Tenacious D Wins Grammy For Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance [Editorial]

Today I'm going to do something a little different on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective. Rather than do a straight up news story like I normally do, this is going to be more of an editorial because the topic I'm talking about is something that is more opinion based rather than news. Plus, the topic is something that irritates me so much that I feel like getting on my soapbox for just a minute.

Now as many if not all of you are aware, last night was the 57th annual Grammy Awards. It's supposed to be a night where musicians get honored for their achievements in the past year or so. I've never been a big fan of the way they do things; especially when it comes to rock n' roll and heavy metal. Well last night I was quite flabbergasted and yet not so at the same time when I heard the news that comedy rock duo Tenacious D won the category for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance with their comedic take on Ronnie James Dio's classic track The Last in Line.

Tenacious D is comprised of comedian/actor Jack Black on lead vocals and rhythm acoustic guitar and Kyle Gass on lead acoustic guitar. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Tenacious D. I think they are quite hilarious and I love their taste in music and their own style. However, I feel it was grossly wrong for them to win the category they did, even if it was with a tribute to Dio (which I do applaud them for).

There were many bands and artists who were far more deserving of this recognition. Ones who were trying much harder to make new meaningful powerful emotional music. Then again, no one said The Recording Academy had any brains or taste. Hell, if they had any idea as to what they were doing they wouldn't be lumping hard rock and heavy metal together into one category; as both are completely different. Maybe a category for comedy would be more appropriate for Tenacious D.

Bands like Judas Priest, Slash, AC/DC, Rival Sons, Red Dragon Cartel, etc. were nowhere to be found on the list of nominees despite the fact they all had new music out this past year. This is who they had listed as nominees for the genre:

ANTHRAX - "Neon Knights"
Track from: "Ronnie James Dio - This Is Your Life"
Label: Rhino

MASTODON – "High Road"
Track from: "Once More 'Round The Sun"
Label: Reprise

MOTÖRHEAD – "Heartbreaker"
Track from: "Aftershock"
Label: UDR

SLIPKNOT – "The Negative One"
Label: Roadrunner Records

TENACIOUS D – "The Last In Line"
Track from: "Ronnie James Dio - This Is Your Life"
Label: Rhino

I'm not entirely appalled by the choices there were, but there were so many others that should have made the list. Then again, the Academy has been snubbing any genre that isn't pop for the longest time; like when Jethro Tull won over Metallica for the same award years back. I think it's time they got some new people to take over minding hard rock, heavy metal, and also just regular rock because they are clearly out of their minds here.