In The Beginning: The 1st Grammys - The Cultute of Pop, DVD, Movie, TV, Pop Culture Review

In The Beginning: The 1st Grammys

Posted: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:14:49 PST

"I guess I should've been grateful that Elvis didn't win anything". - Actress Sandra Lee on her date walking away with no trophy that night: Frank Sinatra.

Before the red carpet, before fashion sights a'la the jaw dropping Jennifer Lopez dress that could have been the first ever wardrobe malfunction, and before spectacular per-show spectacles like Lady Gaga's EGG-citing arrival, the Grammys were akin to that of a low key athletic banquet.

On May 4^th, 1959 before a reported audience of 500, the very first shindig by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel made history; the instigation of a yearly event equally celebratory and controversial over the last five decades.

May I bring up some choice examples? First ever heavy metal album winner? Jethro Tull...yep, when I think of pile driving, ear splitting balls to the wall, hair whipping rock, Ian Anderson's flute is implanted in my brain; not those cissys from Metallica.  The Beatles losing song and record record of the year to the likes of Hello, Dolly and The Girl From Ipanema? No, no, no! Best Rock and Roll Record of 1966 going the vaudevillian throwback Winchester Cathedral? SO much better and HIGHLY innovative compared to Good Vibrations, right?

Well, outrageous slights and laughable wins the Grammys have displayed over the years have their roots in that very first ceremony.

Let's start with the once and forever Chairman Of The Board, Frank Sinatra, shall we? Nominated for five awards, he walked away with one...for an album cover which he didn't even design. Can't you just picture the clenched “I paid 15 dollars for this” face? Two classic entries in the Best Album category (Come Fly With Me; Only The Lonely) and he still came up short? But, at least he lost that title to the genius of Henry Mancini (a name soon to be synonymous with the ceremony in times to come) via his classic Peter Gunn soundtrack. What wasn't acceptable in Sinatra awards show night in hell? Losing to the pleasant, but otherwise forgettable Perry Como's Catch A Falling Star, which sounds positively anemic when placed against Come Fly With Me.

As Francis Albert might have stated, “cuckoo”.

What would one expect on a night when David Seville's Chipmunks accumulated the most gold (Comedy Record Of The Year, Best Engineered Recording, Best Children's Record). Yet there was one more wild oversight that would force the NARAS to create the first of much needed additional categories in time.

Nominees for the Country Song Of The Year? Included were three future classics of the genre: All I Have To Do Is Dream and Bird Dog by The Everly Brothers, and Don Gibson's Oh! Lonesome Me.

And the winner is......The Kingston Trio?

Don't get me wrong; Tom Dooley is a wonderful, classic piece of folk music...but that's what it is: Folk...not country. Though the award didn't stir a hotbed of controversy as it might have in these days and times, somebody must have had made a beef, for in the Grammy's sophomore year (you guessed it, a Folk Song category, which the Trio lost to Harry Belafonte...which in of itself might prove equally, “What?!”).

Another slight that I find incredible: Peggy Lee's classic tale of lust, Fever. Four nominations. Wins?: Zero. If I was down to my last jukebox quarter? This hot blooded Spanish man knows which song he'd invest in.

Although all of the examples noted are head scratching, it's the award committee heartless snub of rock and soul which proves historically criminal.

Dig this list: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Platters, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Dean Martin, Connie Francis, James Brown, Little Richard and Ricky Nelson. Not one single nod for any of these enormously popular (and creative) artists. Although the Grammys would get it together and eventually right most of the wrongs in year one, it's still an indicative set of slights that more than brings home how out of touch the NARAS was...and continued to be for a long, long time.

In fairness, the evening wasn't without pleasures: Jazz legends Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald took home two trophies a piece, one hit wonders The Champs won the the very first Grammy for Rhythm and Blues Performance (Tequila), Broadway hit The Music Man captured Best Original Cast Album, and weeks after it had won the Oscar for Best Picture, MGM's musical classic Gigi nabbed the Best Original Soundtrack honor.

J.R.

-Jeffrey Rosado is a writer, pop culture historian, performer, and all around nice guy...unless you put Winchester Cathedral on the stereo.

 Follow Jeff on Twitter: marquee_man