Music industry people call it the “post-Grammy bump” or “post-Grammy spike.” What that means is that an artist cleaned up at the Grammy Awards and now they’re hoping to clean up at the cash register (or via PayPal), banking on fans to flood brick-and-mortar and online music stores searching for so-and-so’s huge hit. In order to prime the pump, the Grammys itself annually serves up a musical appetizer, this year, cleverly calling it 2010 Grammy Nominees (No. 5 debut on Billboard 200 albums sales chart, selling 50,000 copies its first week out).
Music’s Biggest Night: The twenty tracks on this year’s Grammy Nominees album run the gamut across the musical spectrum. Sure you’ll find lots of great new music from young superstars like The Black Eyed Peas (“I Gotta Feeling”), Lady Gaga (“Poker Face”), Taylor Swift (“You Belong with Me”), Beyonce (“Halo”), and Pink (“Sober”), as well as country veterans Rascal Flatts (“Here Comes Goodbye”), just to name a few. But all music fans will relish in the fact that Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood (“Can’t Find My Way Home”) as well as the Dave Matthews Band (“You & Me”), and U2 (“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”) are also found on this collection. The following is a capsule look at these 4 acts.
In the beginning there was “God.” That’s what critics and consumers alike called Eric Clapton when in 1964 he emerged as one of the original guitar heroes as a member of the Yardbirds and later John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. In 1966, Clapton and fellow Mayall disciples Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce formed Cream. Prior to launching a massively successful solo career, in 1969 Clapton partnered with Steve Winwood (both nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “Can’t Find My Way Home” and Best Rock Album for Live From Madison Square Garden) to form the short-lived Blind Faith. Meanwhile, Winwood’s career began at 15 when he joined The Spencer Davis Group. Three years later he went down a jazzier musical road, forming Traffic, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004; Dave Matthews was their presenter.
Dave Matthews (Album of the Year nominee for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King) was born January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at two immigrated with his family to Westchester County in New York. In 1977, he moved back to Johannesburg, then back to New York in 1986, and onto Charlottesville, VA, where in 1991 he formed the Dave Matthews Band. The group released its first indie album, Remember Two Things, which led to a deal with RCA, which released their major label debut, Under the Table and Dreaming, the following year. Subsequent releases include 1996’s Crash, 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets, 2001’s Everyday, 2002’s Busted Stuff, 2005’s Stand Up, and last year’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.
U2 (Grammy nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”; Best Rock Album for No Line On The Horizon): are Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton. They formed in Dublin in 1978; in 1988, the Irish quartet won its first two Grammys, earning Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for The Joshua Tree, and in 2005 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The rest you pretty much know!
Slowhand Meets Not-So-Steady Hand: Enjoy some slightly shaky fan-filmed footage of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood performing an acoustic version of “Layla” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles:
As A Matter of Fact…
* In 2000, when Eric Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, he became the first person to have been inducted three times. He was already a Hall of Famer as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream.
* In 1987, Steve Winwood won the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for “Higher Love;” in 2004, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic.
* DMB major label debut, Under the Table and Dreaming, went on to sell over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, aided by mass radio airplay of singles “Ants Marching,” “What Would You Say,” and “Satellite.”
* U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005. Bruce Springsteen was their presenter.