The 44th Annual Grammy Awards, hosted by Jon Stewart (The Daily Show), aired on CBS Wednesday night from 8 to 11 p.m. and showcased the biggest stars in today’s music industry.
            However, as today’s college students quickly move away from the recording mainstream, the ceremony failed to present the music of the group once referred to as the “MTV Generation.”
            According to freshman Jerelle Napolitano, who did not watch the show because of its failure to represent the music she listens to, CBS should dedicate more of its ceremony to rap, which currently has only one on-air award.
            “I didn’t even know when the Grammys were taking place; it’s not really my type of music,” she said. “I like rap, hip-hop and alternative music, which doesn’t get a lot of attention during the ceremony.”
            Big winners of the night included Alicia Keys (Song of the Year: “Fallin’,” Best New Artist, Best R&B Album: Songs in A Minor, Best R&B Song: “Fallin’” and Best Female R&B Performance: “Fallin’”), U2 (Record of the Year: “Walk On,” Best Rock Album: All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Best Group Pop Performance: “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” and Best Group Rock Performance: “Elevation”) and the quadruple-platinum certified Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? motion picture soundtrack (Album of the Year as well as various other awards for its songs).
            In addition to the music showcased in the nominations, many of the live performances, according to freshman Bobby Walling, were also not well aimed at the Rider community.
            “I really don’t care about the Grammys because with people like Tony Bennett, Billy Joel and Bob Dylan performing, the producers obviously didn’t have our generation’s tastes in mind,” Walling said. “I would have liked to see more performances by people like Ja Rule, J-Lo, Jay-Z and Nas.”
            However, according to freshman Brian Kibble, not all the performances were off from today’s tastes and even served to make the show more entertaining.
            “Even though I find acceptance speeches boring, I enjoyed the Grammys because of the live performances,” he said. “The Soggy Bottom Boys, The Ladies of Moulin Rouge and U2 all had great performances that well made up for the dragging length of the show.”
            Taking it another step further, at one point during the show, a member of the Recording Academy came out on stage to shake his finger at college students, condemning them in a lecture on why it’s wrong to download digitized music and how it only serves to hurt the artists they enjoy.
            Napolitano said that for the CBS ceremony to appeal to a larger audience, including that of the college demographic, it would have to provide a better mix of its current blend with the growing trends of today’s MTV/BET favorites.
            “Maybe if [rap, hip-hop and alternative] music were more involved with the awards, I would know more about it and tune-in,” she concluded.