Jolt of Hope

Robert Hilburn’s article on Grammy nomination predictions was full of nothing but snobbery, rude comments and a whole lot of stupidity (“Grammy’s Got to Think Hard,� Dec. 31).

He claims that ‘N Sync is a novelty act, yet Sisqo deserves a nomination. Excuse me while I laugh! ‘N Sync works incredibly hard, writes some of its own music, and treats fans with something a lot of artists and groups seem to lack: class.

KATI ANDERSON

Farmer City, Ill.

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Eminem puts himself on the line: dispensing with metaphor and going straight ahead with his internal musings. He’s far more enduring than the teen innuendo singers today. He addresses issues that pertain to some of society’s most pressing problems involving crime, sex and celebrity.

And he writes his own material.

PATRICK CLEARY

La Habra

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If I were a member of the pop group ‘N Sync, I would be humiliated not only by Hilburn’s condescension, but also by his total disrespect for the years of work that they have devoted to making music that is popular.

No one ever asked Frank Sinatra if he had written the songs he sang or which instruments he played. These new artists are held to a standard that no other singers in the past have been asked to meet. And yet they’ve kept working at their craft and see music as an inspiration in their lives.

Hilburn in turn used the phrase “artistic excellence� in the same breath as Eminem. His work is vile. There isn’t one of his songs that I, a high school teacher, could use in an assembly or that could be played for warm-ups before a home basketball game.

But it is the music of that group “whose only chance [for a Grammy nomination] comes from their record sales� that I hear day after day through the gym wall while my actors are in rehearsal. So who deserves the recognition?

DENISE BANGERT

Lake Forest