F**K OFF Grammys!  Metal Doesn’t Need You!

By Adam Waldman

Every year, there is a ton of hype surrounding the Grammy Awards, and every year, the awards are mocked by the metal community at large.  Sure, the nominees might show up to claim their award, but after the 2017 Grammys, metal artists should just tell them to FUCK OFF!  How many times can you be disrespected and keep coming back for more?  Hopefully, disrespecting two of the biggest acts in the history of the genre will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It took over 25 years and 12 nominations, but Megadeth finally won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance.  Of course, it wasn’t televised (as usual), and to top it off, the house band played “Master Of Puppets” by Metallica as Dave Mustaine and company approached to stage to receive their long overdue award.

The Megadeth incident alone probably wouldn’t be enough to move the needle, but what was done to Metallica was an absolute, spit-in-your face disgrace.  With all due respect to Lady GaGa – who is a true metal fan that delivered a kickass performance – how the hell was she the only one announced as she took the stage with Metallica?

Metallica is one of the biggest bands in the world, and has been for over 30 years, but somehow they were treated with the same reverence as the house band that fucked up and played their song as Megadeth was heading for the stage.

Even if you could accept both of the aforementioned slights as bad luck (which I don’t), how the hell does a production that bills itself as “music’s biggest night” not have James Hetfield’s microphone working for the first half of the song?  Hetfield was rightfully fuming over this unacceptable production mistake, which took away from what should have been one of the most entertaining performances of the evening.

It’s funny that there were no production errors during Beyonce’s self-indulgent, musical masturbation “performance,” or for any of the other stars of the show for that matter.  Heads would roll if it happened to a pop star, but since metal is treated as an afterthought by the Grammys, nothing is likely to happen.

Metallica and Megadeth are both legendary acts that built their careers long before radio would even give them the time of day.  They made it this far without mainstream acceptance for many years.  They don’t need the Grammys to continue to thrive, and neither do any other metal artists.

To many, the Grammys may truly be “music’s biggest night,” but to the metal community, this is just another night where the genre that we love gets treated like shit.  It’s time for the metal community to (once and for all) tell the Grammys to FUCK OFF!