Jena Ardell

​Guess we hit a nerve when we called out Dave Grohl for his anti-EDM Grammy Awards acceptance speech.

Besides tons of hate mail (our favorite told us to " ... go eat a bag of dicks") and some support (Moby's former manager noted we were there when that real punk rocker went electronic in the early 1990s), lots of folks noted Grohl has uttered similar comments in the past as part of his spin for the Foo Fighters' latest album, Wasting Light, which he has said was recorded with all-analog equipment (but which went digital post-production). Sure, that was his spiel, but the timing was pointed. It was the most "electronic" Grammy Awards ever.

Feeling the heat, Grohl today issued a clarification of his comments, made during his acceptance speech for Best Rock Album at last weekend's awards:

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Lina Lecaro

​Deadmau5, Rihanna
House of Blues
1-13-12

See also:
*Why The Grammys Stink
*2012 Grammys: The Best, the Worst and the Weirdest

Better than... The Grammy telecast's attempts to showcase EDM.

Skrillex may have won three Grammys, but it was Deadmau5 who ultimately impacted the celebration, its red carpet and after-party scene the most. The mouse man is, after all, Skrillex's mentor, and his success helped catapult the dubstepper. His little prank yesterday was awesome too; while walking the carpet, Deadmau5 wore a t-shirt with Skrillex's cell phone number on it.

In any case, forget about the show's EDM "moment," and its performances fusing electronic music with rock and hip-hop. The genre was best represented at Deadmau5's House of Blues benefit later, which featured Rihanna, Sen Engrosso and Calvin Harris. It was perhaps the hottest electronic music ticket last night, even if it was a $1000 one, with proceeds going to the Children's Orthopeadic Center and the Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer artists' program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The place was packed throughout the night.

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Rebecca Haithcoat

Drake's after-party

​See also:
*Why The Grammys Stink
*Deadmau5, Rihanna - House of Blues - 2/13/12
*Dan Wilson: From "Closing Time" to Adele's "Someone Like You"

Adele won everything. Kanye didn't show. Nicki Minaj out-Gaga'ed Gaga by showing up with a Pope imitator as her escort. Shouldn't he have led the prayer for Whitney Houston? Beyond that, here are our picks for the best and worst of the night.

Person Most Likely to Be Mistaken for a Tranny:
Bruno Mars, whose performance makeup is the best recommendation for airbrush foundation out there. But he kind of redeemed himself for pretending to throw a tantrum when he lost Best Pop Solo Performance to Adele.

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Rebecca Haithcoat

Illegal photo from inside the press room before the show started

​See also:
*2012 Grammys: The Best, the Worst and the Weirdest
*Deadmau5, Rihanna - House of Blues - 2/13/12
*Dan Wilson: From "Closing Time" to Adele's "Someone Like You"

So, our Grammy credentials were fairly limited last night. In fact, we were trapped in a room for eight hours, with journalists from all over the world sitting at long black tables staring at screens. Official handlers begged us to ask questions to folks nominated for categories like Best Surround Sound Album, Best Recording Package and Best Album Notes.

The pre-telecast ceremony started at 1 pm, with all the poor bastards who weren't considered worthy of being on screen. The Larry Batiste Orchestra led the way with a jazzy joyful number that would have delighted grannies everywhere. Everyone was very dapper despite the fact that the only ones who would see this are their moms and us; even the hosts compared this part of the program to speed dating. Winners had a couple of minutes to run up to the stage and give a speech before being whisked away. "You should try listening to my record," said the poor man who won the Surround Sound Grammy for Eric Clapton's "Layla." "It's pretty great."

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Melanie Nissen

Dan Wilson

​Minneapolis band Semisonic are quintessential one-hit wonders. Their 1998 song "Closing Time" cracked the top ten, and lives on through movies and TV, and everyone seems to know the words when it plays. The group never topped the song; never really came very close, in fact. But the act's lead singer Dan Wilson didn't just disappear and get a job in construction; now living in the Hollywood Hills, he's found new life as a behind-the-scenes hitmaker.

He's collaborated with everyone from Katy Perry to Keith Urban, and won the 2007 Song of the Year Grammy for co-writing the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice." This year he's again nominated again co-writing Adele's "Someone Like You." In fact, he seems to prefer things this way, helping other artists find the missing piece in their music. "I would rather feel like I am a big, giant magnifying glass and I am sort of magnifying what the artist already has," he says. "I am trying to figure out how to make the song feel more personal, more close up, and more vulnerable--or at least emotional."

He says he felt confined and censored as the lead singer of Semisonic.

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Ivan Fernandez

​Redemption is what singer-songwriter Gustavo Galindo's first Grammy nomination means to him. He's something of a Mexican John Mayer type -- in both style and appearance -- and is a nominee for Best Latin Pop, Rock, or Urban Album for his 2011 Spanish-language, rock/pop debut album Entre La Ciudad Y El Mar. It took him years to scrape the work together, piece by piece.

The achievement happens in the wake of a snub from the Latin Grammys. "If anything, I realized that [with that organization] there's still a lot of politics. You see the same people get voted for all the time. Mana wins alternative album of the year...since when are they alternative?" He adds that he also believes the system is rife with nepotism.

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Danielle Bacher

​Inside a white-walled room in Interscope Records' co-founder Ted Field's film production company, a relaxed Brody Brown leans back into his chair. "You know, I feel like it's coming true, the dream I have been fighting for my entire life," he says. "It's unfolding in front of my eyes."

That will never be more true than on Sunday, when he's up for a song of the year Grammy, for co-writing Bruno Mars' single "Grenade" -- which the pair will perform onstage. Mars' album Doo-Wops and Hooligans has been a monster hit, and it also features Brown's contributions on "Runaway Baby," "The Other Side" and "Our First Time."

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