Skip to content
News

Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Kanye West Take Early Grammy Lead

Update: Read our full-show recap and our live blog.

Somewhere in the world — specifically, Los Angeles — for a very uncomfortable group of people, the Grammy Awards ceremony spans six hours. Literally. The pre-telecast awards ceremony began at 5 p.m. Eastern today, and recorded the 78 (78!) award presentations (now we sort of understand now why the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences cut the list by 32 last year). Luckily, we did the dirty work for you.

Foo Fighters walked away with the most wins in the pre-telecast awards, nabbing four for Best Rock Album (Wasting Light), Best Rock Song (“Walk”), Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance (“White Limo”), and Best Long Form Music Video (“Foo Fighters: Back and Forth”). Skrillex (!) and Kanye West tied for the second-place spot with three apiece; Skrillex beat out, among others, Robyn, in his wins for Best Dance Recording (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites), Best Dance/Electronica Album, and Best Non-Classical Remixed Recording (“Cinema (Skrillex remix),” originally a Benny Benassi/Gary Go track). Yeezy beat out Beyoncé (sorry, Blue!) and Lil Wayne for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and won out against himself for Best Rap Song (“All of the Lights”), and for Best Rap Album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, against his and Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne).

Civil Wars also nabbed two (against Fleet Foxes), weirdly in two differing genres, for Best Folk Album (Barton Hollow) and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Barton Hollow”). Seemingly as a warm-up for the national telecast, Bon Iver (easily over Foster the People’s Torches and even Radiohead’s King of Limbs) took Best Alternative Music Album for Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

Finally, even the late Amy Winehouse won one, for best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Tony Bennett; her parents accepted the award on her behalf, with her father, Mitch, also nodding to Etta James and Whitney Houston, saying, “There’s a beautiful girl band up in heaven.” We couldn’t agree more.

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: “Cinema (Skrillex Remix)” (Benny Benassi/Gary Go) Skrillex
Best Spoken Word Album: Betty White “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t)”
Best Dance Recording: “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” Skrillex
Best Dance/Electronica Album: “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” Skrillex
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: “Duets” Tony Bennett and Various Artists
Best Music Video/Short Form: “Rolling in the Deep” Adele Sam Brown, Hannah Chandler
Best Music Video/Long Form: “Foo Fighters: Back and Forth” James Moll and Nigel Sinclair
Best Americana Album: Levon Helm
Best Bluegrass Album: “Paper Airplane” Alison Krauss & Union Station
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: “All of the Lights” Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Fergie
Best Rap Song (songwriting award): “All of the Lights”
Best Rap Album: “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” Kanye West
Best R&B Performance: “Is This Love” Corinne Bailey Rae
Best Traditional R&B Performance: “Fool For You” Cee Lo Green and Melanie Fiona
Best R&B Song: Cee Lo Green, Melanie Fiona, Jack Splash “Fool For You”
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “Body and Soul” Tony Bennett, Amy Winehouse
Best Pop Instrumental Performance: “The Road From Memphis”
Best Pop Vocal Album: “21” Adele
Best Country Solo Performance: “Mean” Taylor Swift
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: “Barton Hollow” Civil Wars
Best Country Song: “Mean” Taylor Swift
Best Folk Album: “Barton Hollow” Civil Wars
Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance: “White Limo” Foo Fighters
Best Rock Song: “Walk” Foo Fighters
Best Rock Album: “Wasting Light” Foo Fighters
Best Alternative Album: Bon Iver
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Paul Epworth

Full Grammy Coverage!:
Grammys ’12 FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Music’s Biggest Night
Everything You Need To Know About the 54th Grammy Awards Nominations
Grammys ’12: Who Should Win the Major Categories
Grammys ’12: Who Should Win the Categories You Actually Care About
Whitney Houston’s Four-Decade History at the Grammy Awards
Award Tour: 21 Times the Grammys Saluted the Underground