JJ, I agree with a large portion of what you say. I mean, the "powers that be" clearly do not know the genre or, at the very least, respect it. As far as the "value", it is as I mentioned before, there is a certain value in the recognition and marketing potential. Surely you understand that much, given that you are now getting exposure to radio. I believe you are "over-thinking" it, my friend.

When an act can put "Grammy Award Winning" in front of their name, it is a huge marketing tool. Just as the Academy Awards are important for actors and film industry types, the Grammys have a certain value to the music industry. The general public will always be nimrods. They have NO idea what is talent and what is not but they do buy albums. Whether we like it or not, Judas Priest make music for a living. It is their job. Just as we enjoy the advantages of various awards, certificates and other forms of recognition in our work world, a musical act will be able to make use, how ever slight, of a Grammy award in the same way... Marketing their wares. Further, it is an acknowledgement amongst their peers.

Do I believe Priest will have some significant jump in album sales as a direct result of this award..? No. They have accomplished more as a Metal act that most bands will ever know but they will have yet another milestone to add to their list of notables. There is some value there, at least as far as I can see.  As far as the Grammys themselves, it is just as Eddie Trunk said,  they are a lot of self-indulgent nonsense. They push the "pop" angle as hard as they can because that is what SELLS, and then they throw in things like a "Metal" category so that they appear to be legitimate. I love his comment, "God forbid they cut away from their multiple reaction shots of Jay Z just to televise Priest live.."  HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   (Quoting Message by jimmyjames from Friday, February 05, 2010 4:03:11 AM)

		jimmyjames wrote:
		Why the fuck is everyone so happy that Priest got this award that has absolutely no value whatsoever. Everyone seems to agree that the people who run the grammys have no idea what the fuck they are doing so that would make the award bullshit, which it is. Ushered in through the back door and given the award away from the eyes of the general public and then interviewed by some dwarf slut who didn't know who they were. It 's a fucking joke. Priest should have told them to get fucked when they were nominated. Yay we're finally being acknowledged by people who don't know who we are or care about our music and haven't listened to it. Even the category is vague, best metal performance or something, what does that mean? Live performance? Studio performance? Best performance on a live metal album? Can't be that because Megadeth were nominated for Headcrusher and that's not on any live albums. Did the fuckballs that vote for the grammys cruise around various metal gigs and watch the bands and then decide? You can't tell me that in a whole year Priests performance of their 33 year old song was the best metal performance by any metal band in any kind setting. If it was they'd have been nominated for best rock/ metal album. By accepting this award Priest are being ass kissers.