The Grammys are supposed to celebrate excellence in music.
But the Recording Academy misses the mark so frequently that they're almost a
joke among music fans.

As one old "Simpsons" line shows, the Grammys aren't
considered to be as prestigious as an Oscar or a Tony. There are currently 80
categories, which dilutes the value of the awards. And they've made so many
slip-ups that they're not easy to take seriously.

But still, the Grammys hold a rarefied place in music -
Chance the Rapper said he wanted to "snatch the Grammy" in a guest
rap on Kanye West's "Ultralight Beam" (and then did) - so it's a shame they get it so wrong so
frequently.

Here are the 20 most undeserving winners in Grammy history.

Ed Sheeran didn't even show up to pick up his Grammys.

Ed Sheeran won two Grammys at the 2018 ceremony, the least
deserving of which was in the pop solo performance category. "Shape of
You" is a catchy but anemic pop song. It has nothing on
"Praying" by Kesha, who did show up and gave a devastating performance of her song.

A 20-year-old Eric Clapton song won instead of "Smells
Like Teen Spirit."

"Layla" is a great song. There's no denying that.
But it just doesn't make sense that Clapton's acoustic cover of his own song,
20 years later, beat Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the
defining song of a decade, in the 1993 best rock song category.

Kings of Leon should have never won over Beyoncé or Lady
Gaga.

Little more than an anemic one-hit wonder band, Kings of
Leon had a remarkable stretch of Grammy success in the lat 2000s - but the
victories for "Use Somebody" went too far.

At the 2010 Grammys, the band won the best record award for
"Use Somebody," over Beyoncé's "Halo," Lady Gaga's
"Poker Face," "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas, and
"You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. Fortunately, they lost the Song
of the Year Award to "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)" by Beyoncé.

A cover album won Album of the Year over an Amy Winehouse
classic.

It's sweet that Herbie Hancock made a great album of songs
covering his friend Joni Mitchell and that luminaries like Leonard Cohen, Tina
Turner, and Norah Jones pitched in for the project, titled "River: The
Joni Letters." But shouldn't the "Album of the Year" award go to,
you know, something new? The category in 2008 had "Back to Black"
from Amy Winehouse and "Graduation" by Kanye West.

2018's best new artist winner makes little sense.

At the 2018 Grammys, SZA was the most-nominated female
artist. She wasn't expected to win all of them, but surely the best new artist
category would be a lock.

It wasn't. She lost to Alessia Cara. And while Cara is talented - she
was featured on Logic's song "1-800-273-8255" and had her own single
"Here" - SZA had one of the most criticaly acclaimed albums of 2017,
with "Ctrl," and helped move R&B in a more relaxed yet addictive
direction.

A parody of John F. Kennedy won the album of the year award
in 1962.

Back in the early days of the Grammys, the Academy was more
tolerant of non-music recordings winning major awards. That still doesn't
excuse Vaughn Meader's anemic "My
First Family" album, where he impersonated President John F. Kennedy,
winning the album of the year award. "I Left My Heart in San
Francisco" by Tony Bennett, also nominated that year, would have been a
better pick.

Toto swept the 1983 Grammys instead of... pretty much
anything else.

The band won record of the year for "Rosanna" and
album of the year for "Toto IV," which is just strange.
"Rosanna" isn't a bad song, necessarily, but it's vastly inferior to
their own "Africa" from the same year, as well as "Every Breath You Take" by the Police,
"Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics, and "Beat It" by Michael
Jackson. Any of their songs and albums would have been better picks.

Steely Dan had no business winning album of the year when
Radiohead came out with "Kid A."

In 2000, Radiohead released an album that changed the course
of rock music. Steely Dan made a mediocre comeback after 20 years. The Grammys
just made the wrong pick here.

Milli Vanilli undeservedly won 1990's best new artist award
— and then lost it anyway.

The irritating R&B group won over Indigo Girls for some
reason. Hilariously, the academy stripped them of their award months later upon learning
they didn't actually do the vocals on their first album.

The Grammys missed the mark again for 1969's song of the
year.

Bobby Russell's song "Little Green Apples" is a
sweet, now-obscure little track. It's nice, but not deserving of the award. The
academy should have given it to "Hey Jude" by The Beatles or
"Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel instead.

For one of the best-ever years for music, a completely
forgettable song won.

The best contemporary song category for the eighth Grammy
Awards for 1966 was an embarrassment of riches. Simon & Garfunkel
released the album "Sounds of Silence," The Animals introduced
"We Gotta Get Out of this Place," The Rolling Stones launched
"Paint It, Black," the Beatles released "Revolver," Matt
Monro came out with "Born Free," the Beach Boys had "Good
Vibrations," "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas,
and The Monkees had "I'm a Believer."

Which song won the Grammy? None of the above. The award
instead went to a song called "Winchester Cathedral" by The New
Vaudeville Band, a song so bland it runs out of ideas after the first three
notes.

Some guys who weren't The Clash won 1977's award for best
new artist.

With apologies to the Starland Vocal Band, the one-hit
wonder behind "Afternoon Delight," The Clash is actually the
best band that debuted its first album in 1977.

A Frank Sinatra retrospective beat one of the Beatles's most
pivotal records.

In 1967, Frank Sinatra won the album of the year Grammy for
his two-disc retrospective, "A Man and His Music."

It's kind of silly. While Sinatra is an all-time great, he
won the award a year earlier, for "September of My Years," so it
doesn't make sense to give it to him again for a greatest hits compilation. The
Beatles should have won instead for "Revolver."

Christopher Cross won instead of some of the greatest
artists of all time.

You know Christopher Cross? That artist played on the radio
when DJs give up at the end of the day and just want to go home? His
self-titled album won the album of the year Grammy in 1981 instead of the other
nominees: "Glass Houses" by Billy Joel, "The Wall" by Pink
Floyd, "Trilogy: Past Present Future" by Frank Sinatra, and
"Guilty" by Barbra Streisand.

2013 will always be the year Frank Ocean was robbed.

It's true that "Babel" by Mumford & Sons was
everywhere, but it didn't deserve to beat Frank Ocean's "Channel
Orange," one of the best albums of this century so far.

In 1979, a one-hit wonder, once again, won instead of music
titans.

A Taste of Honey broke multiple records with their single
"Boogie Oogie Oogie," which is still fun decades later as a disco
classic. But it was silly to give them the Grammy for best new artist. Toto and
Elvis Costello were both nominated in the category that year.

2014 wasn't a great year for music, but Beck still didn't
deserve the award.

Beck's 2015 best album win for "Morning Phase" was
more like a career capstone than a recognition for that particular album.
"Run the Jewels 2" by Run the Jewels, which wasn't nominated,
definitely has more lasting power, and the award itself could have also gone to
Beyoncé's self-titled album or "G I R L" by Pharrell Williams, which
were both nominated.

Creed's win for "With Arms Wide Open" is just
insulting.

The repetitive, much-despised band won the best rock song
award in 2001 for "With Arms Wide Open." It's a shame -
"Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers was another nominee that
year and would have been a deserving winner.

Giving two Grammys to "Thrift Shop" was a step too
far.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's goofy song
"Thrift Shop" was ubiquitous in 2013, but that doesn't mean it
deserved to win awards. Especially gobsmacking is that it won awards for both
best rap song and best rap performance instead of tracks like "Swimming
Pools" by Kendrick Lamar, "Started from the Bottom" by Drake,
"Holy Grail" by Jay-Z, and "New Slaves" by Kanye West.

A non-metal band won the first award for the best metal
performance.

1989 was the inaugural year for the Grammy awarding the best
hard rock or metal performance.

Bafflingly, the band that won was neither. Jethro Tull,
known for its trademark use of a flute, won the award instead of Metallica
which, at the height of their talent and coming off the death of one of their
band members, was expected to win.

1989 was also the last year for the award. Afterwards, the
Grammys gave separate awards for rock and metal.