Chris Brown-Rihanna slugfest lights up the Grammys

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The band on the Titanic supposedly played "Nearer My God to Thee." The musical stars at the 2009 Grammy Awards presentation opted to have fun, but the show had a lot in common with going down on the most famous sinking ship of all time.

For the Grammys have always been about show biz, excess and attracting customers by telling a great story, and this year's awards had all of them.

The biggest story of all was the no-shows: R&B singer Chris Brown, 19, was to have performed along with his girlfriend, 20-year-old pop star Rihanna of "Umbrella" fame. But Rihanna had a date at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Unsubstantiated reports said she may have suffered a broken nose or a broken jaw. Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department Sunday night and was charged with criminal threat. He will appear in court on March 5. He later was released on down payment of $50,000 bail. The couple appeared to have had a row in Brown's Lamborghini that rapidly turned violent. The tabloids will love it, and their sales will soar.

The American music industry will love them for the scandal even more, because it needs all the sales and publicity it can get -- any which way. For the unstoppable juggernaut of American popular music has just hit its own version of the Titanic's iceberg -- the worst economic recession in 80 years. Sales have been plummeting. That was why this year's Grammy show had to be so good -- and it was.

The show was far heavier on looking backward than looking forward, and even without the Brown-Rihanna slugfest, it was filled with enough sentimentality and emotion to rival Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in James Cameron's "Titanic" movie.

Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson won a richly deserved, indeed overdue Grammy, reawakening vivid memories of her murdered mother, brother and nephew. And you could feel her pouring out her heart to them as she delivered "You Pulled Me Through."

Whitney Houston, victorious in her battle with drugs and booze, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." She's lost those absolutely highest of the high notes at the skyscraper spires of her vocal range -- but she's still pitch-perfect everywhere else.

To add to the wholesome family image -- or as close to it as any Grammys can come, British pop star M.I.A. bounced across the stage nine months pregnant. The only downer of the night was that she didn't give birth on stage.

The great Alison Krauss and Roger Plant won for "Raising Sand." It was Krauss's 26th Grammy -- a new record. Coldplay, everyone's favorite "Not Quite Disney But Not the Rolling Stones" rock band, was the biggest winner. And Sir Paul McCartney was rolled out one more time to play, which by now is like highlighting Bing Crosby with the Beatles or the Stones at the height of the Swinging Sixties, except Bing had far more swing left in him than Sir Paul does now. Even Neil Diamond and the last survivors of the great Motown Four Tops turned out for the show.

There was even unintended comedy: Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, solemnly announced that when President Obama isn't busy fighting the Great Recession or struggling to achieve international peace and fight global warming, he should do something really important and create a Cabinet-level secretary for the arts. Sure, that'll work.

It was a great party. If you're in show biz, what better way to strut your courage and class than singing and giving everyone a great time while the ship goes down?