Foo Fighters lead Rock Grammy nominations

Foo Fighters lead the list of rock nominees for the 50th annual Grammy Awards with five, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song. The White Stripes are nipping at their heels with four nods, including Best Alternative Album, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Limited Packaging, the latter for the USB drive format of the band's latest album, Icky Thump. Other rock artists nominated in various categories include Best New Artist nominees Paramore, Daughtry, the Plain White T's, Evanescence, Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, Ozzy Osbourne and more. Rapper Kanye West leads all nominees with eight.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins were on hand to help announce the nominees at Thursday's (December 6th) press conference. The Foos have won four previous awards, although this is the band's first time up for Record and Album of the Year.

Taylor Hawkins told us why the new Foos album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was a step forward for the group: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "The emphasis wasn't on, 'Oh, we've got to make the hardest rocking songs,' or 'These songs have to be beautiful' or whatever. I think Dave really just kind of said, 'I'm just gonna try and write the best songs I can.' So there was never a concept for, is the record gonna be all heavy, is it gonna be medium, laid back, what's it gonna be. It really just ended up being the best songs."

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda also appeared at the press conference, although his band and their new album, Minutes to Midnight, received no nominations.

Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, whose "If Everyone Cared" is up for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, told us a while back that the Grammys are always important for musicians: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass]"Well, I think everyone sort of ranks the Grammys as the big ones, you know? Those are the big kids for some reason. I mean, just getting invited to go, you know, just getting nominated, that's very cool. Everybody who gets nominated is a winner -- until you get to the aftershow party, and then everybody's a loser (laughs)."

The 50th annual Grammy Awards will air on CBS from Los Angeles on February 10th.

Selected categories include:
Album Of The Year
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters
These Days - Vince Gill
River: The Joni Letters - Herbie Hancock
Graduation - Kanye West
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
Record Of The Year
"The Pretender" - Foo Fighters
"Umbrella" - Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z
"Irreplaceable" - Beyonce
"What Goes Around...Comes Around" - Justin Timberlake
"Rehab" - Amy Winehouse
Song Of The Year
"Hey There Delilah" - Tom Higgenson, songwriter (Plain White T's)
"Like A Star" - Corinne Bailey Rae, songwriter (Corinne Bailey Rae)
"Rehab" - Amy Winehouse, songwriter (Amy Winehouse)
"Before He Cheats" - John Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
"Umbrella" - Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius "Dream" Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z)
Best Pop Vocal Album
Lost Highway - Bon Jovi
The Reminder - Feist
It Won't Be Soon Before Long - Maroon 5
Memory Almost Full - Paul McCartney
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
"Radio Nowhere" - Bruce Springsteen
"Timebomb" - Beck
"Only Mama Knows" - Paul McCartney
"Our Country" - John Mellencamp
"Come On" - Lucinda Williams
Best Rock Album
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters
Magic - Bruce Springsteen
Daughtry - Daughtry
Revival - John Fogerty
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Best Rock Song
"The Pretender" - Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel & Chris Shiflett, songwriters (Foo Fighters)
"Radio Nowhere" - Bruce Springsteen, songwriters (Bruce Springsteen)
"Come On" - Lucinda Williams, songwriter (Lucinda Williams)
"Icky Thump" - Jack White, songwriter (The White Stripes)
"It's Not Over" - Chris Daughtry, Gregg Wattenberg, Mark Wilkerson & Brett Young, songwriters (Daughtry)
Best Hard Rock Performance
"The Pretender" - Foo Fighters
"I Don't Wanna Stop" - Ozzy Osbourne
"Sweet Sacrifice" - Evanescence
"Sick, Sick, Sick" - Queens of the Stone Age
"The Pot" - Tool
Best Metal Performance
"Nothing Left" - As I Lay Dying
"Never Ending Hill" - King Diamond
"Aesthetics of Hate" - Machine Head
"Redemption" - Shadows Fall
"Final Six" - Slayer
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
"Instant Karma" - U2
"Working Class Hero" - Green Day
"If Everyone Cared" - Nickelback
"It's Not Over" - Daughtry
"Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
"The Ecstasy Of Gold" - Metallica
"Malignant Narcissism" - Rush
"Always With Me, Always With You" - Joe Satriani
"Once Upon A Time In The West" - Bruce Springsteen
"The Attitude Song" - Steve Vai
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