By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Thu Feb 9, 6:40 PM ET
NEW YORK - Grammy voters needed two years to lavish all of their love on U2 and Green Day, handing the bands big awards a year after doing the same last February — for much the same music.
In 2005, U2 won three awards for "Vertigo," the first single off "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Green Day, which had six nominations for its political album "American Idiot," went home with the award for best rock album.
Wednesday, U2 won five including best album and song of the year, while Green Day took home the award for record of the year. Neither had released any new music since last year.
"This record has been out for two years, or almost two years," he said, accepting the Grammy for record of the year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," off the "American Dream" album.
The reruns are all about timing.
The Grammy eligibility window runs from Oct. 1 to the following Sept. 30. Both U2 and Green Day released their albums and songs from them on both sides of the deadlines.
U2’s "Vertigo" was released as a single months ahead of the album, making it eligible for the 2005 awards. The album was released later, putting it in the running for 2006.
Green Day did the opposite, releasing "American Idiot" in time for 2005 eligibility, while holding back the "Broken Dreams" single, making it eligible for this year.
Music success is often spread out this way, over months of various chart-topping singles and continued album sales.
Imagine if "Brokeback Mountain" returned again to the
in 2007.
The Grammys couldn’t quit U2 and Green Day, and that helped derail the culmination of what was 2005’s biggest music story:
Nominated for eight Grammys, Carey took home three, but zero during the televised award show and none in the biggest categories. Still, her album, "Emancipation of Mimi," was the best-selling disc of the year.
"Three out of eight is not bad," said "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson about Carey’s losses. "It’s the way things happen."
Julie Dam, music editor at People magazine, was surprised Carey didn’t do better, especially considering she "did all the right things" to please Grammy voters — like help present the nominations in December.
"Leading up to the Grammys, it felt like the Academy was really embracing her … they love a comeback story," Dam said. "I think the feeling was the R&B vote was split between Kanye (West) and Mariah and John Legend."
Carey had won only two Grammys previously, both in 1990, for best new artist and best female pop vocal performance for "Vision of Love."
"The fact that she won any at all (this year) was a small victory," Dam said. "You don’t really begrudge U2 winning because it was a great album."
’s comeback.
Mariah Carey
Oscars
Green Day singer Billy Joe Armstrong seemed embarrassed to win.