On 2 Mar 2002 at 10:49, James Leahy wrote: > Here's one of my weird, curmugeonly little fascinations: > > Who are those people in the audience at award shows who are always > screaming? It's a trend that seemed to start in the 1980s, when > high-tech glitz started taking over these sorts of televised > entertainments.
Those screams are genuine. A few years ago NARAS moved the Grammys to bigger venues so they could put some young kids in the audience. It was their response to criticism that they were out of touch with popular music (around the time when Best Rap awards were going to MC Hammer, Young MC and Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince). So those screamers you heard up there in the nosebleed seats of the Staple Center were radio contest winners, kids of the industry and the like. Brenda
