Daughtry...Radiohead...Readers Respond

Three comments! And that's for a blog that's less than 48 hours old.

Going forward, reader responses will most likely be responded to directly in the comment section, but from time to time, I'll pull some out and do direct posts here. And since this blog is brand new, and the comments are just starting to come in, the first ones get their own post.

So here goes.

We began this blog with a post discussing Daughtry's three nominations at the AMAs, and whether or not that sets him up for a Best New Artist nod at the Grammys. So far, the readers seem to be saying no, but it's close, as 45% of you said Daughtry's ready for his Grammy moment. Click on the link above and vote now, if you haven't.

But reader "Pamela" took the dissenting view, writing: "He has already proven his popularity by having his album Daughtry go platinum 3 times, He also has had 3 singles from that album become number 1 on charts ... Have you seen him perform? I have and he was great. I, for one, think he deserves to win."

Well, yes. I have indeed seen Daughtry perform. I even conducted a brief interview with him when I was a reporter at Billboard. I didn't go too deep into the artistic merits of Daughtry in the post, and I'll refrain from doing that here, but ultimately, I maintain that the Best New Artist category at the Grammys is the Recording Academy's one opportunity to truly highlight some lesser-known deserving acts, artists who weren't given the benefit of appearing on one of the most popular television shows of all time. But even if Daughtry didn't have "American Idol" in his past, I found his album to be pretty safely produced pool-hall music, a suburban bar band given some studio gloss by a hot-shot producer.

"Frankie R" seems to agree, writing: "Daughtry is bland, ho-hum fare, very radio-friendly soooo like Bon Jovi or Van Halen...They will rack up a couple of nominations come Grammy time. But I hope the awards go to much worthier artists."

As do I. But some of them probably won't.

In another post, I discussed five albums that were released after the eligibility period for the Grammys ended, and therefore won't be nominated until 2009's show.

"Kelly" wrote in, saying I missed Radiohead's "In Rainbows." She wrote, "It's received the best reviews of any mainstream release on Metacritic so far this year. Its initial method of distribution shouldn't affect its chances and it is scheduled to be released on CD sometime next year."

Absolutely, I agree 100%. And you beat me to an upcoming post. Stay tuned.

But thanks for reading, and thanks for commenting.

(Photo, Radiohead, courtesy Getty Images)