There are 94 distinct categories in this year’s Grammy Awards. They are a jerry-rigged mishmash of overlapping genres and forms, and if you are confused by some of it, join the club. The Grammys are constantly tinkering with the formula. You have got to love them for trying.
We have already looked at the big 4 – Album, Record, Song, and New Artist. These are general categories, open to all voting members of the academy. Today, we’re going to look at five specialty categories. That’s what most of the 94 are – specialties.
We’re including one of the newest categories. Best Alternative Music Performance was created only last year when it was won by Wet Leg for “Chaise Lounge.” That was the exact right call. It is exactly why the category was created.
Who will win the Rock and Alternative categories at the 2024 Grammy Awards?
In addition to Alt Performance, we’re also looking at Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album. Why isn’t there a Best Alternative Music Song category to keep it all balanced? You may as well ask where time begins or why Jethro Tull won the first-ever Grammy for metal. One of life’s unknowable mysteries.
The problem, of course, derives from the ill-defined plasticity of the term “rock.” For award purposes, it can mean pretty much anything. We are about to see that as we look at who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated in the rock and alt categories at this year’s Grammys.
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCE
WHO WILL WIN
So please try to follow along here. Boygenius, Lana Del Rey, and Arctic Monkeys all are nominated for both Alt Performance and Alt Album. No surprise there. But Boygenius is also nominated for Rock Performance and Rock Song, and Arctic Monkeys get a Rock Performance (but not Rock Song) nom as well. Boygenius is going to win a lot of Grammys this year, but I think they lose this one to Lana Del Rey’s “A&W.” I’m not a big fan of Del Rey’s album, but a lot of important people are. “A&W” is a good song, but I can’t say Del Rey’s whispered, mumbled treatment of it does much for me.
WHO SHOULD WIN
Let me qualify this by saying I will not be including Boygenius in any other “Who Should Win” section. But this song – “Cool About It” – is the best thing on the album and one of the best songs of the year. And it is appropriately being considered in the Alt category. It’s a great, sad acoustic ballad that shows off each of its contributors to the best effect.
WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED
I can’t put Underscore’s “Geez Louise” into any standard category. It’s a huge, over-the-top collection of disparate styles and sounds. This is why the Alt category exists. She gets a big assist from Henhouse!.
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE
WHO WILL WIN
I think boygenius will take this one for “Not Strong Enough,” and I suppose if you squint, you could consider this an acoustic rock song. But to me, this is a pop song. It happens to be a very good pop song, but I can’t see giving it an award as the best rock song. Last year, this award also went to an acoustic song – Brandi Carlile’s “Broken Horses” – but that is a genuine blues rocker. It’s not about the electric guitars. It’s about the electricity of the song.
WHO SHOULD WIN
I feel so defeated giving this to the Foo Fighters for “Rescued.” They have basically defined American rock over the past decade and at times, I think they’ve reached a point of diminishing returns. But three of the other nominees just don’t work for me as rock songs – especially now that the Alt Performance category exists. And the one truly solid rock song that joins “Rescued” – Metallica’s “Lux Aerterna” – suffers from one or two soon-to-be-discussed problems. So ‘Rescued” gets my vote by default. But at least it is a very good song, birthed as it was out of tragedy.
WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED
Skating Polly’s “Baby on My Birthday” not only should have been nominated, but it should have won. And it should have won Best Alt Performance too. Because it is legitimately both Rock and Alt, and the performance blows away most other performances this year.
BEST ROCK SONG
WHO WILL WIN
This is boygenius again. The Foo Fighters’ “Rescued” is the only other track that stands a chance. (It’s the only other track that got a Rock Performance nom.)
WHO SHOULD WIN
My two favorite nominees in this category are Olivia Rodrigo’s “ballad of a homeschooled girl” and Queens of the Stone Age’s “Emotion Sickness.” Rodrigo’s album is roughly divided between modern rock songs and piano-driven ballads, and I think every rock song is outstanding. I’d vote for her, though there is a slight caveat.
WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED
If Harliss Sweetwater’s single “Won’t Be Satisfied” were nominated, I would vote for it. It is a virtually perfect blues rock song. It features Joe Doe on bass and David Hidalgo on guitar, and Sweetwater sings the heel out of it. This is an era in which the definition of a rock song has been diluted to such a degree that virtually anything can qualify. You don’t need to make a case for “Won’t Be Satisfied.” It’s a rock song down to its very DNA.
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
WHO WILL WIN
It’s a boygenius kind of year. I only think about half of this album is truly outstanding. But even the stuff I don’t love is pretty good. And lots of people not named me do indeed love it all.
WHO SHOULD WIN
I’ll finally agree with the crowd and say that of the nominees, boygenius’ the record should get the prize. It’s a very good album. Two of the other critical darlings in this category – Lana Der Rey and PJ Harvey – turn in surprisingly tame atmospheric albums that have their moments but don’t strike me as having any real staying power.
I’m a Gorillaz fan, but it’s hard for me to say it is the best of anything. Arctic Monkeys are a contender here. This is a strong Alt collection of songs from Alex Turner and mates, that shows intriguing growth. That doesn’t please some old fans, but it makes them interesting to listen to, now and perhaps down the road. But as a whole, boygenius gave us a better album.
WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED
It’s hard for me to say what my favorite Alt album of the year was because the definition is so amorphous. But the Ratboys’ The Window is way up there, regardless of category. It ranges from the spiky rock of “Making Noise for the Ones You Love” to the lovely ballad of the title track to a pure jam band workout of “Black Earth, WI.” It has lots of alternate flavors, and they’re all good.
BEST ROCK ALBUM
WHO WILL WIN
It’s the Foo Fighters. I don’t think it’s especially close. They are the only act nominated in all three major Rock categories.
WHO SHOULD WIN
If Metallica cut twenty minutes from 72 Seasons, I think they’d have a classic. Like modern Hollywood producers, they just can’t make anything to scale anymore. Greta Van Fleet is always a contender in a rock competition because they play old-school blues rock in an era that is moving farther and farther away from it. But I don’t think Starcatcher is the album to pull off an upset.
Paramore’s title track from This is Why is a great spiky track – it would be my second choice after boygenius in the Alt Music Performance category – but I don’t think the entire album maintains that standard. That leaves QOTSA’s In Times New Roman… as the only contender in my mind to the Foo Fighters.
It’s a bit of a divisive album, but that doesn’t bother me. I think it’s large a tossup between the Queens and the Foo Fighters, so I’ll give my vote to the QOTSA, who have been nominated two other times for Best Album without winning, as opposed to Dave Grohl’s boys, who already have 15 Grammys at home.
WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED
It doesn’t matter where rock & roll has been or where it is headed. There will always be room for quality old-school rock like you’ll find on the Marvelous Three’s IV. Their surprise album, released twenty-three years after we last heard anything new from them, was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.
I’ll stop there. Between these five categories and the previous piece on the big four, that leaves just 85 more for you to investigate on your own. Personally, I’m going to go seek out Colin Hancock’s tribute to jazz sax pioneer Loren McMurray – The Moaniest Moan of Them All – something I would know nothing about if it hadn’t snagged a Grammy nomination in one of those obscure fields. Quite frankly, as much fun as it is to argue about what the album of the year should or shouldn’t be, that’s why the Grammys have continuing value.