Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' exhibit

Pink Floyd's The Wall

Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

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Pink Floyd's 'The Wall': For The Record

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Find out how Roger Waters' critique of "education" journeyed from imaginative concept to the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Nov 23, 2017 - 8:15 am

"Teacher, leave them kids alone! All in all it's just another brick in the wall. All in all you're just another brick in the wall."

Although Pink Floyd's GRAMMY win at the 37th Annual GRAMMY Awards came without Roger Waters in the lineup, they all shared in The Wall's 2008 induction to the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.

For The Record: Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

Originally released on Nov. 30, 1979, the epic double album was nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal at the 23rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, and was subsequently adapted into the 1982 film Pink Floyd: The Wall. Waters went on to also be nominated individually for the 2014 documentary Roger Waters: The Wall at the 58th GRAMMY Awards.

The high-concept appeal of Waters' imagination did not impress record executives initially, but over time it's caught on in a big way. The Wall has been certified 23-times platinum by the RIAA, trailing only the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

The single "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)" from The Wall became iconic in itself, partly thanks to obnoxious schoolmaster lines such as, "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" Many of the song's frills were added by Bob Ezrin, making itself a self-contained drama within the album's wider scope.

The main character Pink in The Wall was partially autobiographical for Waters but also partly based on former Pink Floyd bandmate Syd Barrett, who had originally named the band. The two friends struggled with similar psychological and substance-abuse issues, but Barrett's prevented him from being able to continue writing and performing. Waters was under immense pressure to step up and deliver creativity that could fill Barrett's big boots.

The result was The Wall.

The Making Of Pink Floyd's The Wall

The Doors

The Doors

Photo: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images

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The Doors' Self-Titled Debut: For The Record

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The album provided a provoking rock challenge, daring others to create new emotional worlds, filled with poetically fresh ways of seeing life
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jun 7, 2018 - 12:36 pm

Young, beastly, psychedelic, and at full strength in 1967, the rock band the Doors released their self-titled debut on Jan. 4. That summer in July, the song "Light My Fire" made it to No. 1 on the Hot 100, and by September the album was No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album that prevented The Doors from reaching No. 1? Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Both albums are now in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, records of an incredible era when some members of the flower generation escaped into dreams, stretching the boundaries of what rock music could be.

For The Record: The Doors' 'The Doors'

In 2007 on the 40th anniversary of their epic debut, the Doors received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Doors "remained a band of intelligent, eclectic, adventurous musicians," Ben Fong-Torres wrote in tribute to them that year. "They resisted rules, trends and, sometimes, even law and order. They were unpredictable, both in the studio and on stage. The result was the kind of rock that means the most, that has impact, that endures."

Like Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley, The Doors' lead singer and lyricist Jim Morrison offered a visual icon and a musical attitude that stood, and moved, for rock and roll. Unfortunately, Morrison's issues with substance abuse and excess seem to have contributed to his premature death of heart failure in 1971. Morrison was buried days later at Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery in the Poets' Corner, and tourists continue to visit his grave to mourn Morrison's loss.

At the 22nd GRAMMY Awards the album An American Prayer was nominated for Best Spoken Word, Documentary Or Drama Recording. The band's surviving members prepared the compilation including his final poetry session before he died, leading to Morrison's sole GRAMMY nomination.

Guitarist Robby Krieger's 2010 Singularity was nominated at the 53rd GRAMMY Awards for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Although the surviving trio continued to release albums together for a few years after Morrison's death, they soon disbanded. Drummer John Densmore supported Morrison's estate and artistic wishes in fighting to prevent commercial licensing of the group's music and logo. Ray Manzarek was the organist whose classic keyboard playing haunts the memories of most Americans; he passed away in 2013.

Producer Paul Rothchild and GRAMMY winning engineer Bruce Botnick recorded the album in just six days. Its hit "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" became a rock classic and the extravagant, 11-minute "The End" was a self-indulgent but rich demonstration of how rock could be used to act out drama. Rolling Stone ranked The Doors No. 42 of their 500 greatest albums of all time.

The track "Light My Fire" was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1998, followed by the entire album The Doors in 2002.

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John Coltrane

John Coltrane

Photo: JP Jazz Archive /Redferns

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John Coltrane, 'A Love Supreme': For The Record

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The legend transformed his personal struggles into musical uplift, creating a historic album filled with trend-setting jazz experimentation
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
May 3, 2018 - 2:53 pm

A controversial leader of experimental jazz, legendary saxophone player John Coltrane recorded his studio album A Love Supreme in December 1964 and it was released the following month, becoming for many his most-beloved piece of work. Filled with spiritual exaltation, his abundance of talent balanced free expression with just enough traditional jazz feel to keep its four heartfelt tracks accessible.

For The Record: John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme'

The sidemen in the quartet on A Love Supreme were bass player Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner. Coltrane is playing on tenor sax and chants the four-note theme "a love supreme" with himself, later layered by overdubs.

The suite's four parts are "Acknowledgement," "Resolution," "Pursuance," and "Psalm." In "Psalm" Coltrane performs a poem by playing it on his sax. The text was provided in the album's liner notes. It closes, "God breathes through us so completely … so gently we hardly feel it … yet, it is our everything. Thank you God."

The reception of A Love Supreme was major. The album sold a half-million copies by 1970, more than 10 times Coltrane's usual level of sales. In addition, at the 8th GRAMMY Awards, the album brought him his first career nominations for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance — Small Group Or Soloist With A Small Group and for Best Original Jazz Composition.

The album also has a lasting legacy through other artists' patronage to the masterpiece. John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana covered "Acknowledgement" on their 1972 album Love Devotion Surrender, titling their track "A Love Supreme." The GRAMMY-nominated U2 song "Angel Of Harlem" calls out Coltrane and his legendary album as being spiritually present in New York City while "the street sounds like a symphony."

To celebrate the legacy of Coltrane's pioneering work, including A Love Supreme as the pinnacle of his creative output, the Recording Academy honored Coltrane with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. In 1999 A Love Supreme was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, along with his 1957 album Blue Train.

A Love Supreme was also inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2015, ensuring its preservation for future generations. Its manuscript is preserved at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as one of the Treasures of American History.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran

Photo: Matt Jelonek/WireImage

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IFPI Global Music Report: Streaming, Ed Sheeran Top 2017

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International recording industry organization reviews a year of continued strong growth, but music still has not recovered its former market strength
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Apr 24, 2018 - 2:52 pm

On April 24, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) released its Global Music Report 2018, reviewing and tabulating the business fortunes of the recording industry last year worldwide. The music industry grew overall in 2017 by more than 8 percent to $17.3 billion, led by streaming revenues which grew more than 41 percent. "We're not getting complacent," said Warner Music Group CEO of international and global commercial services Stu Bergen at the report's release event in London. "We've fought too hard to get here and, after 15 years of decline, there's still plenty of room to grow." Last year was the third consecutive year of growth for the first time this century.

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Perform "Despacito"

The IFPI report credited Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You" as last year's top song followed by Luis Fonsi's "Despacito." While top sellers and the 176 million subscribers paying for premium music accounts make for good news, IFPI chief executive Frances Moore warned that "there is a structural fault in the system" because of the value gap. Combining paid and ad-supported streaming for music, revenues total $5.6 billion with 272 million users overall. On the video side, revenues are $856 million, much less, with more than 1.3 billion users, much more. "Until we fix that structural defect to the market it will always be a struggle," said Moore.

In 32 global markets, digital is now more than half of all revenues. Physical sales and downloads have continued to decline. Without counting video, streaming is 33 percent of all revenues. In 2017, adding video back in bumps that 5 percent up to 38 percent from all digital. If the value gap wasn't holding back fair music revenue for video streams, that video bump would be much more substantial.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

CeCe Winans

CeCe Winans

Photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com

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CeCe Winans, 'Let Them Fall In Love': For The Record

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Winans' GRAMMY win for her 2017 gospel album arrived 30 years after her win for the 1987 hit "For Always" that she sang with her brother, BeBe Winans
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Feb 22, 2018 - 4:34 pm

After close to a decade concentrating on ministry at Nashville Life Church with husband Alvin Love, the 2017 album Let Them Fall In Love restated the strength of CeCe Winans' musical and devotional message. It won Best Gospel Album at the 60th GRAMMY Awards and its track "Never Have To Be Alone" won for Best Gospel Performance/Song.

For The Record: CeCe Winans, 'Let Them Fall … '

Winans' GRAMMY wins began with the 1987 hit "For Always" performed with her brother, BeBe Winans. Still going strong 30 years later, her total GRAMMY wins so far have risen to an even dozen. And fittingly, "For Always" describes the impact she has had on American gospel and R&B music and on listeners' hearts.

CeCe Winans' family of gospel-enthused recording artists and performers has a complex, marvelous history. Her 1984 album, Lord Lift Us Up, with BeBe drew a Best Soul Gospel Performance By A Duo Or Group nomination at the 27th GRAMMY Awards, their first. BeBe has six career GRAMMYs, as does brother Marvin. As a group, the Winans — Carvin, Michael, Marvin, and Ronald — have five GRAMMY wins.

Additional family members, including the parents and the siblings' children, account for many more GRAMMY nominations. That's some spirit, accompanied by a gospel legacy almost too awesome to absorb.

Taking a look at CeCe's half-dozen gospel album GRAMMY wins before Let Them Fall In Love, they are bookmarked by collaborations with BeBe — 1991's Different Lifestyles and 2009's Still. Between those years, four of her solo albums won — her first solo LP, 1995's Alone In His Presence, followed by CeCe Winans (2001), Purified (2005), and Thy Kingdom Come (2008).

We don't have to imagine the faith that produced this rich collection of excellence because we can listen to it. NPR described just one track of CeCe Winans' latest as "a mighty blast of joy," so step right up.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"