I am seldom capable of watching an awards show, as they are just too painfully stupid. Hence I am grateful to EWTN TV host Raymond Arroyo for providing us with a nice summary of the recent Grammy Awards program on National Review Online.

After recounting the ghastly affair, Arroyo offers the following conclusion: 

Given this one night’s collective assault on the ears, the eyes, and decency itself, is it any wonder that record sales have plummeted? If this is the best that the American recording industry has to offer the world, their future is very bleak indeed. While relatively cheap music downloads doubled last year, the industry’s bread and butter, CDs sales, continued to slide. In the year 2000, ’N Sync sold more than nine million copies of their album, No Strings Attached. This year’s bestseller, High School Musical sold a paltry 3.7 million. Big retailers like Musicland and Tower Records have called it quits for good. People will download a tune here and there, but their devotion to individual artists is slipping; their willingness to plop down 18 bucks to hear slickly packaged, homogenized drek is gone. As one record exec told a Canadian newspaper this week, “I think the fan is in control now… they have the power.” To quote those great Simpsons: “Heh, heh.”

True.

That’s why most discerning consumers are turning to alternative sources and styles, as I noted in my Grammy piece last year on NRO.