And the Grammy goes to...

When I was a little, I would dream about going to the Grammys as an invited artist. This was when I still wanted to be a rockstar. As I grew older, I realized I’d prefer behind the stage and went to through college trying to find my way behind the scenes, supporting an artist.

That dream came true in a roundabout way back in 2017, when I was a publicity assistant. I got to walk circles around the red carpet during the pre-show, and then spent most of the awards running around from backstage to the communications room.

Each year I hold my breath that more and more alternative and rock artists get recognized, this year we had a breakthrough with Paramore being the first female-fronted band to win Best Rock Album. No Doubt, Evanescence, Garbage, Hole, and many other female-fronted bands have been nominated in this category and it took until twenty-twenty effing four for this to happen.

While there’s a lot to say about how the Grammys awards certain artists and freezes out others - there is something magnetic about the pageantry of a wide industry coming together for one night.

Missed last week’s newsletter? Read it here

🖤 Elisa

IT’S NOT A PHASE

Things found on the interwebz this week:

• You Me At Six announced their breakup, with one last tour to before they call it quits. What a bummer of an announcement, but sometimes its good when a band leaves on their own terms, rather than phoning it in or crashing and burning. → Loudwire

• LA punk band Purest Form has hit my radar with their new EP. I’m def paying attention to see what they do next. → YouTube

• Not a bad night at the Grammys for the emos with Paramore, Billie Eilish, and boygenius winning. → THR

NOSTALGIA BLAST

“Dookie” - the album that launched both Green Day and the 90’s punk scene into the mainstream consciousness - celebrated its 30th anniversary this week!

Now that I’m thinking about the timing of this album - the grunge scene just had its moment, rock needed an injection of humor to counterbalance grunge’s dark and brooding tone. And from Dookie, comedic punk albums from Blink-182, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, MxPx, etc would find wide audiences in the 90s.

Throw it back to the full set of the band performing at the infamous Woodstock ‘94. Skip to 19:17 to see the perfectly aimed mud thrown at Billie Joe’s guitar and he just kept going!

DIARY ENTRY

Love poems, in February? Groundbreaking.

CHEER UP EMO KID

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