Thanks to American-led liberation, Europe as a whole can freely hold an awards show that represents its ideals, musically anyway. Had the Iron Curtain never fallen, Europe would not have seen the likes of Katy Perry hosting its top music awards show. Nor would it have seen performances from Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Jay-Z, and Shakira. Moreover, had America not freed Europe from the grips of Communism, there would not have been a Song of The Year award pitting the likes of The Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Lady GaGa, and Kings of Leon against each other.
Wait a second, none of the aforementioned artists are European. No, you're wrong, not Shakira either, she's from Columbia. You would think that Europe's top music awards show would aim to at least partially represent the continent for which it is named. I realize that American culture is renowned worldwide, but I do not believe that there are no European musicians who are equally as popular (in Europe anyway) as The Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, and Kings of Leon (notice how I didn't mention Beyonce? I'm not going to even touch that one).
Well, at least Father Africa and The Kings of Ireland (otherwise known as U2) represented Europe with a historically sentimental performance in front of Brandenberg Gate, which served as a checkpoint along the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. Nothing says freedom like an aging band, who happens to be competing with Bon Jovi for a "Most Albums Released Far Past Their Prime" lifetime achievement award, playing a half-hearted rendition of one of their most powerful and politically cutting songs. Yes, a free performance by U2 of their 1983 hit "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in which Bono altered the emphasis on nearly every line in order to sound more like a diva had the streets of Berlin nearly as excited as when that famed politically divisive wall came down in 1989. If Bono's diva antics weren't enough to ruin the song and ultimately make you wish that the Berlin Wall had never fallen and you were caught on the Communist Eastern side where music, laughter, puppies, sole proprietorships, and bananas were outlawed, there was a special guest appearance during the song's bridge by self-proclaimed King of New York Jay-Z. That's right, Jay-Z tried to outdo Bono and actually make the song sound like audible excrement. He began a political freestyle that "name-dropped" election fraud in Iran and genocide in Rwanda among other worldwide political issues. Big-ups to Darfur, y'all. What up Israel apartheid.
I cannot even begin to address Bono's little rap near the end....
Once again, American culture managed to slither its way in and take credit for something in Berlin. The Iron Curtain fell because of a series of complex factors, the majority of which had very little to do with America. If anything, it was a softening of language by then-President Regan in regards to the USSR that was the main American contribution to the end of the Cold War. In contrast to the harsh words Regan had directed at the Soviets in the past, he adopted a more diplomatic and conciliatory tone in the late 80s. Beyond that, it was the revolutionary reforms in Soviet countries like Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia and the bloody revolution in Romania that set the stage for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Eastern Bloc.
One thing the Americans can certainly take credit for in Berlin, however, is the erosion of popular music and the tarnishing of a classic song about Irish civil rights.
