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The greats who never got Grammys 
 
Were talking Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, Bob
Marley, Curtis Mayfield and the Who 
 
By Jim Washburn
SPECIAL TO MSNBC.COM 

Feb. 20   Would you rather see a concert that
features the Grammys greatest winners or its greatest
losers? Before you decide, go to www.grammy.com and
type in your favorite artists names into the winners
search engine. Unless your favorite band happens to
be called No Results Found, theres a good chance your
search will come up empty.

AN ASTOUNDING NUMBER of worthy folks have never won
Grammys, and were not just talking about cult faves
like Pharoah Sanders, Captain Beefheart, Jonathan
Richman and Richard Thompson here, but musicians and
best-selling albums that top most folks lists of
essential music of the last half-century.
       The Beach Boys Pet Sounds? Nada. Nor is
there a Grammy for anything the Beach Boys or Brian
Wilson ever did. According to the Grammys, the best
contemporary recording of 1966 (they couldnt even
bring themselves to use the term rock and roll then)
was Winchester Cathedral by the New Vaudeville Band.
How about Jimi Hendrix, considered by many to be one
of the most creative and influential musicians ever?
Zip. Bob Marley? Curtis Mayfield? Nope. John Coltrane?
Hey, he got one! Granted it was in 1981, after hed
been dead 14 years.
       Even when the Grammys do recognize many
artists, theres a time lag. The Rolling Stones had
been making records for 31 years before they got a
Grammy. Van Morrison went 32 years before the NARAS
saw fit to bestow a minor Grammy on him. The Who have
no awards, though Pete Townshend snuck in with the
leaden 1993 cast recording of the stage musical
version of Tommy, 24 years after he composed it.
The NARAS long had only a grudging acceptance of rock
and roll. In 1958, the first year of the Grammys, the
closest thing to a rock act to win one was David
Seville and the Chipmunks. By 1962 they had created a
category for rock, and promptly gave the award to
Danish pop pianist Bent Fabric. 
       One might love Petula Clark dearly, but in
possibly no ones book except the Grammys is her
Downtown regarded as the best rock song of 1964, a
year roiling with musical excellence, change and
invention. The Beatles did get Best New Artist that
year, one of only four awards they won during their
career.
In 1965 James Brown managed to win an R&B Grammy for
his revolutionary Papas Got a Brand New Bag.
Otherwise, the Grammy universe was a more quiescent
place than most of us remember the mid-60s actually
were. Herb Alperts A Taste of Honey was named
Record of the Year, and the now four contemporary
(rock) categories gave the Grammys four chances to get
it wrong, with the awards going to Roger Miller,
twice, for King of the Road (which also deservedly
swept up three country awards), as well as Pet Clark
and the Statler Bros, none of whom rocked nor rolled.
By 1967 the Grammys seemed to realize this rock stuff
wasnt going away, and named the Beatles Sgt. Pepper
Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Album, even if
those two awards paled beside the six awards heaped on
Up, Up and Away. The best new artist award went to
Bobbie Gentry, whose career promptly veered right off
the Tallahatchie Bridge. 
       By the 1970s, rock had matured enough, and was
certainly lucrative enough, that they Grammys hit a
comfort zone of just awarding seemingly everything to
Paul Simon or Stevie Wonder. That worked for the 80s
and 90s, too, adding Michael Jackson and some other
perennials to the mix. Thats not to forget the five
1980 awards heaped upon Christopher Cross, last seen
near the Tallahatchie Bridge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Washburn, a California-based writer and longtime
rock critic, has been a regular contributor to
MSNBC.com.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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