The Grammy Awards are, as we probably all know, the annual award ceremony recognizing outstanding performers in the music industry. It began in 1959 and will hold its 58th ceremony this February. The Grammy Awards televised ceremony is widely known for only showing a fraction of the awards (10 to 12 out of the grand total, which was raised to 82 as of 2014), because of the desire to have live performances during the ceremony.

Therefore, only the award for the four "most popular" genres are presented on air –– those genres being Pop, Country, Rap and "Rock" (because that term is used far too loosely nowadays) –– with everything else being presented in a ceremony before the cameras roll.

But where does Metal fall into all of this?

Well, it doesn't, really.

Metal musicians might as well just come for the first five minutes, knock back a few drinks and then go home after their two or three awards are quickly given out by some scrawny, blonde, whiny-voiced teenager who made millions after getting noticed playing the ukulele on YouTube.

The Grammy Awards are notorious among Metalheads for snubbing the genre and its artists year after year. Whether it be 1989, when Metallica infamously lost the Grammy for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" to British Blues/Folk Rock band Jethro Tull or be it last year when Tenacious D (a joke band, literally) beat out Anthrax, Mastodon, Slipknot and Motörhead for "Best Metal Performance."

Bottom line –– Metalheads detest the Grammys and everything it stands for as a reflection of the music industry and who it favors.

This year's contenders for "Best Metal Performance" include "Identity" by August Burns Red, "512" by Lamb of God (my personal vote), "Cirice" by Ghost, "Thank You" by Sevendust and "Custer" by Slipknot, all praiseworthy and respectable bands.

When Blabbermouth.com asked his thoughts about the Grammy nomination, Corey Taylor (Slipknot) had this to say:

"... it's all a goddamn popularity contest, and I don't have f---ing time for that s--t, to be honest... It's, like, everybody, they live and breathe by whether or not they're gonna get this tiny statue, and it's, like, why? So it can sit on a goddamned shelf and collect dust. To me, the real reflection of where you're at is [performing live], and that's all it is. Walking on that stage and seeing a massive audience lose their minds — that's what it's all about."

Now I'm not a fan of Slipknot, but I am a fan of Corey Taylor, who is recognized as having the second widest vocal range in popular contemporary music (a natural baritone with a range of F#1 - C7). And while I don't always approve of his constant opinions about everything, I have to agree with this.

I've been in a few bands, and while I don't perform on a grand scale akin to Slipknot or quite frankly any of these bands, I don't judge a band's worth based on awards; I'd rather see them at a show and form an opinion of them out of that. It's all about appearances with these award shows and never about the actual substance of the artists. This may be attributed to the trend of awards going to more commercially successful albums, rather than the critically acclaimed albums.

Meaning, if a crappy album sells a lot, it's more likely to win than an album only a few people bought but absolutely loved.

Now the Metal community has gone to great lengths to find its own representation in the media with the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and to an extent, the Alternative Press Music Awards. And while this may appease a fraction of viewers, many are still displeased with the representation across sub-genres or even asserting that ceremonies like the Golden Gods are just the "Metal Grammys."

And by that, it would mean that they, "are nothing more than some gigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a low intellect and they feed the masses. They don't honor the arts or the artist for what he created. It's the music business celebrating itself," as Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer) mentioned in a 2002 interview with NY Rock, when asked his opinion regarding the Grammys.

Most of this can also be said about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as they have snubbed legendary and fundamental Rock and Metal bands who have been around for at least 30 years, such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead or even Ozzy Osbourne (all of whom have at least 10 years of snubbery under their belts). This may or may not have been in light of the fact that when Rush was inducted in 2013 (yes, it took that long), guitarist Alex Lifeson replaced every word of his nearly three-minute acceptance speech with "blah."

But I digress.

Getting back to the point, The Grammy's seem to be nothing more than a self-serving popularity contest ––an event between the biggest names in the industry celebrating how much money they can make off of people with the most common and simplistic taste in music. I mean, don't get me wrong, I consider myself very open-minded with a broad taste in music despite my obvious Metal preferences.

If you pay attention to my social media outlets I constantly praise Taylor Swift, as well as regularly listen to artists like Ed Sheeran, Daft Punk, Major Lazer, Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris, among others who may rightfully deserve their awards for a variety of reasons. I don't think an award show celebrating music is a terrible concept, but I believe how this award ceremony operates desperately needs to change.