I complained about Beyonce's Lemonade losing Album of the Year this year because it was the only album nominated that kinda balanced between critical acclaim and commercial success. But of course, her name isn't Adele, and was born to lose.
For the record, Adele's 25 is not a bad album, and is far from the worst album to win the Album of the Year Grammy Award. There have been multiple winners in Grammy history that are honestly just glorified novelty acts (ex: Tony Bennett's MTV Unplugged won 1995, I kid thee not). Adele is a talented modern artist making dramatic modern music; good on her. The fact that the Grammy Academy tries to show that they care about "the album" is why I'll always be interested. And some great albums have won in the past that truly have lived up to their legacy.
Here is my list of the 10 best albums to ever win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year!
-I was gonna make an Honorable Mention list, but it got long.
-Ranking this list was basically comparing tomatoes/tomatos. All great. #1 was obvious.
10 Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water
This was probably S&G's most accessible album while also using the most diverse influences. Paul Simon would continue this delicate balance on his own. Art Garfunkel said "so long..."
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9 Bee Gees / Various Artists Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track
If we truly live in a world where cocaine is the only thing that matters, this album should be #1. The artists made these songs in exchange for cocaine, recorded them on cocaine, created bright disco dance floors with colors inspired by cocaine, and we got "How Deep Is Your Love."
8 Carole King Tapestry
I cannot think of the Grammy's without thinking about this album. We get the base rock instruments cleanly edited to a tee, fronted by the woman who wrote singalong songs for the ages.
7 Paul Simon Graceland
16 years after his AOTY Grammy for Troubled Water and 11 years after his award for Still Crazy After All These Years, he had to do something completely different. Post-divorce with Carrie Fisher, his mid-life crisis drove him to make the most universally lovable Afro-pop album ever.
6 U2 The Joshua Tree
I think my two favorite album openers of the 80s have to be "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 and "Teen Age Riot" by Sonic Youth. Needless to say, the Grammy Academy definitely prefers one over the other...
5 Michael Jackson Thriller
All the young dudes reading this will think this album is ranked too low. I highly recommend reading the rest of this list. It's a good list.
4 Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life
This was the 3rd Album of the Year award Stevie Wonder won within a span of 4 years. A double-LP with an EP attached (that's a 3-disc release, count 'em!), 130 musicians and producers were involved in the recording process, paving the way for ambitious R&B artists to come.
3 Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Unlike the entire "Saturday Night Fever" experience, Rumours makes drug culture seem a lot less ridiculous. You sleep with your bandmates, you break up with your bandmates, but you stay in the band. You stay synchronized, you keep looking forward, but you keep your visions to yourself.
2 Stevie Wonder Innervisions
Much like Michael Jackson, the world watched little Stevie grow up. The boy who used to shout "Baby! Everything is alright!" was suddenly making sonically bonkers songs about America's drug habits, inner-city racism, and President Nixon. When little Stevie stopped 5 minutes into "Living for the City" to play a spoken-word skit about cops sending a "nigger" to prison, I'm pretty sure the world got their reality check.
1 The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Do you know who won AOTY the year before this album? Frank Sinatra. The year before that? Frank Sinatra again. The crooning hero of the 50's was winning Grammy's in freaking 1967. This had to change. So not only did the Grammy Academy pick a popular album by a modern band, they picked the zaniest, most futuristic, neurotically stimulating album possible. I watch the Grammy's because it's fun to see if they pick the sound of the future... or some old fogey.
