Three bands Grammy Awards gave far too much love to in 2025 nominations

As a seasoned music enthusiast who has witnessed the evolution of rock since its inception, I must say that this year’s Grammy nominations have left me scratching my head more than ever before. It’s like watching a game of musical chairs with the lights off and no music playing!


2025 Grammy Awards nominees have been revealed, and as usual, there are several instances where worthy artists were overlooked, while others might not fully deserve their nominations. With 94 award categories, it’s inevitable that some less-than-deserving nominations occur. Perhaps the intention is to invite a well-known act to perform during the live broadcast in order to boost ratings.

At their core, the Grammy Awards are primarily focused on generating revenue. While there may appear to be a touch of authenticity when selecting musical artists for nomination, it’s ultimately about securing financial gains. Broadcast networks such as ABC pay a significant sum to air the Grammy ceremony, with the rights transferring to them in 2027.

It would be great if a well-known band could potentially make the nominations list. Nominating Of Montreal may attract just a handful of viewers, but putting a ’90s boy band on the list could be ratings gold! Interestingly, one of the musical artists below might have left the Grammys guessing who would attend (they’re probably hoping it will be Sir Paul himself).

Three bands that the 2025 Grammy Award nominations gave too much attention to

Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones’ latest album, Hackney Diamonds, is without fault, yet it seems inappropriate for nomination as Best Rock Album. In essence, the Grammys lack the courage when dealing with rock music. To put it frankly, they prioritize pop music, and rock music exists in the darkest corner of the venue. That’s how it should be, naturally, but if they have categories for metal and rock, they should embrace it wholeheartedly.

Approximately half of the seven contenders vying for the Rock Album accolade have been active in music production for a quarter-century or longer. It’s worth noting that Jack White, the most recently established among these veterans, is by no means a newcomer. His album, titled “No Name“, is excellent and well-deserving of its nomination. However, the Rolling Stones’ album falls short in comparison. It seems plausible that academy voters were swayed by the iconic “Rolling Stones” name without giving the new record a thorough listen. The fact that they only received one nomination and none for Best Rock Song suggests this speculation holds some truth.

The Beatles

While The Beatles are often considered the best band ever in music history, their latest release titled “Now and Then” falls short of deserving a Grammy nomination. Interestingly, this song wasn’t initially intended as a Beatles track at all. John Lennon wrote it back in 1977, long after the band had disbanded. If anything, this tune seems more suited for a John Lennon solo album rather than being associated with The Beatles. In fact, it wasn’t included on any of his solo releases either.

The song is fine. The issue is that AI is used to add most of the sounds, and some of the harmonies are from older Beatles songs. It seems unfair that a song could be nominated for Record of the Year and be the musical equivalent of the Frankenstein monster: A piece here and a piece there. Clearly, the academy just wanted the name of the Beatles associated with the 2025 awards.

*NSYNC

Indeed, it seemed only fitting that the Grammys would take some action given the reunion of one of the most iconic boy bands ever. With *NSYNC back together, even if just for a short while, they deserved recognition, didn’t they? To keep the surprise element intact, academy voters strategically categorized the song “Better Place” from the Trolls Band Together soundtrack under the visual media category. This way, the nomination would not be so obvious to the public eye.

It seems that the song wasn’t granted enough Grammy recognition. Instead, it appears that the voters were swayed by a strong dose of nostalgia, favoring older bands and showing affection for boy bands, which led them to nominate Justin Timberlake and his group. It’s possible that the Grammys are hoping for a *NSYNC performance, thus explaining the nomination.

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2024-11-10 17:00