Are the Grammy Awards politically oriented?

I think that the grammy's are very bias. They dont really give awards to album's with the best quality, but to those that fit their taste. Albums that sell a heap of albums and have plenty of catchy singles, then to get more attention. While critically acclaimed albums that create brilliant musical compositions, get snubbed.

Dixie Chicks aside the fact that Lewis Black won best Comedy performance over Wierd Al. Now Black made a fine CD last year and is a funny guy and all, but Al put forth an once in a decade classis release that should have gotten the Grammy.

Art is communication. Communication is about ideas. You can't take politics out of that. You can look at what people have done with music and literature and painting and sculpture throughout history and you'll see people expressing themselves about things that matter to them. People who identify with what is being said will respond favorably. I think people are fed up with what's going on. That tends to make them support those who express what they're feeling. There's nothing wrong with that.

I think most of the show business awards are politically motivated. It's hard to judge something as subjective as music, movies, art, etc... as to which one is best. Most of these industries shy away from objective data, such as which cd sold the most, and instead rely on other criteria. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, it's just simply the reality of the situation. To me, most of these awards are simply popularity contests and the votes go to who a certain few think they should go to, without regard to the actual quality of the music or movie.