Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo has some pretty strong words for the Grammys’ decision to omit Jeff Hanneman from this year’s In Memoriam segment.
“Yeah, that was disappointing, he tells Metal Wani. But they’re notorious for that. That organisation is predominantly rap- and country-driven. And they don’t wanna hear rock; they don’t care about rock and metal. Metal, I think, is music for misfits, and it’s played by misfits. And what do they wanna do with this kind of music? We wanna get recognised? They’re not gonna do it. Let it be. Let it be. We don’t need a doorstop. Metal doesn’t need a doorstop or an organisation to recognise who we are. We have our fans. Let the voice of the fans show how big metal is.”
This year’s Grammys were marked by a unique performance by Metallica featuring renown pianist, Lang Lang, as well as a medley of tracks from a Nine Inch Nails/Dave Grohl/Queens Of The Stone Age team-up that attracted some controversy due to Trent Reznor’s displeasure at it being cut short.
Despite Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin both picking up gongs, hard rock and metal were given typically little notice, although, as Dave Lombardo points out, it really is getting harder and harder to give a shit.
