Judas Priest won a Grammy last night for the first time ever. I have to admit that when I heard this, I was kind of surprised to learn that Judas Priest hadn’t ever won a Grammy. And then, I started to get heart palpitations thinking that perhaps the band had won a Grammy for a song from their god-awful album Nostradamus. You know, because the same institution that gave Jethro Tull the heavy metal Grammy instead of Metallica would do something like that.
It turns out that the band snagged their trophy in honor of “Dissident Aggressor” from their most recent live release A Touch of Evil – Live. Although I do love Judas Priest, I found myself muttering that the award would have been better suited for one of the really good album releases from last year. You know, a studio album, and not a track sourced from a live album. Where’s the love for Megadeth, who against all odds, made a really good album (for my money, one of the best metal albums of the year) in 2009 called Endgame, that actually sounded like Megadeth? I didn’t realize it, but they were indeed nominated for “Head Crusher” from that release, with Lamb of God, Ministry and Slayer rounding out the nominations.
So why didn’t they win?
Because we’re talking about the Grammy Awards, that’s why.
The plus side is that the Priest finally get a Grammy Award, for whatever that is worth these days, after being nominated four times previously. As lead singer Rob Halford said, they’ve finally earned the right to use the label of “Grammy award winning Judas Priest.” Which means that it’s likely that they will now record an album called Nostradamus of Judas Priest songs played on the lute. While I’m not a big fan of them scoring the award for a song from a live album that about 12 people bought, you have to consider the source of the award.
Some legitimate highlights from last night: Jeff Beck snagged a well deserved Grammy for his version of “A Day in the Life,” while Neil Young picked up his first ever Grammy (which is also hard to believe) for Best Boxed or Special Edition Limited Packaging for the Archives box set. AC/DC also notched their first Grammy win with “War Machine” from the Black Ice album winning the Best Hard Rock Performance. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today by David Byrne and Brian Eno won for Best Recording Package and Phoenix picked up a Best Alternative Music Album Grammy for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
There’s definitely some good music to check out in the paragraph above, if you missed it.
And hell, congrats to the Priest – ya’ll have seen a million faces, rocked them all (sorry, Bon Jovi), and now you’ve got a Grammy for the heavy metal mantle.
Speaking of Bon Jovi, can they go away now?
Hey Matt,
Pretty harsh on the Priest. While Nostradamus was weak, the band's strength has always been its live releases. I haven't heard the latest but would be willing to bet that it rocks.
I realize we're talking about Grammys here (insert Allen Iverson quote here “We're talkin about practice, man, practice!”), so this is all about as significant as what I ate for breakfast today.
If any criticism should be lodged at a long-standing artist, rain down on AC/DC. Their new album is a piece of crap that sounds like the last eight or ten pieces of crap they have put out over the past 20 years. A once great band that still cares about its fans (see recent box set) but not enough to keep producing worthwhile music.
SD,
The AC/DC win makes sense when you realize that it's actually an award for their entire catalog. (kidding) They've been making the same album over and over again since 1990! I actually thought the Black Ice album was pretty solid – Rock and Roll Train was the best single that those guys have had in quite a while. All of that being said, I prefer the old stuff. That recent box set is pretty killer, indeed.
Nice job on the Allen Iverson quote. Ha.
Hey Matt,
Pretty harsh on the Priest. While Nostradamus was weak, the band's strength has always been its live releases. I haven't heard the latest but would be willing to bet that it rocks.
I realize we're talking about Grammys here (insert Allen Iverson quote here “We're talkin about practice, man, practice!”), so this is all about as significant as what I ate for breakfast today.
If any criticism should be lodged at a long-standing artist, rain down on AC/DC. Their new album is a piece of crap that sounds like the last eight or ten pieces of crap they have put out over the past 20 years. A once great band that still cares about its fans (see recent box set) but not enough to keep producing worthwhile music.
SD,
The AC/DC win makes sense when you realize that it's actually an award for their entire catalog. (kidding) They've been making the same album over and over again since 1990! I actually thought the Black Ice album was pretty solid – Rock and Roll Train was the best single that those guys have had in quite a while. All of that being said, I prefer the old stuff. That recent box set is pretty killer, indeed.
Nice job on the Allen Iverson quote. Ha.