Wait, hold on: Did Joe Perry really perform twice on the Grammy Awards? - Los Angeles Times
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Wait, hold on: Did Joe Perry really perform twice on the Grammy Awards?

Joe Perry, right, performs with the Hollywood Vampires on Monday night during the 58th Grammy Awards.

Joe Perry, right, performs with the Hollywood Vampires on Monday night during the 58th Grammy Awards.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Look, there was a lot going on -- especially right at the end, with that overstuffed “In Memoriam” sequence, Taylor Swift’s implied dig at Kanye West and the heavenly sight of Beyoncé dressed as a doily.

But the morning after the Grammy Awards, with our heads beginning to clear, a shocking fact is swimming to the surface, one that nobody seemed to notice during the show itself.

Grammys 2016: Full coverage | Red carpet | Nominees and winners | Surprises and snubs

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Joe Perry performed Monday night on two separate occasions. As part of the Grammy Awards. In 2016.

That’s right: The floppy-hat model best known as the guitarist in Aerosmith -- a rock band that hasn’t released a relevant album in well over a decade -- somehow gobbled up nearly 10 minutes of music’s biggest night.

How did this happen?

Perry’s first appearance was with the Hollywood Vampires, his ultra-crusty supergroup with Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper. Joined by Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum of Guns N’ Roses, the band was at the Grammys ostensibly to pay tribute to the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead.

But before the Vampires played Motorhead’s signature “Ace of Spades,” they growled their way through one of their own tunes, “As Bad As I Am,” while giant flames threatened to consume half of Staples Center.

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There was no reason for this performance to go on as long as it did -- even if the sequence was one of the night’s more spirited.

What really blows the mind, though, is that after the Vampires cleared the stage and the last two Grammys had been given out, Perry reemerged for an encore. And this one was truly bizarre: a four-man dogpile with Perry, Pitbull, Robin Thicke and Travis Barker.

Had these guys even met one another before Monday night? Had they even heard of one another?

The occasion was a run through Pitbull’s chaotic new single, “Bad Man,” in which the Miami rapper insists, “This is history in the making.”

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Which, if you think about it, was probably true: Fifty years from now, when we look back at the evolution of the Grammy Awards, Perry’s head-scratching double play may well mark the moment the show finally released its grasp on pop currency.

Talk about toys in the attic.

Twitter: @mikaelwood

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