Earlier this year Black Sabbath were honored by the Recording Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Iommi, Butler and even original drummer Bill Ward showed up. But there was a prominent absence at the ceremony, original frontman Ozzy Osbourne. The absence left the band and attendants bewildered. Well, finally Ozzy’s wife Sharon shed some light on the subject on Celebrity access. Basically she wouldn’t let Ozzy attend because the Recording Academy refused to air the award. While still showing other lifetime awards during the televised ceremony. In fact, Sabbath weren’t even honored on sight. They had some side space reserved for the band. They couldn’t even give Sabbath, a band that created a genre, the dignity of being on site. So, the academy then doesn’t get the pleasure of having Ozzy there.
Honestly, I completely agree with Sharon Osbourne on this one. It’s ridiculous that they couldn’t give the band air time during the televised ceremony. But not only that, they couldn’t even provide the space on the site of the Grammy’s for the creators of an entire genre. It’s just another prime example of how heavy music gets swept under the rug by mainstream validators. And, for the most part, it’s always been that way. Which is crazy because most of the artists in the hard rock and metal genre are the most talented ones playing modern music. It’s the only form of current, popular music that still requires some degree of classical music theory training. You don’t have to be like Beethoven or anything. But the genre does require discipline and practice much more so than any other genre out there right now. Particularly TRAP and electronic music. And while those get worshipped in spades, heavy music still has to take a back seat. Despite all the hard work the musicians do for the love of their craft. It really pisses me off. And Black Sabbath’s snub from the Grammy’s might be the prime example of how hard rock and metal are simply looked down upon.
Well, fuck ’em, if they can’t honor a band that literally created a genre then they don’t get Ozzy. I get it, there’s other bands out there in other genres that deserve recognition. That’s not what this is about. This is about the continuous bias against heavy music in all its forms. There’s plenty of other artists in other genres that deserve recognition. And that recognition is honored. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we’re talking about a band that had a number one album in several countries just six years ago. But as long as quality hard rock music is still looked down upon, there’s going to be a backlash from the base. And that’s totally understandable.
