The list of nominees for the 2016 Grammy Awards are in and while there are so many more categories than what I’ve presented below, I am limiting this topic to the Rock and Alternative categories since that is where our readership pays the most attention. Let’s take a look and then I’ll discuss a little more after its all done.
ROCK CATEGORIES
Rock Performance
“Don’t Wanna Fight,” Alabama Shakes
“What Kind Of Man,” Florence + the Machine
“Something From Nothing,” Foo Fighters
“Ex’s & Oh’s,” Elle King
“Moaning Lisa Smile,” Wolf Alice
Metal Performance
“Identity,” August Burns Red
“Cirice,” Ghost
“512,” Lamb Of God
“Thank You,” Sevendust
“Custer,” Slipknot
Rock Song
“Don’t Wanna Fight,” Alabama Shakes, songwriters (Alabama Shakes)
“Ex’s & Oh’s,” Dave Bassett and Elle King, songwriters (Elle King)
“Hold Back the River,” Iain Archer and James Bay, songwriters (James Bay)
“Lydia,” Richard Meyer, Ryan Meyer and Johnny Stevens, songwriters (Highly Suspect)
“What Kind of Man,” John Hill, Tom Hull and Florence Welch, songwriters (Florence + the Machine)
Rock Album
“Chaos and the Calm,” James Bay
“Kintsugi,” Death Cab for Cutie
“Mister Asylum,” Highly Suspect
“Drones,” Muse
” .5: The Gray Chapter,” Slipknot
ALTERNATIVE CATEGORY
Alternative Music Album
“Sound & Color,” Alabama Shakes
“Vulnicura,” Björk
“The Waterfall,” My Morning Jacket
“Currents,” Tame Impala
“Star Wars,” Wilco
Music Film
“Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown,” James Brown; Alex Gibney, video director; Peter Afterman, Blair Foster, Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman, video producers
“Sonic Highways,” Foo Fighters; Dave Grohl, video director; John Cutcliffe, John Silva, Gaby Skolnek and Kristen Welsh, video producers
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” Nina Simone; Liz Garbus, video director; Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby, Jayson Jackson and Justin Wilkes, video producers
“The Wall,” Roger Waters; Sean Evans and Roger Waters, video directors; Clare Spencer and Roger Waters, video producers
“Amy,” Amy Winehouse; Asif Kapadia, video director; James Gay-Rees, video producer
PiercingMetal Thoughts: Quite an interesting variation on these across the board don’t you think? So I cannot really speak to what I feel the “Best Rock Performance” should be but hope it does to the Alabama Shakes as I caught them once in concert and can say that they do kick some butt on the stage. Solid stuff if you should want to try something new outside of your conventional zone. For “Best Metal Performance” I want it to go to Ghost even though I have mad love for the Slipknot and Lamb Of God numbers. Sorry guys but it will be fantastic to see Papa getting up their in full regalia accepting that award and I sure hope they play at the show and are not cut. They did great on Colbert. For “Best Rock Song” I’d say give that to The Shakes and for “Rock Album” I’d like to see it go to Slipknot over Muse but don’t see that happening since Muse is just so damned popular at the moment. Sorry again and really? Slipnot in the “Rock Album” category? Sigh. Of the “Alternative” category I have only recently listened to Alabama Shakes so cannot compare the other offerings. I admit I am surprised to find them falling there as well along with the Rock stuff but our music always gets pigeonholed into one form. That is just the way the Grammy’s treat us and if you didn’t know there are like nine Rap and R&B Categories in the mix. So what do you readers think of this years nominations and which picks would you make? Let me know in the comments below and perhaps even let me know what “Rock Song” or “Metal Performance” you would rather see in the rundown even if they weren’t nominated.
Official Website: https://www.grammy.com/