GRAMMY Report: Green Day's Still Blowin' Up

We went through the pains of watching Sunday night's GRAMMY Awards telecast so you didn't have to.

Ray Charles was unsurprisingly the top winner, but our Bay area homeboys in Green Day made us proud with American Idiot's win for Best Rock Album. Their live performance of the title track was triumphant. Thankfully their use of fireball pyrotechnics elicited more of a rock n' roll fist pump than a cringe. Billie Joe was even invited to sing "Across the Universe" alongside other luminaries including Bono, Brian Wilson, and Stevie Wonder, proving that Green Day's getting some serious r-e-s-p-e-c-t these days. Download the song from iTunes here and feel good that the proceeds will benefit UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts. Check out the complete list of winners, and let us know if you see any other Bay Area musicians that were honored.

Overall, we have to say this year's telecast was an improvement over past years. The performances were a little better, Latifah did such a good hosting job that you could almost forget they had a host, and though the constant interjections of Lifetime Achievement Award winners was distracting, at least some long-lasting talents were given their props. That being said, it was still the puffed up egofest it has always been. Thank you, Neil Portnow, for informing us that the GRAMMYs are "the pinnacle of musical achievement and excellence." If you do say so yourself.

Our highlights and lowlights after the jump.

Highlights:

Green Day's performance. We wonder if they got the cold shoulder backstage from any of the red-state country stars like "Red Neck Woman" Gretchen Wilson. Not that they would care.

Melissa Etheridge, answering the question "What body part can a woman expose, in this post-Nipplegate era, to shock us anymore?" Her shiny bald head looked fantastic coupled with the giant smile on her face. We thought it was an awesome PR stunt until we heard Ms. Etheridge had recently gone through chemotherapy. That takes it from pressworthy to downright political. Cheers for her refusal to cover up, and here's to a speedy recovery.

U2 not playing that "Vertigo" song.

Loretta Lynn scolding Jack White during their acceptance speech like a crochety grandmother to a shy grandson. "Where you goin' now? Get up here!" She made his deference look like squirrelly mischief.

Lowlights:

Gwen Stefani's pants-less pirate getup.

The multi-band medley that concluded the opening musical numbers. Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas, Franz Ferdinand and Los Lonely Boys all singing their tunes simultaneously -- was that to show some sort of hand-holding solidarity, or was it demonstrating the homogeny of today's top hits?

The underwhelming duet by J. Lo and Marc Anthony. Marc's singing put her off-key nasal warbling to shame, as did her bedazzled nightgown, the cheeseball art deco boudoir set and the scrunchie she had in her hair. What was that he threw around her shoulders at the end, the soggy bathroom rug? We do have to give them props for singing in Spanish though.

Kanye West's strong-arming the GRAMMYs into letting his protégé John Legend onstage for two different musical performances. Legend got up from behind his piano and almost scared Mavis Staples off-stage with his intimidating "duet" with her. Show some respect -- she's Mavis Staples, and you're, who are you again?

The all-star country jam on "Freebird."

Kanye West's acceptance speech. You could tell he wanted to say something profound and show-stealing, so he could hoard all the buzz on Monday morning. Instead, he made a reference to "Married With Children"'s Al Bundy. You fell a bit short there, Kanye.

Joss Stone, you're beautiful. You looked great in that dress. But you're no Janis. Please sit down, back there where you belong, with discarded GRAMMY diva-darlings Nelly Furtado and Macy Gray.

The GRAMMY's continued reliance on multi-artist jams. They tout them as "history-making," but really they just kill two, three, four birds with one stone. Yes, it's easier to pack more star power into your show if you make them play onstage at the same time. But does anyone really find these star-jams exciting? Alicia and Jamie, Melissa and Joss, nobody cares.

Photos from GRAMMY.com, sponsored by People. Additional photos here.