Pop star Beyonce deserves her nomination for Best Rock Performance Grammy at the 2017 awards ceremony, one of the event’s bosses has stated.
And part of the reason she does, he argues, is that her track Don’t Hurt Yourself features Jack White and samples of Led Zeppelin music.
Bill Freimuth has responded to comments by Disturbed frontman David Draiman, who queried why his band were up against Beyonce in a category he described as “too diverse.”
Draiman said last week: “When you can have, with all due respect, a Beyonce and a Disturbed in the same category, something has gone wrong.
“Not taking anything away from her whatsoever – we’re just very different from each other.”
His band’s rendition of Simon And Garfunkel classic The Sound Of Silence has been nominated alongside Don’t Hurt Yourself, David Bowie’s Blackstar, Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens and the Alabama Shakes’ Joe.
Now Freimuth, Senior Vice President (Awards) of the Recording Academy, who hand out Grammys, tells Metal Injection: “When you exclude metal, the rock category is one of our biggest umbrellas.
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“Not quite as broad as pop, but maybe next up. I think what we found this year is that so many artists that were in rock or adjacent to rock were taking more sonic risks this year than ever before. It made for a really exciting dynamic landscape.”
He says of Beyonce’s track: “That recording has Jack White in it and it has Led Zeppelin samples in it. I think it’s Beyonce really stretching. It’s an artist at the height of her music powers, really reaching in different directions, and we’re all the better for it.”
Asked whether any heavy bands might be featured in the main part of the Grammys ceremony on February 12 next year, after the tribute to late icon Lemmy Kilmister at last year’s event, Freimuth replied that it was too early to say.
Lemmy tribute at Grammys was down to Grohl
Grammy nominations 2017
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Best Metal Performance
Baroness – Shock Me
Gojira – Silvera
Korn – Rotting In Vain
Megadeth – Dystopia
Periphery – The Price Is Wrong
Best Rock Performance
Alabama Shakes – Joe (Live From Austin City Limits)
Beyonce Featuring Jack White – Don’t Hurt Yourself
David Bowie – Blackstar
Disturbed – The Sound of Silence”= (Live on Conan)
Twenty One Pilots – Heathens
Best Rock Song
David Bowie – Blackstar
Highly Suspect – My Name Is Human
Metallica – Hardwired
Radiohead – Burn the Witch
Twenty One Pilots – Heathens
Best Rock Album
Blink-182 – California
Cage The Elephant – Tell Me I’m Pretty
Gojira – Magma
Panic At The Disco – Death of a Bachelor
Weezer – Weezer
Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver – 22, A Million
David Bowie – Blackstar
PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project
Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Best New Age Album
John Burke – Orogen
Enya – Dark Sky Island
Peter Kater & Tina Guo – Inner Passion
Vangelis – Rosetta
White Sun – White Sun II
Best Traditional Blues Album
Lurrie Bell – Can’t Shake The Feeling
Joe Bonamassa – Live At The Greek Theatre
Luther Dickinson – Blues & Ballads
Vasti Jackson – The Soul Of Jimmie Rodgers
Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat
