At this years Grammy’s Megadeth accomplished a first. They won a Grammy. In all of the years of output and nominations Dave, Dave and Co. have never once won. Unfortunately it was in one of the many sub-categories; Best Heavy Metal Performance. Not best metal album. And honestly, the competition wasn’t too competitive. With the exception of Gojira. Anyways, that’s not the point. The point is that despite the venue being almost empty because most people were out on the red carpet, Megadeth won their first Grammy. However it couldn’t be done in true Megadeth fashion without a little fiasco. Despite the win the house band obviously couldn’t be bothered to learn a Megadeth song. Instead they played Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ while the band walked to stage to accept their award. Sparking outrage within the heavy metal community. Of course while the community is steaming about the house band playing Metallica, Dave Mustaine is upset over something else. It’s not the fact that they played it for the acceptance of the award. It’s the fact that, in his opinion, the band butchered the song. And I’d kind of have to agree with that. Well, maybe not butchered but they certainly played it very lackluster. What bothers me is that the band couldn’t be bothered to learn a simple Megadeth song. I don’t think the house band made a mistake. I think they just assumed that ‘Master of Puppets’ could represent all of heavy metal for the evening. And yes, while the song is one of the most recognized heavy metal pieces outside of the genre, it still wasn’t right. Megadeth deserves to have their own music played. It verifies just how out of touch the Grammys really are. It just made the whole situation awkward. Fortunately at the end of the day they won. And Dave Mustaine and crew were thankful. After all, it’s not Megadeth without a little controversy. In the words of Dave Mustaine, ‘Can’t blame them for not being able to play’.
Awkward
