Metallica Wins Best Metal Performance, Only Trujillo Attends GRAMMYs

With Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammett absent, Trujillo handles the band's GRAMMY moment solo.

By Magnus Ferreira
They once hired a “metal shrink” (actual title: performance enhancement coach) during the St. Anger sessions. You can imagine how that went down with a band that wasn’t exactly known for hugging it out.—Image: Reproduction / Disclosure
They once hired a “metal shrink” (actual title: performance enhancement coach) during the St. Anger sessions. You can imagine how that went down with a band that wasn’t exactly known for hugging it out.—Image: Reproduction / Disclosure
  • Metallica wins Best Metal Performance for “72 Seasons,” but only Rob Trujillo shows up to accept.
  • Trujillo explained bandmates Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammett skipped the ceremony to be with family.
  • Despite three nominations, this was Metallica’s only GRAMMY win, with Paramore and Boygenius taking other rock categories.
The Gist

Metallica snags the Best Metal Performance GRAMMY, but if you think the band showed up in full force to accept it, think again. As usual, the GRAMMYs treated metal like an afterthought, burying the award for “72 Seasons” in the untelevised dungeon. This meant it was just Rob Trujillo up there, a lone bassist braving the half-hearted rendition of Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” playing in the background.

Trujillo’s first words? James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett couldn’t make it. They were all spending time with their families. Touching? Sure. But Trujillo’s got a family too, doesn’t he? Sounds like he might’ve drawn the shortest straw or owed the rest of them a favor.

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Metallica was almost booed off stage opening for Venom early in their career. Funny how the “opening band” soon became the headliner everyone else envied.

Probably muttered a few choice words when he found out he’d be representing alone at an event most people skip watching anyway. Lucky for him, the drive wasn’t long — he lives close by in Southern California.

Metallica’s “72 Seasons” managed to edge out a few big contenders, including Ghost’s cover of “Phantom of the Opera” by Iron Maiden, Disturbed’s “Bad Man,” Slipknot’s “Hive Mind,” and Spiritbox’s “Jaded.” Yet, despite being up for three awards that night, this was the only victory for Metallica.

Meanwhile, the Best Rock Album category saw Paramore snag the win over “72 Seasons,” Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are, Greta Van Fleet’s Starcatcher, and Queens of the Stone Age’s In Times New Roman…. As for Best Rock Performance, Metallica’s “Lux Æterna” stood no chance against Boygenius and their track “Not Strong Enough,” which also beat out Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, and Black Pumas.

If there’s a takeaway here, it’s this: the GRAMMYs still haven’t cracked the code on metal or rock. Every year, the same hollow cycle.

Metallica: Master of Puppets (Rehearsal) (San Rafael, CA - October 30, 2003)
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