We can’t dare sit around and think we are shocked. The 52nd edition of the Grammy Awards occurred last night, and as expected, the recording industry, in the face of declining record sales and a perceived lack of importance made a dramatic stand for the international mainstream, and in the process delivered an awards program that was perfunctory and devoid of intrigue or controversy, a call to norms instead of a call to arms. In many ways the awards show that has become the stamp of cultural importance has become MTV’s Video Music Awards, the 2009 event being landmark for a lack of adherence to any social or moral compass on one hand, and on the other having a fairytale ability to tell the stories of Taylor Swift and Kanye West. But the Grammies soldiered on, and in the 2010 edition, we learned a great deal about how an industry hunkers down and prepares to make a comeback.

The big trophy winners of the night were the Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga. These were all worthy champions, but in some cases, the most maligned of artists in the past year. In accepting their award for “Use Somebody” as the Record of the Year, the Kings stated they were “drunk, but a happy drunk,” as the cleaned up indie rock gods finally ascended to the throne of pop royalty so richly deserved.

Lady Gaga by comparison to her MTV Awards histrionics was muted, instead of appearing to have lost all semblance of common and sartorial sense there, last night her fashions were wild, but definitely toned down. Her show opening performance with a slightly less than stellar “Poker Face” was more than made up for with the always excellent Elton John doing a duet of The Fame Monster’s torch ballad “Speechless,” and Sir Elton’s “Your Song.” The bizarrely staged spectacle did more than her two gramophone wins for cementing her growing instant legacy as an icon of gay camp blended with immense and universal entertainment value.

Mr. and Mrs. Shawn Carter were front row center and Beyonce’s six wins is a Grammy record for a female artist, as her maturation into this generation’s Diana Ross is near complete, even shining through a curious choice of performing “If I Were a Boy” and a spirited yet misguided cover of Alanis Morrissette’s “You Oughta Know” while flanked by Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation 1814 era recalling footsoldiers. Her husband took home awards for “D.O.A.” and for “Run This Town,” more nods to his cross cultural importance blended with the excellence of the songs. If anything, from doting on Solange Knowles’ son who was front row center, or Beyonce thanking “her husband,” to Jay-Z appearing to be a proud husband, the Carters are destined to reach pop royalty status as the first family of pop excellence.

As always, fantastic performances dotted the evening. Swathed in white linen then once again dazzling the crowd with Cirque du Soleil level mid-air histrionics, Pink’s “Glitter in the Air” was, as was her performance at MTV’s event that duplicated the feat, the most visually arresting moment of the proceedings. Jamie Foxx, T-Pain, Slash, old school rap legend Doug E. Fresh and a full orchestra gave the most energetic performance of the night, Foxx looking like a Civil War general exhorting the orchestra and crowd to feel every word of the R&B Song of the Year. Drake, Eminem and Lil Wayne with backing on the drums by Travis Barker and a live band gave an excellent but expected performance of “Forever,” easily one of the more pop friendly and successful collaborations of the past year.

Darling of the universe Taylor Swift underwhelmed in the spotlight, as her performance suffered from the inclusion of Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks, who in one minute ofher guest spot singing “Rhiannon” excised from the minds of millions any belief that Swift was a polished and prime time performer worthy of eight nominations and four victories. Her Album of the Year win for Fearless after her performance feeling more like flash in the pan and guide to country success than promise of pop prominence. Country took a beating again in the performance department with Best New Artist winners the Zac Brown Band performing with pianist Leon Russell. As was the case all night long, experienced veteran performers shined with tremendous poise and charisma when next to their younger counterparts. The final “eh” performance of the night were the Black Eyed Peas who in theory gained the most from the night as their venture into underground dance yielded immense profit, but to borrow a line from Jay-Z, the Peas are the leading force of innovation in pop music right now and appear to be mentally already checked out of the success of The E.N.D. and “on to the next one,” the next style to co-opt, infiltrate and make lucrative.

Props need to be extended as well to the likes of Maxwell, who merely walked onstage and proved his talent in a situation where he needed to be successful. His award winning BLACKsummer’s Night album stands to be a big gainer on the Billboard chart due to his composure and elegance in front of an audience that may have never seen him prior or had completely forgotten how understated yet elegant the superstar R & B vocalist is. The 3D performance of Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” was tastefully done and moving, if surprisingly unspectacular. Usher, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Celine Dion were flawless, but in bookending it with Michael’s oft paraded for pathos children offering paeans for their dead father, it more signaled a need to finally let the Jackson family have peace and closure than anything particularly awe-inspiring.

The Grammy Awards were more substance than spectacle in a post Kanye West world. He wasn’t there, and neither were any fireworks or histrionic behavior. Sadly, these are now perceived as necessity on music award programs instead of happy accidents. In a recession in a depressed and tired society, the sizzle matters more than the steak. The talents that won were certainly deserving, but on a show where the most shocking thing was host Stephen Colbert’s terrible and forced opening monologue, we were all expecting more. Somehow in expecting more from the hype than from the artists shows just how much we as a society have devalued music on a financial and personal level. The Grammys were a tale of excellence and decadence, a plethora of one, a lack of another, thus providing so many answers about the nature and state of the music industry.

Nothing was more anticipated than the Michael Jackson tribute by his sister Janet Jackson as people wondered how she would do it. We were all wide eyed and glued to the tv screen so we could feel as if we are just as important as the people who inspire us.

For me, there was no anticipation. My plans were to do a photo shoot during the day, and then go home to sleep and learn some more French. Of course, since I was hanging out with Sojourner, I couldn’t help but watch the VMAs as she was itching to see her icon Lady Gaga and what she would wear and to see her performance. I must admit, Lady Gaga has grown on me a bit with ” Paparazzi,” so I kinda wanted to see what she was going to look like and perform too. As the Pre show ended, everyone, including myself were watching as the VMAs began and Madonna slowly approached the microphone.

We all love Madonna, some more than others…but I think it’s safe to say that she gave the longest introduction about her dinners and thoughts about Michael Jackson. It would’ve been a great speech if only she wasn’t reading it from a TelePrompTer. I know that they want the VMAs to run like a machine, but if you’re giving a speech about your feelings about someone, shouldn’t it be from the heart and not from a screen. I was just sitting there thinking “Is she really just gonna stare right into my face and give that long ass speech?” I blame MTV for Madonna’s not so great speech…Madonna always gets a free pass from me.

What made it worse and more annoying was the host, Russel Brand. I love the English, in fact I had become accustomed to their movies and their language lately, so I was eager to see how this Brit would crank up the VMAs. Again, just a blank stare into the screen as he read, or should I say screamed whatever he was reading from the teleprompter. I thought at least the host could have improvised, but I guess he wasn’t that good at it so they stuck him to the screen. Pitiful…I thought I would hear some new British slang.

The Michael jackson tribute worked out exactly as I had pictured it… just different dancers eager to show how much they’ve been studying Michael Jackson’s moves. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. When Janet Jackson came out, the tribute got more interesting as she danced beside her brother on the screen for their song “Scream.” It was Janet Jackson, so there’s nothing more to say. I was gladly surprised at Katy Perry’s intro with the guitar player who I think was even better than Perry’s cover song. However, everything from this point on was pretty much a bore. There wasn’t too much excitement going on as I made my complaints. Well… everything was dull until Taylor Swift came onto the stage to accept her award for Best Female Video.

When the 19 year old “Country” singer made her way to the stage I thought to myself ” I can’t be surprised. The VMAs like cute. poppy teens.” I was slumped deep into my chair as Taylor began to make her acceptance speech. Suddenly, I see Kanye West come to the stage and grab the microphone from Taylor Swift and at first I’m thinking he was just going to congratulate her on being young and winning an award, but he did the total opposite and rather turned the attention to Beyonce as he expressed to the audience that Beyonce should’ve won Best Female Video of the year. After hearing and seeing Kanye West do this, I jumped out of my seat laughing hysterically, pointing to the screen and screaming “Kanye West is my dog!” For me, Kanye West turned a slow and dull show into the home of the most controversial act ever. I could just see one of the people from MTV whispering “see this is what happens when we allow black people in here.” I say this because I would be thinking the same thing! Everything was birds and roses until Kanye made his presence known in embarrassing a 19 year old girl on stage in front of millions of viewers.

You could see that even Taylor Swift didn’t know how to react to this ordeal as she just stood there stunned in her own spotlight. Luckily, Beyonce saved the day and gave up her time to shine in order to let Miss Swift have her say. I guess in the end, Kanye did make Beyonce the Best Female of the night. No matter how you look at it, whether Kanye was right or wrong, Kanye West was the best performer of the night! He was even kicked out of the VMAs like a TRUE Rocknrolla after his outrageous act. Jack Black came behind him with his demonic prayer to Satin as the crowd bowed their heads in a prayer to the dark forces. Kanye West says his excuse for his actions were that he is just real and that he’s just into pop culture, well that goes the same for Jack Black and his love for heavy metal. He doesn’t care where he is, or who the audience is, Jack Black will let it be known his respect for the Metal.

People like Kanye West and Jack Black really do spark my attention. They are people so into whatever they are into that they will go so far as to embarrass other people and even themselves to do it, as we saw jack Black wearing the bloated muscle arms wielding a strong arm axe. These people to me are true rock stars because they just don’t care about what other people think as they express themselves in their own way. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that everything should be done in decency and in order but when things are too decent, it’s always good to have some real people step forward to shake it up a little.

Later Days…