Random Musings
I just read this article The Grammys old heads are holding back rap and rock this morning, and shared it on my personal FB page. I won't comment on the rap categories, rap isn't a genre I listen to because I am more of a metal fan. Here is the caption I wrote with the link to the article on my FB account:
"While I do enjoy watching the performances, the awards aspect of the Grammys I do not. The rock/metal genres are 99% a sausage party and honestly from the older generations too (i.e gen x, and I say this as a gen xer). Not seeing a lot of younger generations of rock/metal bands (beyond millennials) getting their flowers at the Grammys in recent years. There definitely is a bias on the Grammys committee that skews towards men in their 40s/50s when it comes to metal and rock music. TBH of all the female fronted metal bands, Spiritbox is the only metal band with a female singer to get a Grammy nod? Spiritbox should not be the token female fronted metal band to be recognized by the Grammys Exit Eden, League of Distortion, Alterium, Soulwitch, Visions of Atlantis, Ad Infinitum, and Oceans of Slumber put out better releases. Also, there are metal bands outside of USA and Europe that does not consist of white people. China,India, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Phillipines,Vietnam, and so on ring a bell?
This makes me wonder who really are the people on the committee that is choosing the artists and bands who gets nominated for the metal and rock categories. Do they not know that women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ people exists in those genres? It is 2025 and gatekeeping metal and rock is so tiresome and cliched. Just a reminder to them music industry especially the Grammys committee, rock music would not exist without Black queer guitarist/singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe . There is no need to keep rock and metal a colossal sausage party full of white, cishet men. Grammys committee need a serious upheaval with younger members consisting of more BIPOC,LGBTQ, and women doing the voting. The voting for the rock and metal categories do not reflect the world today.
"While I do enjoy watching the performances, the awards aspect of the Grammys I do not. The rock/metal genres are 99% a sausage party and honestly from the older generations too (i.e gen x, and I say this as a gen xer). Not seeing a lot of younger generations of rock/metal bands (beyond millennials) getting their flowers at the Grammys in recent years. There definitely is a bias on the Grammys committee that skews towards men in their 40s/50s when it comes to metal and rock music. TBH of all the female fronted metal bands, Spiritbox is the only metal band with a female singer to get a Grammy nod? Spiritbox should not be the token female fronted metal band to be recognized by the Grammys Exit Eden, League of Distortion, Alterium, Soulwitch, Visions of Atlantis, Ad Infinitum, and Oceans of Slumber put out better releases. Also, there are metal bands outside of USA and Europe that does not consist of white people. China,India, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Phillipines,Vietnam, and so on ring a bell?
Back in December 28 of last year, I posted my Top 20 Best Metal Albums of 2024 . Some of the bands on my list submitted their albums for Grammy considerations. Even Linkin Park's From Zero should have gotten a nod. It was a solid metalcore album. While it wasn't on my list because there were so many fantastic releases that I loved and listened obsessively too in 2024 that wasn't by Eleine or Deathless Legacy. Spirtbox is okay but there were so many more incredible metal releases featuring female vocalists that should have also gotten a Grammy nomination.
This makes me wonder who really are the people on the committee that is choosing the artists and bands who gets nominated for the metal and rock categories. Do they not know that women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ people exists in those genres? It is 2025 and gatekeeping metal and rock is so tiresome and cliched. Just a reminder to them music industry especially the Grammys committee, rock music would not exist without Black queer guitarist/singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe . There is no need to keep rock and metal a colossal sausage party full of white, cishet men. Grammys committee need a serious upheaval with younger members consisting of more BIPOC,LGBTQ, and women doing the voting. The voting for the rock and metal categories do not reflect the world today.
***If there are any MAGA/right wing, fascist loving metalhead clowns reading this blog entry or my blog in general, and this commentary is "wokeness", go suck a dick especially your idol Donald J Trump. Calling diversity and inclusion "wokeness" and using it as a perjorative is tiresome and frankly old AF. It is 2025, not 1955. And as an Asian American woman who loves both metal and goth (post-punk/darkwave), I am tired of gatekeeping from both scenes (especially from the metal scene) because some people hate BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ people.***
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