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Here Are the 2015 Grammy Winners That Rock Fans Care About

What was with all the ballads? Did we really go almost 90 minutes without handing out an award? And didn’t Prince look good in orange?

Let me save you from sorting through all the categories for the stuff that matters.

Album of the Year:  Morning Phase, by Beck. I did NOT see that coming. And neither did Sam Smith. Kanye made a fake grab for the mic, too, which was kinda fun.


Best Alternative Album: St. Vincent’s St. Vincent  prevailed over Alt-J, Arcade Fire, Cage the Elephant and Jack White.

Best Rock Album: This one actually made the first hour of the telecast.  Beck deserved to win for Morning Phase. Other nominees were Ryan Adams’ Ryan Adams, Turn Blue from The Black Keys, Hypnotic Eye from Tom Petty and U2’s Songs of Innocence. On that subject, what was Songs of Innocence even doing there? (Via Larry)

Best Rock Performance:  You didn’t think Jack White would go home empty-handed did you? Lazaretto beat out entries from Ryan Adams, Arctic Monkeys, Beck and the Black Keys.

Best Rock Song:  “Ain’t It Fun” by Paramore. Yep, that’s a better track than Beck’s “Blue Moon,” “Fever” by The Black Keys, “Gimme Something Good” by Ryan Adams and “Lazaretto” by Jack White.

Best Metal Performance:  Tenacious D and “The Last in Line?” Seriously? Mastodon, Anthrax, Motorhead and Slipknot are rightly pissed.

Best Music Film:  The award went to 20 Feet from Stardom, beating out both Coldplay’s Ghost Stories and Metallica’s ambitious-but-crap Through the Never.

Other notes

  • Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” lost the Best Pop Duo/Group performance to A Great Big World’s “Say Something.”
  • The video for Pharrell’s “Happy” was deemed better than Arcade Fire’s “We Exist,” Sia’s “Chandelier,” “The Golden Age” by Woodkid and sadly, Lil John’s “Turn Down for What.”
  • Deadmau5’s While (1<2) lost out to Syro by Aphex Twin in Best Dance/Electronic Album
  • Eminem got Best Rap Album for The Marshall Mathers LP2. How the hell is that category not on the telecast?
  • Pearl Jam won a Grammy for the packaging of Lightning Bolt.
  • Tegan and Sara’s “Everything is Awesome!!!” from The Lego Movie lost to “Let It Go” from the Frozen soundtrack. Like we didn’t see that coming.
  • Did you know there was a category for Best Surround Sound album? Neither did I. Beyonce’s Beyonce beat out the 20th anniversary deluxe box set of Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell.

If you want to browse through all 83 (!!!) categories, go here.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37921 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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