On The Download: Grammy’s Best Alternative Album

When we over here at On The Download were dividing up what Grammy categories we were going to cover, somehow I ended up with Best Polka Album.

“Nonsense,” I said, “Everyone knows that Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra will win for ‘Let The Whole World Sing.’ I want another category.”

So I stuck my hand back into the sorting hat and pulled out a slip of paper which read “Best Alternative Album.” Now this I can work with.

The nominees for this year’s Alternative Grammy are: Beck for “Modern Guilt,” Death Cab For Cutie for “Narrow Stairs,” Gnarls Barkley for “The Odd Couple,” My Morning Jacket for “Evil Urges,” and Radiohead for “In Rainbows.”

I’ll dispense with, for now, my usual arguments about how it is impossible to winnow down the dozens of “alternative” albums that were released last year into a group of the five “best,” much less selecting just one as the winner (not to mention just what exactly the music highlighted here is supposed to be “alternative” to). I’m sure you’ve heard them before.

Instead, we’ll just assume that people with more time than I do listened to all of the albums, and picked these five as the best.

Anyway, right off the bat, I can tell you that while my head says Radiohead, my heart says My Morning Jacket. “In Rainbows” was a game changer, not just for Radiohead, but for the music industry as a whole.

While letting their fans pay whatever they wanted for the album (including nothing), while in turn racking up the best sales numbers of their career, Radiohead proved that bands with loyal and established fan bases could be their own bosses and move records without help from the major labels. After all, if Radiohead could do it, what’s to stop U2 or Beyonce from doing it?

As a matter of fact, with the increasing fragmentation of the means of music consumption as well as advertising and distribution, why would anyone need a record label anymore?

Bands keep total creative control of their music, they get to charge what they want for it, and since any band who can use a home studio and find space on a internet server can distribute their music on their terms, why would a band give a label a cut of their hard earned money for no reason? Granted, digital downloads are not for everyone, and I doubt that Thom Yorke is chomping at the bit to figure out how to get the next Radiohead album into Wal-Mart for Christmas ‘09, but I digress.

“In Rainbows” is one of the finest albums of Radiohead’s career, and should win Album of the Year.

However…

I heart My Morning Jacket. 2008 was a very eventful year for MMJ — the release of their biggest selling (so far) album, their first time on “SNL,” singer/songwriter/producer/frontman Jim James falling off the stage during a show in Iowa City and hurting himself pretty seriously in the process, and then coming back to wrap up the year with a blowout show at Madison Square Garden. I’ll admit that I am quite proud of this band that I’ve seen rise from complete anonymity in Louisville, KY to headlining MSG for New Year’s Eve in just a few short years, and I think a Grammy would serve as great recognition not only of this album, but for how much this band has accomplished and how far they’ve come.

From the fields of Bonnaroo to the temple of Radio City Music Hall, some of the best live shows I’ve seen in the past five years have come courtesy of MMJ. And, if you factor in the Jacket going into the studio and coming out with three fantastic albums in a row (“It Still Moves,” “Z,” and now, “Evil Urges”; five if you count the pre-major label “The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn”), My Morning Jacket is shaping up to be one of the most important American rock bands of this new age. “Evil Urges” is still one of the best records of the year, and one of 2008’s must have albums.

So, in short, if I were a member of the Recording Academy and had a vote, I would cast my Best Alternative Album Vote for “Evil Urges,” and Best Album vote for “In Rainbows.” Everybody wins!

(For the record, my picks for Best Record, Album, Song and New Artist are as follows: “Paper Planes” by M.I.A (even though nobody seems to want to give the Clash any credit for the original sample from “Straight to Hell” off Combat Rock), “In Rainbows,” “Chasing Pavements,” and…oh what the hell, The Jonas Brothers.)