Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Quality works in the hard rock/metal music genre |
Country | United States |
Presented by | National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |
First awarded | 1989 |
Last awarded | 1989 |
Website | grammy.com |
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental was an award presented at the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 to honor quality hard rock/metal works (albums or songs). The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, [1] are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position." [2]
The Academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time in 1989 with the category Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental, combining two of the most popular music genres of the 1980s. [3] Metallica, who were expected to win the inaugural award for their album ...And Justice for All, [4] lost to Jethro Tull whose album Crest of a Knave won, also beating out Jane's Addiction, Iggy Pop, as well as AC/DC.
This choice led to widespread criticism of the Academy, as journalists suggested that Jethro Tull's music did not belong in either the hard rock or heavy metal genres. [5] [6] In response, the Academy separated the genres creating the categories Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance. This incident is often considered an example of the Grammy Awards being out of touch with popular sentiment, and was named the biggest upset in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly .
In 2012, the combined Hard Rock/Metal category returned following a major overhaul of Grammy Award categories. The separate Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance categories were merged into the slightly renamed Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category. However, in June 2013, it was announced that the combined category was being discontinued in favor of reinstating Best Metal Performance. Beginning in 2014, quality hard rock performances were recognized under the category Best Rock Performance. [7]
In 1988, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences added a Hard Rock/Metal Performance category for the 31st Grammy Awards. [8] Nominated works for the award were Blow Up Your Video by AC/DC, "Cold Metal" by Iggy Pop (from the album Instinct ), Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction, Crest of a Knave by Jethro Tull, and ...And Justice for All by Metallica. [9] Jethro Tull's lead singer Ian Anderson was surprised by the band's nomination, as both Anderson and music critics did not consider the group's music to be part of the heavy metal music genre. [10] [11] [12]
Metallica's performance at the ceremony, held in February 1989 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, marked the first time a heavy metal group had performed during the Grammy Awards. [13] Metallica was expected to win the award, and members of Jethro Tull were told by their record label Chrysalis Records not to bother attending the ceremony because they "weren't likely to win." [10] However, Jethro Tull won the award (recipients included members Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, and Dave Pegg), [14] and when presenters Alice Cooper and Lita Ford announced the result, booing could be heard from the crowd. [10] [15] Anderson, who assumed that the band was being recognized for their twenty-year history, as opposed to a single album, later stated that he was "lucky" not to have attended the ceremony, as "there's no way I could have accepted it under those circumstances." [10]
The result, considered an "embarrassment" for the Academy, generated much controversy. [16] In response to the criticism they received over the award, Jethro Tull's record label took out an advertisement in Billboard magazine with a picture of a flute (part of their trademark sound) lying amid a pile of iron rebars and the line, "The flute is a heavy, metal instrument!" [17] Metallica also added a sticker to subsequent releases of ...And Justice for All, reading: "Grammy Award LOSERS". [18] [19]
Separate awards for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance were introduced in 1990. Beginning that year, Metallica won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance for the song "One" from ...And Justice for All, their cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy", and their eponymous album in 1992. [14] When Metallica won the Grammy in 1992, drummer Lars Ulrich referenced the previous award by facetiously "thanking" Jethro Tull for not putting out an album that year, [20] though they actually had released the album Catfish Rising in 1991. [21] A decade after Jethro Tull defeated Metallica, Ulrich admitted: "I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I was disappointed. Human nature is that you'd rather win than lose, but Jethro Tull walking away with it makes a huge mockery of the intentions of the event." [18] As of 2010, Metallica holds the record for the most wins in the metal category, with a total of six. [14]
This incident is often cited as an example of the Grammy Awards selection committee being out of touch with popular sentiment, [22] and was named the biggest upset in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly . [23] Other publications that have included the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance upset in their lists of top Grammy moments include Cracked.com (number one), [24] Time (number ten), [25] and the Ventura County Star (number twenty). [26]
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from Metallica, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.
Jethro Tull are a British progressive rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk music, hard rock and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group's lead vocalist, bandleader, founder, principal composer and only constant member is Ian Anderson, who also plays flute and acoustic guitar. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre ; bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg and Jonathan Noyce; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese and Andrew Giddings.
...And Justice for All is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on August 25, 1988, by Elektra Records. It was the first Metallica album to feature bassist Jason Newsted, following the death of their previous bassist Cliff Burton in 1986. Burton received posthumous co-writing credit on "To Live Is to Die" as Newsted followed bass lines Burton had recorded prior to his death.
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011.
The 31st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 22, 1989, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where honors in several categories are presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position". The ceremony was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.
Martin Lancelot Barre is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 2011. Barre played on all of Jethro Tull's studio albums from their 1969 album Stand Up to their 2003 album The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. In the early 1990s he began a solo career, and he has recorded several albums as well as touring with his own live band.
Crest of a Knave is the sixteenth studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1987. The album was recorded after a three-year hiatus caused by a throat infection of vocalist Ian Anderson, resulting in his changed singing style. Following the unsuccessful electronic rock album Under Wraps, Crest of a Knave had the band returning to a more hard rock sound. The album was their most successful since the 1970s and the band enjoyed a resurgence on radio broadcasts, appearances in MTV specials and the airing of music videos. It was also a critical success, winning the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental in what was widely viewed as an upset over the favorite, Metallica's ...And Justice for All. The album was supported by "The Not Quite the World, More the Here and There Tour".
Rock Island is the 17th studio album by the British rock group Jethro Tull, released in 1989. The album continued the hard rock direction the band took on the previous effort, Crest of a Knave (1987). The line-up now included Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg and drummer Doane Perry in his first full recording with the band, although he had already been a member of Jethro Tull since 1984. Without a permanent keyboard player, the role was shared by Fairport Convention's Maartin Allcock and former Tull member Peter Vettese.
Gerald Conway is an English folk and rock drummer/percussionist, best known for having performed with the backing band for Cat Stevens in the 1970s, Jethro Tull during the 1980s, and a member of Fairport Convention from 1998 to 2022, alongside various side projects. Conway has done a considerable amount of work as a session musician. Conway is married to vocalist Jacqui McShee, who is the singer of Pentangle, a band of which Conway is also a member.
Peter-John Vettese, also known as Peter Vettese, is a Scottish keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. Vettese is perhaps best known for being the keyboardist for progressive rock band Jethro Tull for most of the 1980s.
Ann Marie Calhoun is an American classically trained violinist who has performed as a bluegrass and rock musician in a number of prominent acts, including Jethro Tull, Steve Vai, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band, Ringo Starr, A.R. Rahman and Mick Jagger's SuperHeavy. She has closely collaborated with Hans Zimmer on numerous film scores, including Sherlock Holmes, Interstellar, 12 Years a Slave, The Lone Ranger, The Little Prince, Man of Steel, and Captain Phillips. She is the sister of violinist Mary Simpson.
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