I personally liked Madonna opening the show as I wasn't expecting it; it took me by surprise...and loved it...especially when she came out in the middle of the Gorillaz song!! I like Mariah Carey as well but I'm tired of hearing her song (which I love btw).

Id rather have Madonna open up the show.
Mariah doesnt dance really or move across stage with choreography so yeah Maddy is much better.

Mariah's performance was great though, the Fly Like A Bird ending was perfect.

roundables said:

If what you say is true,then why did the Grammy committee choose Madonna instead of Mariah to open the show? Look,I like Mariah,I really do.But she is just not known as an exciting,thrilling performer.Madonna is.When Madonna goes on tour,it's always a big deal.Her last two tours grossed over $200 million collectively and I think that says something about her abilities as a performer.I don't care who "made all the noise last year",Madonna is an eternal force to be reckoned with.Most of the people who are supposedly "hotter" than her haven't accomplished nearly as much as she has.

rainbowchild said:

I liked her performance too.It wasn't her best live TV performance,but it was certainly more exciting than most of the other performances.I love the Gorillaz and it was cool seeing Madonna strut into their set.How cool would it be if they opened for her on her upcoming tour?

ehuffnsd said:

Maybe.... if you consider lip-synching and dancing to be "live performance."

Mariah actually SINGS, which, along with playing instruments, is what the Grammy's are supposed to be about.

I don't even know what the award is called for dance.
[Edited 2/9/06 21:07pm]

DavidEye said:

The producer of the show choose Madonna not the Grammy committee. I think Madonna is a good performer, but she had no business performing on the show. Her music was not nominated, and the people in the audience didn't look the least bit interested. Madonna was billed as the show stopper, but the Grammys had the worst ratings since Nielsen started. She didn't bring the viewers in like they thought she would. What's worse is the numbers picked up for the second half of the show. Maybe, if they had let Kanye, Kelly, or Mariah open the numbers for the second half would have been the numbers for the first half.

roundables said:

oh please that's so desperate. the rating wouldn't be ONE bit different because of a little thing call "AMERICAN IDOL" that was on from 8-9pm as direct competition for the Grammys, which shows people would rather watch a contest to become a music superstar than watch actual superstars. although i bet you have some "logical" rebuttal to that too about why madonna is a nobody.

badujunkie said:

Yeah, and the second half was up against a little show called Lost. Which is also another top rated show. There goes your excuse. Madonna just couldn't get it done. Was it American Idol's fault that the crowd at the Grammys looked bored w/ her performance?

GaryMF said:

One problem with your little rant: Madonna did NOT lip-sync on the Grammys.

Yes,Mariah sings,but she is not an exciting,thrilling performer.All she does is stand there and throw her hands in the air,as if she's afraid to move.Even when she's doing an uptempo song,she looks like she's afraid to sweat,lol.Don't get me wrong...I like her,but as a live performer,she doesn't have much personality.Madonna is known as an exciting,provocative performer.The incredible success of all of her tours confirm this.By contrast,wasn't Mariah's last tour (in 2002 or 2003) somewhat of a flop?

roundables said:

And why exactly did the producer of the show choose Madonna to open the show? Why didn't he go with Mariah or Kanye,since you claim that they are the "hot" artists of the moment? Like I said before,Madonna has clout.She always gets her way.

As for the Grammy ratings,here's a newsflash:the ratings have been dropping for years.Kids today don't treat the Grammys like a big deal anymore.I remember watching the 1984 Grammys and it was an EVENT.Things were different then.So,don't blame Madonna for the show's less-than-impressive ratings.If you want to measure how popular Madonna is as a live performer,just wait until she announces her upcoming tour.Wait until she starts selling out arenas.Wait until the frenzy starts.Wanna bet that it will be one of the year's biggest tours?

dammme said:

that's bullshit! there's no way MC could have done a bit like Madonna did. MC couldn't dance if she was on fire! do they mean that MC was to open the show and Madonna stood up and said "no, i will" ?

DavidEye said:

I don't think I was "ranting".

And I haven't seen Madonna's number yet (it's waiting on my DVR), and I've read on here conflicting reports. So I'll have to see it when I get home.

Nevetheless, Madonna usually lipsynchs on these types of shows, you can't deny that (as well as in many of her concerts... at least she did up through Girlie Show).

I agree with you, Mariah usually just stands there and she's the first to admit she ain't gonna do no complicated dance routine .

But I will take a live singer with a soulful voice over someone doing an aerobics routine lip-synching anyday.

Actually, I'd take a live singer standing there with the caliber voice of Mariah over a live-singing Madonna dancing anyday.

For me, dancing does not equal excitement.

Hearing Mariah's live rendition of Fly Like A Bird is more exciting to me. But I get moved viscerally by music so that's just me.

I will admit WBT would not have the same effect.

BTW, I used to be a huge Madonna fan.

roundables said:

dude you're gonna be really pissed when her tour is a smashing success and her album hits 10 million worldwide...you'll have to think of some really creative reasons why Madonna's still not popular, lol.

Either way u would see something out of proportion

GaryMF said:

You need to get your facts straight.

Virgin Tour and Who's That Girl Tour 100% live
Blonde Ambition 95% live
GS 90% live
DWT 100%
RIT 98% live

Oscars 1991 live
Oscars 1997 live
Grammys 1999 live
Grammys 2001 live
Grammys 2005 live
VMAs 1984 live
VMAs 1989 live
VMAs 1998 live
VMAs 2003 live
Brits 1995 live

ehuffnsd said:

I don't know about "facts" since unless you were part of the production, it's really just opinoin isn't it.

Nevertheless, I saw the Blonde Ambition tour twice, and in my opinion, there is no way it was 95% live.

I haven't memeorized every Madonna TV performance to comment on the above, but I dont' see how anyone could deny that more often than not, she lip synchs on award shows.

Most famously, the Vogue peformance where she didn't even use a head set, dressed up all Amadeus like.

Btw, just cuz it sounds different than the record doesn't mean it's live.



What's next... Jennifer Lopez always sings live too?

GaryMF said:

That was VMA's 1990 and if you notice it's not listed above

ehuffnsd said:

Madonna haters always point out that ONE performance...but it's not like she used a headset or anything, she blatantly lip-synched and it's the MUSIC VIDEO awards...every other time she's been on the VMAs, however, has been live, except for Like A Virgin when she sang OVER a vocal track. However 87, 89, 93, 98, and 03 were all live.

and all Grammy and Oscar performances she has sung live, with varying results. it's obvious with her heavy breathing, her lower register, and her pitch, which is very erratic.

badujunkie said:

i believe the performance of Bye Bye Baby on the 93 VMA's is recorded, but the vocals on the Girlie Show are live

ehuffnsd said:

i thought the talking parts were pre-recorded but the singing parts were live...member when she fucks up the talking and doesn't have the mic to her mouth but you hear her voice for a second? lol that was a great year, madonna opened and janet closed...the way things should be

I'm not a Madonna hater. I was one of her first fans.... pre her first album..... saw her on tour etc. have all her albums up until Ray of Light.

But I know i've seen her lip synch on TV other than the 1990 VMAs.... and I know in Blonde Ambtion much of it was lip synched. At best she sometimes sang along with a "guide vocal".

yes there are times she sings live too, as someone said, with varying results.

I am just against lip synching, period. I don't think there is EVER an excuse for it.

DavidEye said:

I do blame Madonna. They hyped her performance as the main attraction. Most of the PR releases about the show had her performance w/ the Gorillas as the focus. The producer of the show did an interview talking about how he doesn't let managers twist his arm into things. That he makes his choices based on what he thinks people want to see. Well, I guess he miscalculated w/ that one. Even disregarding the ratings her performance still wasn't the water cooler moment it was supposed to be. Kanye delivered a way hotter performance. Yall kept shouting she should be the opener because she's a performer, and the bigger draw. Well, people didn't even bother to watch her performance. At the end of the day the Grammy's could have done w/ out her and her performance. She didn't do anything the world will be talking about yrs. from now. She didn't even do anything the world will be talking about a few wks. from now.

DavidEye said:

If they really wanted to settle this feud once and for all, why don't Madonna & Mariah just do a damn world tour together?

Hell, I even got a name for this tour: Madonna & Mariah...ICON vs.ICON tour!!!

Think about it: BOTH of these divas can make a lot of billions of dollars/euros from this! And the its the music fans that can cast their votes to decide the real champion of modern pop culture.

Just when I thought it couldnt get worse
with the over flow of Mariah and Madonna threads...

but now MARIAH WITH MADONNA threads

VinnyM27 said:

I agree with this. Plus while Mariah is by far the better vocal talent, she doesn't have much of a stage persona. She's arguably sexy and can do some amazing things with her voice, but aside from that, she gives no show.

Madonna is the queen of pop music theater.

roundables said:

Besides all these factors, the Grammys have had declining ratings for YEARS, American Idol was on at 8pm, the fact that people don't really give a fuck about real musicians or old-time performers the way they once did, you still blame Madonna. It's delusional. She's one of, if not the biggest icon(s) of all time in popular music, no matter what. Get over it.

mariah's performance was a mess. & she sounded bad 4 the 1st part
of the song.

DavidEye said:

I finally got around to watching this on my HD DVR.

In my opinion, which I'm very confident of, Madonna most clearly was lip-synching for a good part, if not most of the performance, especially all the intro and most of the choruses.

The only thing that sounded live at all was the 1st verse, which was very low volume and rather flat.

The rest of the time she was lip syncyhing, maybe once in a while singing over the pre-recorded vocals (possibly on the bridge).

GaryMF said:

you swear up & down

whatever

badujunkie said:

HUH???