Metallica have been awarded the 2018 Polar Music Prize, Page Six reports. The Swedish international award, first awarded to Paul McCartney in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig Anderson, recognizes artists who have made "significant achievements in music," regardless of nationality or genre; it's often described as the "Nobel Prize for Music," and comes with a prize of 1 million Swedish Kronor (roughly $124,500). Past recipients include Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, B.B. King, Bjork, Sting and Stevie Wonder, among others.
"Not since Wagner's emotional turmoil and Tchaikovsky's cannons has anyone created music that is so physical and furious, and yet still so accessible," the committee write of Metallica on the Polar Music Prize website. "Through virtuoso ensemble playing and its use of extremely accelerated tempos, Metallica has taken rock music to places it had never been before. The strength of the band's uncompromising albums has helped millions of listeners to transform their sense of alienation into a superpower."
"Receiving the Polar Music Prize is an incredible thing. It puts us in very distinguished company," Metallica co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich says. "It's a great validation of everything that Metallica has done over the last 35 years. At the same time, we feel like we're in our prime with a lot of good years ahead of us."
Metallica will receive their Polar Music Prize on June 14th, at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and its founder, Ahmad Sarmast, have been selected as the 2018 classical laureate "in recognition of how this inspirational organization has used the power of music to transform young people's lives."
