METALLICA wins 'Best Metal Performance' Grammy for '72 Seasons'
07-02-2024
METALLICA was honored with a Grammy in the “Best Metal Performance” category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, which is being held on Sunday, February 4 at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles, California. METALLICA was nominated for “72 Seasons”, the title track of the band’s 2023 album.
METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo was on hand to accept the award. He said in his speech: “All right. Wow. Incredible.
“I just wanna say that Lars (Ulrich), James (Hetfield) and Kirk (Hammett) could not be here cause they’re with their families, and, as you know, families are everything to all of us,” he continued. “That comes first. And I live in Southern California, so it’s a little easier.
“But we wanna thank Greg Fidelman, our incredible producer, and our recording team. Amazing — one of the best teams ever.
“This is like family,” Trujillo added. “When you’re making an album like this, you’re jamming, you’re collaborating — the spirit of ’72 seasons’, which is your youth — and creating music together.
“Keep those instruments in your hands. Let’s keep the youth making music and keeping the dream alive.”
METALLICA was also nominated in the “Best Rock Album” (for “72 Seasons”) and “Best Rock Performance” (for “Lux Æterna”) categories, but did not win those awards.
METALLICA has now won 10 Grammy Awards from a total of 26 nominations.
METALLICA was nominated for the very first “Hard Rock/Metal Performance” Grammy in 1989, but famously lost to JETHRO TULL, a band distinguished mainly by its heavy use of flute. Fans — and even some audience members — were rightly outraged, though TULL‘s record label tried to make light of the faux pas by placing a Billboard ad that read, “The flute is a heavy, metal instrument.”
The Grammy Awards ceremony will air live from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. ET / from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. PT. The event will air live on the CBS television network and stream on Paramount+.
The nominees in the “Best Metal Performance” category were as follows:
* DISTURBED – “Bad Man”
* GHOST – “Phantom Of The Opera”
* METALLICA – “72 Seasons”
* SLIPKNOT – “Hive Mind”
* SPIRITBOX – “Jaded”
The eligibility period for the 66th annual Grammy Awards is October 1, 2022 through September 15, 2023.
METALLICA‘s latest album, “72 Seasons”, sold 146,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the band’s 12th Top 10-charting album, of which eight have reached the top two.
“72 Seasons” had the biggest week for any rock or hard rock album since TOOL‘s “Fear Inoculum” arrived in September 2019 with 270,000 equivalent album units.
As for the original studio version of “Too Far Gone?”, it’s been reimagined as a music video directed by Coan “Buddy” Nichols (“The Original Skateboarder”, “The Body Corporate”, “Deathbowl To Downtown”, “Love Letters To Skateboarding”). Through Nichols‘s lens, “Too Far Gone?” becomes the score to raw METALLICA performance footage intercut with action shots of pro skater Felipe Nunes. The energy levels of the two scenarios feed off one other, resulting in peak after peak of hyperkinetic intensity — plus a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Tony Hawk, who premiered the video yesterday.
“Too Far Gone?” is taken from METALLICA‘s latest album, “72 Seasons”, which sold 146,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the band’s 12th Top 10-charting album, of which eight have reached the top two.
“72 Seasons” had the biggest week for any rock or hard rock album since TOOL‘s “Fear Inoculum” arrived in September 2019 with 270,000 equivalent album units.
“72 Seasons” was released on April 14 via METALLICA‘s own Blackened Recordings. Produced by Greg Fidelman with guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, it was METALLICA‘s first full-length collection of new material since “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct”.
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