award Tour: 2010 Grammy Awards Nominations

Last year’s Grammy Nomination special was a good watch if not overblown with most performances paying tributes to past winners. This year was as lame as lame gets with no nod to the past except Maxwell’s excellent tribute to Michael Jackson. The Black Eyed Peas sucked massively. Sugarland was bland. And who cares about Nick Jonas and the Association? He and his brothers have only been nominated once and his new band as never played live ever. It would have been fine for the Kids Choice Awards, but not something associated with the Grammy’s. Oh and I would call the LL Cool J opening embarrassing, but this is coming from a guy who stars on an NCIS spin-off, nothing gets less credible than that.

And of course there were the award nominations which may have been the worst collection of artists ever assembled for a Grammy telecast. When they read Song of the Year, if it weren’t for the inclusion of Maxwell, I would have thought it was a VMA nomination. And Record of the Year was even worse because it was the same nominees with the Black Eyed Peas switched out for Maxwell. Best New Artist was conspicuously absent from the show, but I understood why when I saw the actual nominees. Below are some of the major categories and my thoughts (for all 109 categories, including one that has Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfuss, Jimmy Carter and Carrie Fisher battling it out, head over to Grammy.com):

Record of the Year
Halo - Beyonce
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

Who Will Win: Halo
Who Should Win: Use Somebody

I have a feeling (no crappy song reference intended) that Beyonce is going to go home with more than a few Grammy’s this year (she leads the nominations with ten; but keep in mind there are an absurd amount of R&B categories), they have loved her in the past and with the amount of nominations she garnered, they still do. So what is the dude who wrote the song basically reproduced the same song for Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis. Of course, keep in mind the Joe Satriani stealing Viva la Vida won this award last year. Hopefully Use Somebody wins because it was truly the best song of the last twelve months.


Album of the Year
I Am...Sasha Fierce - Beyonce
The E.N.D. - The Black Eyed Peas
The Fame - Lady Gaga
Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King - Dave Matthews Band
Fearless - Taylor Swift

Who Will Win: I Am...Sasha Fierce
Who Should Win: Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

Remember the good old days when the Grammy’s were considered too old, when Herbie Hancock was beating out Kanye West, Amy Winehouse (or as Ringo Starr says, Amy White House) and Foo Fighters? Now they look like as if MTV were doing the nominations. With any luck everyone else splits the youth vote and the Dave Matthews Band. But then again, the Grammy’s didn’t even bother to put LeRoi Moore in the In Memoriam section last year so I won’t hold my breath.


Best Rock Album
Black Ice - AC/DC
Live From Madison Square Garden - Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood
21st Century Breakdown - Green Day
Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King - Dave Matthews Band
No Line on the Horizon - U2

Who Will Win: No Line on the Horizon
Who Should Win: Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

Conventional wisdom would say that since the Dave Matthews Band was nominated over U2 for Album of the Year they would beat them here, but I wouldn’t be surprised that people vote for U2 here since they weren’t nominated for the big one. Keep in mind U2 nor Green Day, who both have won the award recently, were not nominated for Record of the Year, but Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas were. Really, when was the last U2 record not nominated for that award?


Song of the Year
Poker Face - Lady Gaga & RedOne
Pretty Wings - Hod David & Musze (Maxwell)
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Thaddis Harrell, Beyonce Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart
Use Somebody - Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill (Kings of Leon)
You Belong With Me - Liz Rose & Taylor Swift

Who Will Win: Pretty Wings
Who Should Win: Use Somebody

Keep in mind that this is a songwriting award. Poker Face was nominated for a songwriting award. Just let that soak in for a moment. I should be taking this time to laugh at Single Ladies being nominated for a songwriting award, but Poker Face is an even bigger joke to be nominated for a songwriting award.


Best New Artist
Zac Brown Band
Keri Wilson
MGMT
Silversun Pickups
The Ting Tings

Who Will Win: Who Knows
Who Should Win: Who Cares

Now I understand why this category wasn’t announced live. And to think, one of these artist can pick up an award previously won by Milli Vanilli. And so what if Silversun Pickups released their second album this year or that Keri Hilson (note that the misspelling of her name was a cut and paste, not my mistake) was been in the biz since 2001.


Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
We Weren't Born to Follow - Bon Jovi
Never Say Never - The Fray
Sara Smile - Daryl Hall & John Oates
Kids – MGMT

Who Will Win: I Gotta Feeling
Who Should Win: Sara Smile

Yes, that was a song from 1975 being nominated, that is just how bad music was this year.


Best Rap Album
Universal Mind Control - Common
Relapse – Eminem
R.O.O.T.S. - Flo Rida
The Ecstatic - Mos Def
The Renaissance - Q-Tip

Who Will Win: Relapse
Who Should Win: The Renaissance

I doubt he wins, but it is nice to see Q-Tip nominate. Hopefully he does go on another Award Tour. Too bad Kamaal the Abstract didn’t get one too.