Five head-scratchers from Grammy picks

The machinations of Grammy voters confound people every year and Wednesday night's nominations -- the first under the new streamlined categories -- are no different. Here are the Top 5 Grammy head-scratchers from the nomination field:

1. Skrillex. Congratulations and all to 23-year-old Sonny Moore for the best new artist nomination, but I really am at a loss at explaining how it happened. My best guess is that the Grammy council wanted to recognize dubstep somehow to show that it's not out of touch with the kids. But picking the middle-of-the-pack Skrillex over a more worthy dubstep pioneer James Blake shows that while major labels, like Skrillex's Atlantic, may be declining in the marketplace, they still have a lot of pull when it comes to awards.

2. Bon Iver. The indie heroes should have been nominated for best new artist in 2007 for the spectacular "For Emma, Forever Ago," but weren't. Many will quibble about them getting a best new artist nomination now, but under the Grammys' weird category descriptions, it kind of fits, considering how this year's "Bon Iver" album made a No. 2 debut.

3. Tony Bennett. His "Duets II" became his first No. 1 album ever, but Grammy voters didn't seem to notice. They didn't take the chance to nominate his duet with the late Amy Winehouse or the wild Lady Gaga either.

4. Kanye West. He landed seven nominations, but only one outside of the hip-hop categories, including two categories where he will battle The Throne, his collaboration with Jay-Z. And after being a perennial also-ran in the album of the year category, arguably his best work, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," wasn't even nominated.

5. Taylor Swift. How quickly the Academy forgets. Swift's "Speak Now" was a leap forward for the country singer-songwriter and it sold incredibly well last year, released after the Grammy deadline. However, after winning album of the year in 2010 for "Fearless," she was shut out of the top categories this year, getting three nominations, all in the country category. Yes, Skrillex got more nominations than Taylor Swift. We saw that coming, right?