The Writings of Eric E. Jenkins

The 2009 American Music Awards will air on November 22, and many of today’s hottest artists have been nominated for awards, with a usual suspect from the past who, though nominated several times, hasn’t really done anything in several years.

Michael Jackson passed away at the end of June and, as a result of his death, many of his albums had renewed sales numbers and re-charted because of the sales and airplay. Michael’s 2003 album “Number Ones”, a collection of Michael’s greatest solo hits, had the greatest sales figures and became a, pardon the pun, number one hit itself once again, and as a result has been nominated for Best R&B and Best Pop album. I can almost accept this because the album did, in fact, have a good sales year, but anyone with a hint of reasoning can see that had Michael not passed away, the album would have been a non factor, and another, possibly more deserving album, might have gotten those nominations.

Due to the album’s sales numbers, Michael became eligible for nominations for Best Pop/Rock Male Artist, Best Soul/R&B Male Artist and Artist of the Year. Even though his album sales make him eligible, just as with the album nominations, I am sure that there is someone or a group of people who could be considered more eligible for these awards. Michael’s album was a greatest hits album and the most recent selection on the album was from the album’s release year of 2003, which means that there is nothing on the album less than 6-years old. Artists who produced new material who were shunned for this year’s awards have to wonder if their time has passed because without new material in time to be eligible for next year’s awards, their opportunity to be recognized for their work might have come and gone. This, above all else, is the most disturbing thing about this entire situation.

When Magic Johnson was voted onto the 1991-92 NBA Western Conference All-Star team, he petitioned the NBA to expand the roster so that the person who might have made the team had Magic not gotten voted in would be allowed to play. Michael Jackson is not alive to make a decision such as this, but someone connected with this situation should speak on Michael’s behalf so that whoever is getting passed over in each of these categories, they can get their shot, just like in the All-Star Game. Magic became the MVP of the game anyway, and who knows, Michael might and probably will win all of his categories, but he might not, and the person who might have won could be he person who is now not even nominated.