Grammys Shmammys

So last night was the 51st annual Grammy awards. And it still baffles me how much an institution dedicated to music can be so far out of touch.And not just out of touch but so discriminatory.

These days, hard rock and metal get their own categories but that's it. One for each. And to top it off it's usually names that have been thrown around for years regardless of the quality of the recordings themselves. Meanwhile R&B and hip hop get not only their own category but broken down to vocal performances and inclusion into Album of the year nominations. This year the genres represented in Album of the year included Rap,Hip Hop, folk,alternative, and Adult Contemporary. Nothing from Hard rock or metal. I guess our genres are still too harsh and abrasive for sensitive ears to listen too.

In the Hard rock performance (notice not even album category)category the nominees are:

Inside the Fire by Disturbed
Visions by Judas Priest
Wax Simulcra by The Mars Volta
Saints of Los Angeles by Motley Crue
Lords of Salem by Rob Zombie

Wow. Just wow.In my opinion the only band in that group that could come closest to hard rock is Motley Crue. Why is AC/DC not in here? Why is Nickelback not in here? Judas Priest for Visions? Judas Priest is a metal band and that song was not even released as a single. Mars Volta is some trippy prog rock band of the nth degree and should have just been put in the rock category. Well Volta won to top it off. My eyes are still crossing over this one. My pick would have been Inside the Fire personally.

In the best metal performance category the nominees are:

Heroes of our time by Dragonforce
Nostradamus by Judas Priest
My Apocalypse by Metallica
Under my Thumb by Ministry
Psychosocial by Slipknot

How in the fuck can you take one song from Nostradamus and put it in the hard rock category and take another song from the same album and put it in the heavy metal category. If you can't figure out the genre or the band don't put them on the ballot. And Dragonforce got nominated, so lets see if Guitar Hero had never been made would these guys even be on the ballot? And since when has Ministry been relevant other then the underground industrial scene? Psalm 69 broke mainstream in 93 because metals popularity had died and this was a weak form of substitute.

Take out Dragonforce and Ministry and put in Opeth and Testament and then you might have some form of legitimacy in this category. As it stood Metallica again was awarded a Grammy only to probably still make up for the Jethro Tull debacle 20 years ago and their still massive popularity. Not my favorite song on that album.

Here is the crown jewel. Because it takes too much work to separate the categories and because they wouldn't want to add an additional hour of awards, They lump everything under all the rock categories.Fucking lazy.

The nominees for Best Rock album are

Viva La vida by Coldplay(Kick their ass Satch)
Rock and Roll Jesus by Kid Rock(why was this not under the hard rock category, oh because it sucks)
Only by the night by King Leon(who?)
Death Magnetic by Metallica
Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs(again, who?)

Are you fucking kidding me? Metallica against Coldplay? I thought we were making up for Jethro Tull. This is worse. So yeah even the mighty Metallica could not prevail here as Coldplay's spineless pussy rock won the category.

This kind of clueless crap is why the Grammys can never be taken seriously in regards to contemporary music. Just like the Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame. If it didn't cost so damn much I would say the hard rock and metal community should put on it's own awards show. But I guess I'm taking this thing to seriously, if an awards show was to be done it would be laughed at as a sellout and its much more fun to laugh at the stiff necked tight ass people that nominate and vote on the Grammys. I still can't keep from groaning though each and every year this thing comes out.