JETHRO TULL Frontman Recalls Taking Grammy Away From METALLICA - "They Gave Us The Award Because We Were A Bunch Of Nice Guys Who Never Won Before"
February 11, 2012, 12 years ago
The credibility of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was called to question at the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989, awarding the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental to JETHRO TULL and their Crest Of A Knave album, when clearly a rising METALLICA was the favorite to get the award (and even played 'One' at the show). When Jethro Tull's name was announced there was a stunned look on the audience’s faces and boos while the television feed quickly cut to a commercial.
With the 2012 Grammys being held tomorrow (February 12th), Powerline asked Jethro Tull’s vocalist Ian Anderson to recount that historic day.
“I probably get (the question) a lot more when I’m talking to American writers than I do over here,” says Ian Anderson from his English home. “It’s not really a big deal over here. It was in a year where it was a new category for Hard Rock forward slash Metal and that category still exists today … and we were, for some strange reason, nominated. And at the time no one paid any attention to the fact that we were nominated. There was not a peep out of anyone. Because they thought there’s no way Jethro Tull are gonna win it. Nor IGGY POP, nor JANE'S ADDICTION. It’s going to be Metallica because they were the huge, new, straight-out-of-the-box, enormous, hit talent that year and everybody took it for granted that Metallica were gonna win the Grammy, including Metallica themselves. And when it was ordered to Jethro Tull, to a barrage of boos and hisses and gasps of disbelief, I’d like to think that it wasn’t that the six thousand voting members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences were voting for Jethro Tull as a heavy rock band or a heavy metal band. They gave us the award because we were a bunch of nice guys who never won a Grammy before. And sad to relate, even after all these years, there is still no category for best one-legged flute player. Otherwise, I’d be winning it every year.”The 54th Annual Grammy Awards are taking place live from Staples Center in Los Angeles at 8 PM ET/PT on CBS.
Nominees for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance include:
'On The Backs Of Angels' - DREAM THEATER
'White Limo' - FOO FIGHTERS
'Curl Of The Burl' - MASTODON
'Public Enemy No. 1' - MEGADETH
'Blood In My Eyes' - SUM 41
