I don’t usually pay attention to the Grammies — their irrelevance is notorious, though I do know people who are still from the “she won a Grammy, so her music must be good” school — but this boggles the mind.

From the Grammy website itself:

Best New Artist
(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)

* Evanescence
* 50 Cent
* Fountains Of Wayne
* Heather Headley
* Sean Paul

What do they mean by “public identity?” I mean, 50 Cent already had hits in
the late ’90s, and so has Sean Paul! And Heather Headley won a Tony Award in 1998! Most incomprehensible of all is the fact that the critically acclaimed debut album from Fountains Of Wayne came out in 1996 — heck, I feel like I’ve been humming “Sick Day” forever.

Does “new” not mean “new” anymore? And who exactly constitutes this “public” — the viewers of Total Request Live?

If that’s the case, then let the “Best New Artist Grammy for Guided By Voices” campaign begin.

Popularity: 1% [?]