Grammys Exclude Mark E. Smith, France Gall, More From 2018 “In Memoriam”
The “In Memoriam” segment of the 2018 Grammy Awards included tributes to a number of music icons: Chuck Berry, the Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan, Steely Dan’s Walter Becker, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, and many others. In addition, Chris Stapleton and Emmylou Harris covered the late Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers” during the three-minute montage. Due to time constraints, however, the Grammys could not honor all the musicians who died in 2017 and early 2018. Among the notable omissions were the Fall’s Mark E. Smith, France Gall, Can’s Holger Czukay, Fredo Santana, K-pop star Jonghyun (of the group SHINee), and Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart.
Gall, Czukay, Fredo, Jonghyun, Hart, and others were included in a longer list of artists that the Recording Academy posted last night. Mark E. Smith, however, is also absent from the list. (For context, Hugh Masekela, who died one day before Smith, was included in both the video tribute and the list.) Pitchfork has contacted Grammy representatives for comment and more information.
Last year, Grammys executive producer Ken Ehrlich shed some light on the “In Memoriam” selection process. He told Vanity Fair that a committee of 12-13 people from the Recording Academy make the decision, “driven primarily by musical influence.” They must select around 50 names (out of over 500) to fit into the three-minute video. Ehrlich said to the Associated Press, “There are people that I would put in there, but it’s not about me.” He added, “It’s about the music industry as a whole and all of its parts: classical and rock and pop and Latin and jazz. So it’s a difficult process.”
Read Pitchfork’s Afterword feature “The Glorious Savagery of the Fall’s Mark E. Smith,” as well as “The Ugly Truths of Loving the Fall’s Mark E. Smith” on the Pitch.
