- MGMT
Local author/filmmaker Robert Gordon and Brooklyn-based White Station grad Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT snagged Grammy nominations Wednesday night.
MGMT, in which VanWyngarden [son of Flyer editor Bruce VanWyngarden] is joined by Ben Goldwasser, was nominated in two high-profile categories.
They’ll compete with fellow alt-rockers Silversun Pickups and the Ting Tings, R&B singer Keri Hilson, and country-rockers the Zac Brown Band for Best New Artist. And the band’s song “Kids” was nominated for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals, competing with “I Gotta Feeling” by Black-Eyed Peas, “We Weren’t Born to Follow” by Bon Jovi, “Never Say Never” by The Fray, and “Sara Smile” by Daryl Hall & John Oates.
My early handicapping: I think MGMT is probably a longshot for the Best Pop Performance Category, but I’d tab them co-favorites along with Hilson for the more celebrated Best New Artist honor. Ting Tings and Silversun Pickups are lesser lights (in both commercial and artistic terms) in the same genre and I think the Zac Brown Band are a little too unreconstructed for Grammy’s tastes. Hilson will be tough to beat, but MGMT could do it.
Big congrats to Gordon, who is nominated, along with his filmmaking partner Morgan Neville, in the Best Long Form Music Video category for his film Johnny Cash’s America.
Some other Memphis-connected nominations: Millington’s favorite son, Justin Timberlake got two nominations for “Dead and Gone,” his collaboration with rapper T.I., in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song categories. And Stax veterans got some comeback nominations, Booker T. Jones pulling in two — Best Pop Instrumental Album for Potato Hole and Best Rock Instrumental Performances for “Warped Sister” — and Mavis Staples garnering a Best Contemporary Blues Album nomination for Live: Hope at the Hideout.
For a complete list of nominations, go here.
The Grammys will be broadcast January 31st on CBS.
