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- - - - - - - - - - - - Feb. 22, 2001 | Slick and polished? Yes. Controversial? Well, maybe. Humorous? Not really. The funniest thing about this year's Grammy Awards was the commercials -- unless, of course, you count Gloria Estefan's shirt, Toni Braxton's naked attempt to pull a Jennifer Lopez, Faith Hill's possible loss of a button, that orb Christina Aguilera floated in on (at least while she was grabbing onto it for dear life, she couldn't do that weird hand-flailing thing she does) and Steely Dan's incredibly underwhelming acceptance speech. (Eminem wuz robbed.)
But here -- without further ado -- are the most quotable lines of the evening, most of them from host Jon Stewart, since he was pretty much the only one who was allowed to talk. On the red carpet: "I got a big ... (ahem) ... never mind."
"We're here just to see celebrities. I just saw Tony Bennett!"
"Every once in a while you've gotta write a dirty song. The feeling just comes over you."
"I just tripped over a blue guy."
"I mean, I have fake hair and I have a lot of makeup on, but underneath all that there's a human being."
"I'm just happy to be alive!"
On the show: "As I was watching Madonna writhing around on the hood of the car all I could think was, 'That's really gonna drive up her insurance premiums.'" "Sean Puffy Combs cannot be here tonight. He's standing trial in New York City. We don't know whether or not he'll be convicted. But I'm sure Sean would like everyone to know that it's an honor just to be indicted." "I don't know what all the controversy is about, quite frankly. I've met Eminem. I met him backstage and he is really gay -- I mean, just about the gayest guy you'd ever meet." "There are some dangerous lyrics out there. And if there are any kids watching, I want to tell you tonight, 'No matter what it says in the song, Saturday night is not all right for fighting. It's really not.'"
"We're in a sports arena and comedy is hard. But you know what does work at a sports arena? Free T-shirts! "By the way, if you win, just stay in your seat. We'll get the Grammy to you."
"Apparently Ray Romano was just caught giving his limo driver $50,000 to say the T-shirt gun was his."
"I was inspired by very beautiful women. I'm moved by beautiful women. As a matter of fact, right now I'm moving a little bit, so maybe I should step back."
"Speechless. We are speechless."
"I want to thank everybody who could look past the controversy and whatever and see the album for what it was and also for what it isn't."
"After doing the duet with Elton John, I hear he's agreed to go to the bathroom with George Michael."
"It's very exciting to be here tonight with all these musicians that I love so much and that I have downloaded for free for so long."
"I think I should do your show. I think I should do 'Dharma and Meg.'"
"You're much smaller in real life. I would like to thank God and my mother also. But I just have this feeling, this picture in my head of God looking down on people like us on occasions like this and going, 'Uh-oh. Don't thank me for that song. There's no hook, the chorus is weak and they'll never play it on the radio.' Thanks for playing it on the radio."
"On a personal level, this century has been going so well for us. We finished our album. I had a little baby boy a little while ago. The Jubilee 2000 work has been incredible. Just everything's going great. There's been also some really great breakthroughs in science. The disposable mobile phone's come through, the three-blade razor and now the female orgasmatron, which is great."
"I'm just blown away by the fact that the Edge talked. Did you know he could talk?"
"I saw Blue Man Group without makeup on, and I was amazed. It's the guys from Kiss!"
"The great Carlos Santana and I are really representing all the other teen acts tonight."
"It's a very unusual emotion I'm feeling right now. I think it's called humility. I'm completely not used to it."
"That kind of guy makes you long for the old days of Soy Bomb. At least be creative and take some clothes off, for chrissake."
"It's very good to see a boxer getting into music, since so many musicians are getting into fistfights."
"We haven't gotten freedom for Leonard Peltier yet. Maybe he's not Marc Rich enough."
"Oh, come on. I'm old enough to be that boy's ... lover."
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