How Foo Fighters could upset Taylor Swift for Album of the Year at the Grammys
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When you think of Grammy darlings, Foo Fighters should come to mind. The icons have received 15 Grammys throughout their career, including a record five wins for Best Rock Album. But all these awards, while impressive, have not helped the rockers win outside of the rock and music film fields, despite the group picking up a couple of general field nominations along the way. It’s hard to argue against Foo’s general field losses against heavyweights like Adele, Herbie Hancock, and Amy Winehouse, but it does feel like the legendary band should have won a big category by now after getting nominations for more than 25 years. What if I told you their time is finally here?
Foo Fighters’ “But Here We Are” is arguably the band’s most beloved album by critics. On Metacritic, it holds a score of 86, the highest of their career. Part of the record’s critical success has to do with their shift in sound, focusing less on the loud rock aesthetic of their past records and more on subtlety. While Foo Fighters have made rock ballads and quieter music before, “But Here We Are” takes this approach to the max, even going as far as venturing into dream-pop (“Show Me How”). This change might be very much appreciated by the academy. First, because the album ends up a bit more palatable to pop voters than their harder, grungier past material. And second, because the Grammys love artistic evolution. If they loved “Medicine at Midnight,” their previous album that won three Grammys but was regarded as an “album that otherwise sounds exactly like Foo Fighters,” then they will love a Foo that’s not afraid to take risks: just ask Beck, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift.
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Speaking of Swift, who seems like this year’s artist to beat in most Grammy categories, how will Foo Fighters beat her? The answer is vote-splitting. While Swift is the clear front-runner, she will have to fend off Olivia Rodrigo for the pop vote, which may be difficult with Rodrigo’s record “Guts” being massively acclaimed and commercially successful. Considering rock music has done poorly in the general categories in recent years, it is very likely that Foo would be the only rock nominees, allowing them to monopolize that voting bloc. Also, Foo Fighters might have a stronger narrative, reuniting to make a career-best record in the wake of the passing of beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died suddenly in March of 2022. The Grammys would likely love to honor Hawkins, and that might carry more weight than giving Swift yet another Album of the Year trophy, or bestowing Rodrigo or SZA with the honor when both still likely have at least half a dozen great albums in them.
If there is a time to award Foo Fighters with Album of the Year, it is now. The competition is scarce enough for a win not to feel odd, the album is highly acclaimed, there’s a truly potent narrative behind the record, and their rivals just feel like they can wait another year. Granted, you’d have to be wildly confident to declare a Foo victory right now — for all we know, they might not even get nominated. But it does feel like, in the vein of Beck or Steely Dan, Foo Fighters could be the next overdue veteran act to surpass more commercial records to achieve Grammy glory. And much like those two rock legends, you can’t deny that the win is overdue, and that it would be a long-awaited salute to one of rock’s brightest talents.
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