Earlier today the nominees for the 2021 Grammy Awards were announced and I always like to dissect that lengthy summary to spotlight what has been nominated for the music that we are more in tune with here on the PiercingMetal website. That means I am taking the Rock, Metal and Alternative out of the pile and putting it on the side for your edification. Here now are the Grammy nominations for these categories which I culled from their resources directly.

Best Rock Performance – For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative rock recordings.
SHAMEIKA – Fiona Apple
NOT – Big Thief
KYOTO – Phoebe Bridgers
THE STEPS – HAIM
STAY HIGH – Brittany Howard
DAYLIGHT – Grace Potter

Best Metal Performance – For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative metal recordings.
BUM-RUSH – Body Count
UNDERNEATH – Code Orange
THE IN-BETWEEN – In This Moment
BLOODMONEY – Poppy
EXECUTIONER’S TAX (SWING OF THE AXE) – LIVE – Power Trip

Best Rock Song – A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal songs. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
KYOTO – Phoebe Bridgers, Morgan Nagler & Marshall Vore, songwriters (Phoebe Bridgers)
LOST IN YESTERDAY – Kevin Parker, songwriter (Tame Impala)
NOT – Adrianne Lenker, songwriter (Big Thief)
SHAMEIKA – Fiona Apple, songwriter (Fiona Apple)
STAY HIGH – Brittany Howard, songwriter (Brittany Howard)

Best Rock Album – For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings.
A HERO’S DEATH – Fontaines D.C.
KIWANUKA – Michael Kiwanuka
DAYLIGHT – Grace Potter
SOUND & FURY – Sturgill Simpson
THE NEW ABNORMAL – The Strokes

** Alternative **

Best Alternative Music Album – Vocal or Instrumental.
FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS – Fiona Apple
HYPERSPACE – Beck
PUNISHER – Phoebe Bridgers
JAIME – Brittany Howard
THE SLOW RUSH – Tame Impala

*** end of rundown ***

PiercingMetal Thoughts: So now for some opinion on it all. I know some Fiona Apple and Grace Potter but not enough to consider myself in-tune with them. I hope that they will shine bright on their nominations. In Rock Song I knew of one artist but Rock Album I had bacground in two of them (Potter and The Strokes). Now let’s examine Best Metal Performance and give a little bit of kudos because it seems as though The Grammy’s have finally gotten it right and picked some truly Metal acts. I like a little bit of stuff from each of the nominated Metal acts. Closing up I didn’t know more than two nominees for Alternative Album but like the other missing notions I like to use this time to do some Spotify digging to see what they are all about. The full list of nominations will be presented on “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken” shortly. It’s just a lot more editing that this one so I ran this side of the fence first. Chime in down below and let me know what you all think. It’s surely something you can debate over the Thanksgiving dinner if you are planning on being anywhere. Whatever you might be doing just be smart and safe. Masked, social distance, limiting contact and the whole nine yards that we are accustomed to at this point. See you again soon.

Official Website: https://www.grammy.com/