The 2011 Grammy Awards took place last year so to celebrate that Billboard have come up with a list of who they think had the top 10 performances of the last 10 years. Take a look and see if you agree with any of them.
10. Gorillaz, Madonna & De La Soul, 2006
The 48th Grammys started off as no other Grammys had before — with an opening band that wasn’t even three-dimensional. Animated act Gorillaz took to the stage to perform the Record of the Year-nominated “Feel Good Inc.,” joined briefly by the real De La Soul and a hologram of Madonna. But when the real Madge appeared onstage moments later to perform her 2005 hit “Hung Up,” with its sexy dancing and ABBA samples, the Grammy crowd truly let loose.
Radiohead may have shunned the music industry in 2007 when it delivered “In Rainbows” straight to fans using a pay-what-you-want online download, but the band proved it could still play to the Academy (literally) at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Joined by the USC Marching Band, Thom Yorke and co. performed a rendition of “15 Step” that was so rousing, even the frontman shared some of his twitchy dance moves. Eat your heart out, Fleetwood Mac.
8. Kanye West & Daft Punk, 2008
When Kanye West released “Stronger” as a single in 2007, it seemed written in the stars that the rapper and Daft Punk, who is sampled on the tune, would join forces and perform together. At 2008′s 50th Grammys, that’s exactly what happened. Note to the Black Eyed Peas: THIS is how you do a light show!
7. Lady Gaga & Elton John, 2010
Lady Gaga’s performance at the 52nd Grammy Awards was classic not only for its over-the-top theatrics, but for Elton John’s appearance on “Speechless” and the duo’s duet on Elton’s classic “Your Song.” The best part? The conjoined mega-piano Gaga and Elton played on, not to mention the pair’s matching rhinestone glasses.
For the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010, P!nk took a few lessons from Spider-Man and gave a show-stopping performance of aerial, acrobatic brilliance. P!nk may not have walked away with any trophies that night, but thanks to her high-flying rendition of “Glitter in the Air,” she was the artist everyone was talking about come Monday morning.
5. Beyonce & Tina Turner, 2008
Beyonce and Tina Turner were “rolling, rolling, rolling” as they lit up the stage with their performance of Turner’s “Proud Mary” at the 50th annual Grammys. The show-stopping, glitz and glamour-filled duet proved that Tina still had it, and no one –not even B — was going to take it away from her.
4. T.I., Jay-Z, M.I.A., Lil Wayne & Kanye, 2009
It was as though a new rap supergroup (“the rap pack” seems fitting) formed at the 2009 Grammy Awards, when all facets of hip-hop joined forces for one killer performance of T.I. and Jay-Z’s “Swagga Like Us.” Lil Wayne and Kanye West held their own as usual, but it was a pregnant M.I.A. who stole the show in her sheer polka-dot dress. The fiesty diva didn’t just look like she was about to pop — she actually gave birth three days later.
3. Usher & James Brown, 2005
Between Usher’s Michael Jackson-esque moves during the performance of his 2004 single “Caught Up” and James Brown’s fancy footwork on “Sex Machine,” the two R&B titans’ duet at the 47th Grammys was one to remember. Check out the dance-off toward the end of the set — you can almost see the exact moment when the crown was passed.
2. Melissa Etheridge & Joss Stone, 2005
Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone may seem like an unlikely pairing, but when you throw Janis Joplin into the equation, it makes perfect sense. Both songstresses possess their own unpolished soulfulness and rock stylings, which proved to be a powerful match in a tribute to Joplin at the 2005 Grammys. Stone started off with “Cry Baby” before being joined by Etheridge, who triumphantly made a return to the stage after being diagnosed with breast cancer one year earlier.
1. Eminem & Elton John, 2001
Eminem infuriated the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation with the homophobia-tinged lyrics on his 2000 album “The Marshall Mathers LP,” and the organization protested the 2001 Grammys because of his involvement. But gay activist Elton John crossed the picket lines and joined Em’s performance of “Stan” at the ceremony in a move that was musically powerful, as well as political.
I agree with most of these but I would have added Christina Aguilera‘s performance of It’s A Man World to the list and maybe ranked Kanye West higher.
Melissa and Tammy Etheridge have ended their nearly nine-year relationship.
Melissa’s rep issued the following statement:
“Melissa and Tammy Etheridge are saddened to announce that they are now separated.”
The former couple added their own personal statement:
“We ask for consideration and respect for our family as we go through this difficult period.”
Melissa, 48, and Tammy (formerly Tammy Lynn Michaels) exchanged vows in Malibu in September 2003. Tammy, 35, gave birth to their children – son Miller and daughter Johnnie Rose – in 2006, after Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Etheridge is also the mother of two children, Bailey, 13, and Beckett, 11, with former partner Julie Cypher.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m blaming Tiger Woods.
source: Melissa and Tammy Etheridge Separate [people]
Melissa Etheridge appeared on The View this morning and naturally got into discussing Prop 8, she ended up calling Elisabeth Hasselbeck out on she had discussed gay marriage on a previous show.
Melissa straight up asked Elisabeth if she was for gay marriage or same sex marriage, to which Elisabeth said it is a legal issue and not a personal issue.
Before things could get really heated, Sherri Shepherd had to interupt and get Melissa to sing a Christmas song from her new album.
Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.
Okay, cool I don’t mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We’re gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that’s not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won’t have to pay their taxes either.
Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.
Oh and too bad California, I know you were looking forward to the revenue from all of those extra marriages. I guess you will have to find some other way to get out of the budget trouble you are in.
…Really?
When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation “eliminates the right” and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, “Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today” and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays? Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say “I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me”? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California?
I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.
I know when I grew up gay was a bad word. Homo, lezzie, faggot, dyke. Ignorance and fear ruled the day. There were so many “thems” back then. The blacks, the poor … you know, “them”. Then there was the immigrants. “Them.†Now the them is me.
I tell myself to take a breath, okay take another one, one of the thems made it to the top. Obama has been elected president. This crazy fearful insanity will end soon. This great state and this great country of ours will finally come to the understanding that there is no “them”. We are one. We are united. What you do to someone else you do to yourself. That “judge not, lest ye yourself be judged” are truthful words and not Christian rhetoric.
Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.
Come to think of it, I should get a federal tax break too…
