Well, it’s happened again. Once more the Grammy’s apparent disdain for hard rock and heavy metal was on full display during it’s airing. Leaving passed Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison out of the in memoriam segment.
Listen, it’s enough already. You guys first dropped best metal performance from the broadcast. Then you dropped metal album of the year. Then, eventually, ya’ll even had the balls to drop rock album of the year. One of the most coveted moments of the evening. And now, another punch in the gut to all those who work so hard to master their instrument to Joey’s level. Leaving him out of the in memoriam.
I understand that sometimes people can be overlooked. It happens. But the Grammy’s have done this time and time again to hard rock and metal musicians. Before Jordison, another heavy metal drumming legend, Vinnie Paul Abbott, was omitted in the 2018/19 in memoriam. And these aren’t just some obscure artists who ‘did a thing’ once. Maybe if they were they’d be recognized. These are accomplished musicians who have number one albums to their names. We all know how important ‘popularity’ is to the Grammys. Jordison even has Grammy’s to his name. So what gives?
Even when the Grammy’s acknowledged heavy metal it was still never understood by the board of directors. As evidenced by the first ‘heavy metal’ grammy going to Jethro Tull. As big of a blunder as it was, at least it was aired on the broadcast. Metal and rock aren’t even recognized by the broadcast anymore. And the artistic director apologized about Joey’s omission. And he’s apologized before. But it falls on deaf ears because he never fixes the problem. Which is the whole point of an apology in the first place. You preach equality year after year. Yet you completely ignore an entire genre of music and it’s demographic.
Your apologies don’t mean anything until you do better to recognize and acknowledge all the hard work that rock and metal musicians put into their craft. And I know it’s easy to say, ‘F**k the Grammy’s!’ and all that. But we in the metal community should be honest with ourselves. This lack of recognition from them hurts. Otherwise we wouldn’t be so up in arms about it. And that’s okay. It’s okay to want mainstream recognition for all the hard work you put into your music and craft. To have your music taste be validated. It’s natural to crave that. And until the Grammy’s bring rock and metal back to the broadcast. I will be vocal about it’s biases and hypocrisy. Don’t let up folks. Fight the fight.
