Arcade Fire at the Pacific Coliseum, Sept 28 2010. Ashley Tanasiychuk photo

Arcade Fire wins Best Album Grammy

First, the big news: Cee-Lo Green’s outfit. Oh yeah, and Arcade Fire won Album of the Year for The Suburbs, beating out Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gag. Pretty incredible that a Canadian indie-rock band (they’re on Merge in the U.S.) could take this award. (Has any Canadian band won it before?)

Cee-Lo Green and Gwyneth on the 51st Grammy Awards. Reuters photo

Other Canadian winners – Neil Young, who won for Best Rock Song for “Angry World” and Burnaby, B.C. singer Michael Buble for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Crazy Love).

La Roux won for Best Electronic/Dance Album, Muse take Best Rock Album for The Resistance back to France, and the Black Keys won for Best Alternative Music Album (Brothers) and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (“Tighten Up”). Portland, Oregon bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding won for Best New Artist.

Perhaps the weirdest award is the one for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance – Paul McCartney for “Helter Skelter”. Uhm, what year is this?

Other notable wins: Robert Gordon for his liner notes (“Best Album Notes”) for Keep An Eye on the Sky, a four-disc Rhino Records retrospective on the band Big Star; Lewis Black’s Stark Raving Black for Best Comedy Album (they even make these any more?); Jon Stewart for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart presents Earth (audiobook) for Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling); and Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Genuine Negro Jig for Best Traditional Folk Album.

As for the performances…

Arcade Fire thoroughly rocked; Rihanna, Eminem and Dr. Dre should were completely overwrought and silly; Katy Perry was Katy Perry; Cee-lo and Gwyneth on “F&^% You” (here changed to “Forget You”) were completely weird and excellent as they performed the song with Muppets. And Justin Bieber? The kid sang the title track for his new “biopic” Justin Bieber: Never Say Never with his buddy Usher and something called a Jaden Smith.

Presenting the award for Best Album? Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. But the three-hour circle jerk didn’t appear to have an actual host – though Ryan Seacrest was said to be lurking around.

Here is a list of the 2011 Grammy Award winners:

Record Of The Year: Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now”
Album Of The Year: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Song Of The Year: Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now”
Best New Artist: Esperanza Spalding
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: Bruno Mars – “Just The Way You Are”
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Train – “Hey, Soul Sister” (Live)
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Herbie Hancock, P!nk, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No. 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare – “Imagine”
Best Pop Instrumental Performance: Jeff Beck – “Nessun Dorma”
Best Pop Instrumental Album: Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto – Take Your Pick
Best Pop Vocal Album: Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
Best Dance Recording: Rihanna – “Only Girl (In The World)”
Best Electronic/Dance Album: La Roux – La Roux
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Michael Buble – Crazy Love
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: Paul McCartney – “Helter Skelter”
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: The Black Keys – “Tighten Up”
Best Hard Rock Performance: Them Crooked Vultures – “New Fang”
Best Metal Performance: Iron Maiden – El Dorado
Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Jeff Beck – “Hammerhead”
Best Rock Song: Neil Young – “Angry World”
Best Rock Album: Muse – The Resistance
Best Alternative Music Album: The Black Keys – Brothers
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: Fantasia – “Bittersweet”
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Usher – “There Goes My Baby”
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Sade – “Soldier Of Love”
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: John Legend & The Roots – “Hang On In There”
Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Cee Lo Green – “F*** You”
Best R&B Song: John Legend & The Roots – “Shine”
Best R&B Album: John Legend & The Roots – Wake Up!
Best Contemporary R&B Album: Usher – Raymond V Raymond
Best Rap Solo Performance: Eminem – “I’m Not Afraid”
Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz – “On To the Next One”
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – “Empire State Of Mind”
Best Rap Song: Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – “Empire State Of Mind”
Best Rap Album: Eminem – Recovery
Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Miranda Lambert – “The House That Built Me”
Best Male Country Vocal Performance: Keith Urban – “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now”
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: Zac Brown Band & Alan Jackson – “As She’s Walking Away”
Best Country Instrumental Performance: – Marty Stuart – “Hummingbyrd”
Best Country Song: Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now”
Best Country Album: Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: Various Artists – Crazy Heart