The Daily Procrastinator

"We'd like to thank the Grammy voters' powers of name-recognition ..."

It seems Metallica received another nomination, this time for “My Apocalypse” under the “Best Metal Performance” category.

Of course Metallica got another nomination – I mean, they released an album, and that seems to be all it takes for Metallica to receive a nod. St. Anger proved beyond a doubt that the Grammys are based on name recognition solely — who actually listened to that phoned-in effort more than once before winging it out the car window like a frisbee? Meanwhile, Anthrax’s We’ve Come for You All was not even nominated.

Other proof? Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” winning over Lamb of God’s “Redneck” in 2007 and, the next year, Slayer’s winning with “Final Six” over Machine Head’s “Aesthetics of Hate”, both egregious errors. This is not to knock F*&KING SLAYER but their past couple albums just haven’t matched up to their earlier work. Meanwhile, Lamb of God’s albums are redefining metal and Machine Head’s The Blackening is stronger than any album either Metallica or Slayer put out in at least a decade (that would be since “… And Justice for All” in Metallica’s case).

It would actually be interesting to see what would happen if both Metallica and Slayer were nominated in the same year, but we all know that the more palatable Metallica would get the nod (barring a not-out-of-realm-of-possibility announcement of a “tie”). I guess when they start things off with Jethro Tull winning out over Metallica I shouldn’t expect much, though.

A band featuring a flutist beat Metallica. Seriously.

Here now are the also-rans for “Best Metal Performance” for 2009:

Dragonforce – “Heroes Of Our Time” (“Dragonforce” – snicker – if these guys win a Grammy it will be for “Most Annoying Music Accompanying an Anime Cartoon about Robots”)

Judas Priest – “Nostradamus” (name recognition got JP this nomination – how long has it been since they’ve been relevant?)

Ministry – “Under My Thumb” (always the bridesmaid, never the bride)

Slipknot – “Psychosocial” (they won in 2006 – Metallica and Slayer weren’t nominated)