KENT: The Influx II: Jethro Tull Henley

PAUL KENT / Stafford County Sun
Published: February 14, 2008

Metal fans nationwide did it over twenty years ago, watching as Metallica lost Best Metal Album to Jethro Tull. Rap fans had the same reaction when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - I'm talking "Parents Just Don't Understand" Will Smith, not "Last Man On Earth" Will Smith - beat out Public Enemy.

Are country fans as incensed as I am that the Eagles took Best Country Group Performance for "How Long"-

I can't see why they wouldn't be. Go listen to the song. Oh, wait, don't bother. You heard it already. They sang it 37 years ago when it was called "Take It Easy" and was a thousand times better.

How this song, a retread re-write from the guy who's been feeding them hits since "Victim of Love" (JD Souther, he of "You're Only Lonely" fame) won out against far more deserving tracks is absolutely beyond me. It's one thing for the bands of yesteryear to hitch onto the country bandwagon, as I wrote about last week; it's quite another for that song to be winning out over far more deserving, true-blue country acts and numbers.

Take Emerson Drive, for example. "Moments," a #1 hit and the most played song throughout Canada - yes, Canada has its own scene, and they're more than happy to share - was touching and beautiful. Or how about Montgomery Gentry singing the virtues of being thankful for what you've got in "Lucky Man"- Heck, how about showing some love to the Western swing movement with the Time Jumpers-

Once again, you have a Grammy situation where the voters obviously scanned the list of nominees and voted for the most recognizable name. "Brooks & Dunn- Oh, they've won plenty. Emerson Drive- Oh, who cares about them, they're not even American. Whoa! The Eagles are on here-! Sign me up!"

You may be wondering why my dander is up about this - the Eagles are country-rock after all, aren't they- Perhaps they were back in the early- and mid-70's. If you're going to argue that anything from "Hotel California" and onward is country, that it even remotely smacks of country, I'm going to argue that Jethro Tull and their flute-rock is actually classical. It's going to be a stupid argument and we'll all hate ourselves for having it. Or, alternatively, you can pass me another beer and we can talk about how the Grammy Awards are a beauty pageant with all the substance of cotton candy.

Thanks for the beer, friend. Much obliged.

Paul Kent hosts Thunder After Dark, 7pm - Midnight weekdays on Thunder 104.5 Everything Country and More.

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