Earlier this evening, before the 57th Annual Grammy Awards were televised, 70 of the 83 categories were given away off the air, with the presentation streaming on Grammy.com. Of course, the Metal and Hard Rock categories weren’t televised, and of course, the winner was easily the most tone-deaf of the five nominees – Tenacious D covering Dio’s “The Last In Line.”
Granted, it’s not like anyone expects the awards show to, like, get it, but to go with a comedy act to win an award designated for metal is probably the worst decision since the first year there was a metal award given, 1989, when Jethro Tull won over Metallica’s …And Justice For All. Ronnie James Dio deserves his props, of course, but it’s been five years since his passing. His music will live on forever, so for 40% of the category to be given over to a tribute album in a year that had so much other great music was somewhat of a travesty in the first place. Sure, Tenacious D is well-known because of Jack Black, and Dio is well-known because of Dio, so the aging voters that don’t know anything about metal just voted for what they knew the best, but again, it just shows how wrong they got it this year. The other nominees, Anthrax, Mastodon, Motorhead and Slipknot, all would have been more deserving.
Other rock winners included Jack White winning Best Rock Performance for “Lazaretto” and Paramore winning Best Rock Song for “Aint’ it Fun.” And while Mastodon might not have won, they should have won an award for being dressed as awesomely as they were.
