Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows: Attending Grammys Would Be "Waste of Time and Money" | Revolver

Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows: Attending Grammys Would Be "Waste of Time and Money"

"How marginalized has rock become when 'Rock Song' of the year can't get two minutes?"
m shadows avenged sevenfold 2017 GETTY , David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns
Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows, AccorHotels Arena, Paris, France, 2017
photograph by David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns

Earlier in the week, Avenged Sevenfold revealed via Twitter that they would not be attending this weekend's Grammy Awards despite being nominated for their first-ever trophy, in the "Best Rock Song" category for the title track of their last album, The Stage. SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk reached out to singer M. Shadows for clarification after some other media outlets described the band's decision as "a protest."

According to Trunk, Shadows responded in a text message that the move was "not really a protest per se," but that the addition of "Best Rock Song" to the list of non-televised categories eliminated any reason for the band to attend. "Fuck 'em," the singer reportedly wrote of Grammy organizers. "I mean, how marginalized has rock become when 'Rock Song' of the year can't get two minutes?"

According to Trunk, Shadows went on to explain that because Avenged is currently on tour, the band would have to spend around $150,000 on flights and hotels to travel between tour dates to New York for the event. "And then they go and pull the 'Rock Song Of The Year' award from TV and put us in some side venue no one gives a fuck about?" he reportedly wrote. "Fuck that waste of time and money."