51st Annual Grammy Nominees

The nominees for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards have been released. The list is very extensive, so I'll let you browse it yourself.

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Nominations List

However, if you don't mind, these are my selections for a few of the categories:

Album of the Year
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
Eddie Vedder - 'Rise'

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Radiohead - 'House of Cards'
Best Rock Song
Death Cab For Cutie - 'I Will Posses Your Heart'
Best Alternative Album
Radiohead - 'In Rainbows'
Best Comedy Album
George Carlin - It's Bad For Ya
Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Best Short Form Music Video
Radiohead - 'House of Cards'

I'm really happy to see Radiohead nominated for Album of the Year and hope they win, because they deserve it. Then all the way down the list is Eddie Vedder; while I found his inclusion a nice surprise, I doubt he'll be able to best Bruce Springsteen or Paul McCartney. And back to Radiohead ... no offense to the band but 'House of Cards' really isn't a "rock" track; don't get me wrong, it's a good song, but couldn't the nominators choose a track like 'Bodysnatchers' instead?

Then there's Best Rock Song ... I'm really at a loss because I happen to enjoy 4/5 of the nominees (sorry, Bruce): Radiohead - 'House of Cards', Kings of Leon - 'Sex On Fire', and Coldplay- 'Violet Hill' were nominated besides Death Cab; but when a song has 153 plays in my iTunes I can't say no. Another hard to chose category, Alternative album, with nominees like: Beck - Modern Guilt, Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs, it was quite a brain challenger for me. But in the end, I feel that In Rainbows works best as an entire album than the other nominees.

Onto non-music, the one nominee I'd like to point out is George Carlin, who passed away earlier this year. I don't think I need to go on about him, but he was a truly funny man and certainly deserves such an award. Yes, even packaging gets awards, and I'm going to assume the nomination for In Rainbows is for the 'do-it-yourself' package for the CD and not the limited 'discbox' set from when the album was release online. And lastly, all the way at the bottom of the list, comes a 'House of Cards' nomination that is actually fitting, as it's video was made without any actually cameras, and if that doesn't sound innovative to you, take a look for yourself.

I'm seriously, really surprised to see In Rainbows nominated in so many categories. It's not that I don't feel it's deserving, I just never felt that the overly popularity-oriented Grammys would consider them so much. I was also going note the lack of Oasis being mentioned in any category, but then I read:

"For recordings released during the Eligibility Year
October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008"

So then I shut my mouth... Anyways, what are your thoughts on the nominees and/or my personal choices?

In other news, Wayne Brady is nominated for two R&B awards?!