Wasn't it poetic justice when girl band Dixie Chicks dominated the Grammy Awards? It's been four years after lead singer Natalie Maines lambasted George W. Bush on the eve of the Iraq war.
Since that time, Maines has been boycotted and criticised by everyone from the music industry to fellow Texans.
Fast forward to the present and hundreds of American soldiers have died in Iraq. The dimwit known as George W. continues to wage his fake war in the name of freedom.
Americans who once ridiclued Maines now join her in the Bush-hating bandwagon. But you got to give credit to the Dixie Chicks for standing by their opinions despite the onslaught they received from everyone.
So when Dixie Chicks won Record and Song of the Year for the aptly titled "Not Ready To Make Nice", it was as AP descibed it, a "defiant comeback."
Maines thanked voters for "using their freedom of speech with all these awards". They won in all five categories in which they were nominated in including Best Country Album and Best County Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
It's been three years since the main categories of Album, Record and Song of the Year were bagged by the same artist.
Norah Jones had the previous honour of winning the top categories of Song, Record and Album of the Year back in 2003. Last year Record of the Year went to Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams while the Album and Song of the Year went to U2. The year before, the top awards were split between John Mayer and the Norah Jones & Ray Charles duet " Here We Go Again".
The Dixie Chicks are now in the same league as legends Eric Clapton, U2 and Santana for winning the three top Grammy prizes.
(Eric Clapton won like, a gazillion Grammys during 1993 telecast for his beautiful opus "Tears In Heaven". )
Another winner who got even on Sunday night was rapper/actor Ludacris who thanked Oprah Winfrey and Bill O'Reily while accepting his Best Rap Album trophy.
Ludacris had claimed that Winfrey edited many scenes during his appearance on her talk show; and insists the media mogul has a problem with hip hop artistes. Winfrey has denied the claim.
AP reported that O'Reily's criticism on Ludacris led to Pepsi dropping him from an ad campaign.
So when Ludacris thanked the two talk show hosts, you can betcha he was being sarcastic as hell.
It wasn't just singers who were redeemed during this year's Grammys. One of America's top-rated televsion programmes got vindicated for the second year in a row.
This year, 'Idol'alumnist Carrie Underwood won the Best New Artist trophy on the strength of her country hit "Jesus Take The Wheel".
Last year, the first American Idol Kelly Clarkson sobbed more than Gwyneth Paltrow during her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal performance Female and Best Pop Album.
Music observers were quick to note how Underwood was gracious in thanking her American Idol roots compared to Clarkson, who once forbid the TV show from using any of her songs.
Maybe music snobs can start treating reality singing contests with more respect.
Hey, these shows must be doing something right if they can attract the likes of Olivia Newton John, M. Nasir and Ramli Sarip.
Sweet revenge aside, the Grammy's biggest surprise was the reunion of the Police during the opening. Dude.
Justin Timberlake performed Ain't No Sunshine with a singer chosen on an internet poll, Robyn Toup. Mary J. Blige did herself proud by dominating the R&B categories. Until Grammy night, I really thought she had a good chance to win Record of the Year. But alas country music reigned supreme.
It's a pity Dixie Chicks are not popular on Malaysian radio. It reminds you of how 'American' the Grammys are. I'm sure many of us are unfamiliar with most of the nominees in the country category. And how about those other obscure categories (i.e Bluegrass, folk, blues, gospel).
But in a way, we must laud the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science (the people who nominate and choose Grammy winners) for rewarding America's traditional music. Yes, there have been some who despise the act of categorising music the way the Grammys do , but give them a break- there are over 100 categories including a spoken word album category, which have gone to such tone-deaf singers like Hillary Clinton.
Personally I'm truly happy that Timberlake and rapper T.I. won for Best Rap/Sung collaboration for their song My Love (Go ahead, hate me) Timberlake also went home with Best Dance Recording for Sexy Back.
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