With the Grammys around the corner, sometimes people like to talk about how someone should’ve gotten it over the person that received it. People’s standards for music have risen, which means there will always be someone who is upset over someone’s win.
The pop realm usually recognizes newer artists every year, with artists such as Lizzo and Bebe Rexha getting nominations. When it comes to rock and metal, it is clear that legacy artists are the most likely to get the award. For best rock and metal performances, only a few artists/bands such as Turnstile and Ghost can be considered new, even though they’ve been around for over 10 years now. The other ones that have been nominated, such as Ozzy Osbourne and Megadeth, have been around for more than 40 years now. There have been a lot more artists during that time and for them to not get recognition is doing modern rock and metal a disservice.
the only reason people say rock is dead is because organizations like the grammys refuse to put new artists in the spotlight and they hand the awards to the same bands over and over again. new rock music is out there and it’s good i promise pic.twitter.com/fC1JJk6uE3
— vanessa (tortured) (@retrogradeswift) November 23, 2021
With classic rock, people are always putting older artists as the standard for music, usually saying stuff such as music reaching greatness in the 70s or 80s, and how it has gone downhill since then. The truth is, while those songs still hold up today, rock and metal were nowhere at their peak during that time. No genre can ever peak. We just keep doing what older generations do, saying that music during our time was the best. Even for their generation, their parents and grandparents complained about how rock is destroying music. Sure, these artists need to exist for new artists to be inspired by, but by no means is it considered the standard for all music.
People will always hold older artists on a pedestal. I can’t blame them for doing that. They hold a special place in their hearts just like how the artists we have today hold a special place in ours.