The metal world pretty quickly picked up on some snubs during the GRAMMY's on-air In Memoriam segment. The segment included tributes to people like Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill, and The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, but then left out equally important names like Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison or Megaforce Records' founder and industry titan Jon Zazula. Thought it's worth noting that Jordison and Zazula were both named on the extensive In Memoriam list on the GRAMMYs website.
Now in an interview with Rolling Stone, GRAMMY producer Ken Winston apologized for the snubs.
"Well, firstly, I think that anybody who feels left out or feels almost snubbed by an 'In Memoriam,' I think that from the bottom of our hearts there can only be apologies, because we go into this show only ever wanting to bring joy and love to people with music and then with an 'In Memoriam' just remember people in the best way possible. So no excuses, no… only other than sympathy to anybody who feels that."
Winston later added that the practicality of running a live show really only allows for a certain number of people to be named on air before time runs out, and that he understands people's frustration.
"I think the practicalities of running a live show… usually, the 'In Memoriam' contains between 45 and 60 people every year. There were 60 people in that 'In Memoriam' montage. And the Recording Academy have a committee of people, and I don't know the ins and outs of it, I have to be honest with you, 'cause it doesn't necessarily fall under us in any way. The Recording Academy have a committee of a variety of members, and they go through the hundreds of members who sadly pass away every year, and they decide who should be honored in the 'In Memoriam'. I don't know the ins and outs of the process [so] it wouldn't be right for me to speak on it. All I would add is just sympathy to anybody who feels that they weren't mentioned."
The following is a list of those remembered during the televised portion. The full online In Memoriam can be found here.
- Taylor Hawkins
- Marilyn Bergman
- Virgil Abloh
- Gary Brooker
- Walter Yetnikoff
- Sarah Dash
- Ken Krage
- Dottie Dodgion
- Paddy Maloney
- Jim Steinman
- Biz Markie
- Marilia Dias Mendonca
- Clarence "Mac" Macdonald
- Rusty Young
- Connie Bradley
- Stonewall Jackson
- Roger Hawkin
- Betty Davis
- George Wein
- Johnny Ventura
- Lisa Roy
- Charlie Watts
- Wanda Young
- Meat Loaf
- Al Schlesinger
- Lee "Scratch" Perry
- Don Everly
- Robbie Shakespeare
- Michael Lang
- Ronnie Spector
- Ralph Emery
- Young Dolph
- Nanci Griffith
- Jesse D
- Mark Lanegan
- Gregory "Shock G" Jacob
- Vicente Fernandez
- Jeremy Lubbock
- Tom Parker
- Dusty Hill
- Ethel Gabriel
- Lloyd Price
- Al Schmitt
- Ron Tutt
- Joe Simon
- Malcolm Cecil
- Jon Lind
- Greg Tate
- Elliot Mazer
- Bobbie Nelson
- Bj Thomas
- Earl "DMX" Simmons
- Dallas Frazier
- Bhaskar Menon
- Ronnie Wilson
- Marshall Gelfand
- Michael Nesmith
- James Mtume
- Tom T. Hal
- Chucky Thompson
- Stephen Sondheim
[via Blabbermouth]
