My sincere hope for the future involves the abolition of all-star games and awards shows. They feel like lame relics from the 20th Century. I missed the NFL Pro Bowl, to the extent it still exists, but I watched part of the Grammys on Sunday just to affirm my alienation from a culture on which I do keep tabs.

The in-memoriam part, in which Kacey Musgraves covered “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Rait, and Mick Fleetwood played “Songbird,” and Quavo sang “Without You,” felt worth experiencing. The juxtaposition of the talented dead people who flashed on the screen—Jeff Beck, Lamont Dozier, Loretta Lynn, Anita Pointer, etc.—with the lame performers given awards nudged the viewer, if briefly, to consider the merits of death over life.

If this morbid thought lingered, then Sam Smith singing “Unholy” bathed in a sea of red light with fires in the background and dressed as Lucifer in platform boots checked it. Madonna, in the most self-congratulatory way possible, paid tribute to artists who shock to introduce the song. But a hail-Satan vibe does not shock at the Grammys. Deuteronomy 22:5 does. The whole scene provoked thoughts of another Bible passage, the one recited on Easter Sunday about rejecting “the glamor of evil.”

[Performance] Sam Smith y Kim Petras interpretando “Unholy” en los #GRAMMYs. pic.twitter.com/Kl0aH9655Y

— Top Music Universe (@TopMUniverse) February 6, 2023

One of the reasons celebrities promote sin involves its glamor. And, as parts of the in-memoriam segment indicated, falling for the glamor of evil usually ends poorly. Later in the program, perhaps as a balance to its celebration of its Satan song, the Grammys featured DJ Khaled and friends perform “God Did.” Anyhow, 25 Grammys ago witnessed the greatest moment (begins at about 2:30) in the history of the awards show. Last night’s show needed less script, more spontaneity, and definitely more soy bomb. And it needed to give a special award to Michael Portnoy.