The Grammys can be relied on annually to provide the world with a ridiculous music review. Yes, music is subjective. Yes, the entire idea of awarding subjective pieces with arbitrary titles is, well, arbitrary. But there is a difference between having an opinion and being completely out of touch with the culture. Grammy may as well be short for Grandma. 

I was moved to action by the 2025 Grammy nominees for Best Rock Album. I have always been drawn to rock music because of the variance in the genre. Rock has never had one clear sound—it has always been categorized by changes and culture fusions. It has the most flexibility of any genre of music.

The nominations for Best Rock Album in 2025 were as follows:

• Happiness Bastards (The Black Crowes)
• Romance (Fontaines D.C.)
• Saviors (Green Day)
• TANGK (IDLES)
• Dark Matter (Pearl Jam)
• Hackney Diamonds (The Rolling Stones)
• No Name (Jack White)

Upon looking at this list, I was predictably disappointed. Contrary to popular opinion, the genre of rock is consistently being fostered by new releases that move the genre forward. Obviously whatever mysterious organization decides the best music of the year does not share this opinion, as five out of the seven albums here were released by musicians who are best known for music they put out decades ago. 

Hackney Diamonds – The Rolling Stones

There is nothing wrong with The Rolling Stones. I enjoy a good deal of their music—that they put out in the 60s and 70s. The great Mick Jagger turns 82 this year. And wow, he and his band are still managing to make Grammy-winning albums, as Hackney Diamonds took the title of Best Rock Album of 2025.

But Hackney Diamonds is, ironically, hackneyed. The album is carried by straightforward and generic guitar riffs. These riffs accompany an autotune-supported vocal performance by an aging Jagger, who I could not help but feel sorry for as he spit out generic one-liners. 

The album did contain some interesting tracks. “Whole Wide World”, the fifth track on the album, seemed somewhat more put-together than the rest. And the following track, “Dreamy Skies”, was a return to the Stones’ country roots that stood as an interlude for the album. “Tell Me Straight”, sung by guitarist Keith Richards, was another decent change of pace. But the vast majority of the tracks are forgettable and, I hate to say it, uninspired.  

By the end of the album, I was stunned that this tired production was deemed the best of the year by the Grammys. 

Romance – Fontaines D.C.

I am not alone when I say that Fontaines D.C. was robbed. The band’s fourth album, Romance, feels lively and thoughtful. Grian Chatten’s heavily Irish-accented vocals are captivating and work well for the introspective “In The Modern World”, the sarcastic “Death Kink”, and the bubbly closer “Favourite”. The album has a wide variety of sounds on it, all well-produced and fitting. For the most part, it is a somber violin-and-acoustic ode to the alternative rock genre.

And then there is “Starburster”. 

“Starburster” is dark, hard-driving, depraved, desperate, and fast. As the second track on the album, it physically shocks the listener. Chatten’s rapping is paranoid and frantic. “Starburster” is more than memorable—it is haunting.

The song was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance but lost to St. Vincent’s “Flea”. 

Romance is an undoubtedly good album. “Starburster” alone gives the album some sort of important status, but the fact that none of the songs on the album are particularly weak only helps its case. In the scheme of the nominees, Romance probably should have won, especially over Hackney Diamonds.

But I like TANGK.

TANGK – IDLES

A grainy electro-post-punk love letter, the album feels like insomnia and grit. TANGK has its own hard-hitting song like “Starburster” in its sixth track “Dancer”, which features the legendary synth-wielding LCD Soundsystem. But the vast majority of the album has that specific kind of darkness to it. The album is as textured sonically as a topographic map—it is music that you can feel the ridges of. It came as no surprise to me when I discovered that Nigel Godrich, longtime Radiohead producer, produced TANGK.

IDLES is the least renowned band of the seven nominated. I had not heard of them before TANGK was released in February of 2024. The band’s album Crawler was nominated for Best Rock Album in 2023 but lost to Patient Number 9 by Ozzy Osbourne (who was 74 years old at the time).

Big Names Syndrome

This phenomenon has happened countless times in the course of Grammy history. Perhaps the most notable occurrence was in 2014 when the live album Celebration Day by Led Zeppelin beat out Queens of the Stone Age’s …Like Clockwork, one of the most impressive rock albums of the decade. 

A big part of this problem may stem from the Grammys having no clue how to differentiate alternative and rock music. This is because often there is not a difference—alternative music is largely inspired by rock and contains strains of it. That being said, some music is clearly rock music and some is alternative. 

TANGK sounded more like an alternative album to me than a rock album. It was much more varied sonically than what I imagine the Grammys considers to be “rock”. Perhaps the Grammys thinks that rock stopped existing post-2000 and now only artists from before then are capable of winning the title. 

Of course The Rolling Stones were going to win. It had been decades since their last album had come out and the Grammys had to cater to the darlings of early rock ‘n’ roll (early rock ‘n’ roll made by white people, that is, as the African-Americans who pioneered the genre have not been recognized by the Grammys at all). But the corporate entity that is the Grammys has to realize that sooner or later, too many blunders will launch the awards into irrelevance. 

It is not just the rock category. The Grammys consistently prioritizes big names above good ones in the rap, country, and pop categories. It is cowardly and pathetic. 

What of the Grammys? Just turn the TV off and make up your own mind.