Not in Sweden They Don't

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I think as fans of the music played on KNAC.COM we can all agree, the Grammy awards do not represent our musical reality. The Grammys are for the people who soak up whatever music is fed them on a spoon. That's fine. Not everyone has to develop a discerning taste for a particular kind of music, a kind of music that prides itself on musicianship and (most of the time) integrity.

Here's the way I look at it: a top-selling pop album will sell 5, maybe 6 million copies and qualify as an incredible smash hit. 6 million! Go ahead, sell 10 million! There are something like 295 million people in the United States alone. What's that? Less than 3 percent of Americans? Pretty damn popular, I'll say.

Hard rock and heavy metal, as a genre has always sold very well collectively...often better than most other genres of music. The thing is, there are a million metal bands who sell less than 50,000 copies of their albums. Add all of those sales up and you have a giant audience...and audience the Grammy folks would rather ignore.

OK, Screw em. We have Sweden. In Flames have won the Swedish goverment's exportation award at the Swedish Grammy Awards. This is the first metal band ever to win this award. "Thanks to In Flames, Sweden now has a metal band in the absolute world elite", Swedish economy minister Thomas Östros said. As well, Candlemass has won the award for the Best Hard Rock Band for their current album, Candlemass.

Here's an idea...I am going to set my favorite CD's up on a table, and one by one play them real loud as a sign of tribute to their excellence. In my book, that is award enough, and I sense the bands feel it.