The Rolling Stones have been known as the biggest rock and roll band in the world for six decades, but Grammy voters have been embarrassingly slow to get on board. The Stones were not nominated in any category until the 1979 ceremony, when Some girls nominated for album of the year.
How could that be? How could such classic albums as Sticky fingers and Exile on Main St. have been completely ignored – not to mention such landmark singles as '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', 'Honky Tonk Women' and 'Brown Sugar'?
One reason is that Grammy voters in the '60s and '70s were resistant to rock, preferring pop and what we now call traditional pop. (Today, Grammy voters love rock and have been slow to embrace hip-hop. Resistance to the new and different is often a byproduct of institutional voting.)
The Beatles won five consecutive album of the Year nominations in the '60s, but the Beatles were more in line with Grammy tastes. It was more often on the pop side of pop/rock, and the Lennon/McCartney songwriting was more rooted in traditional songwriting.
Another reason the Stones were left out for so long was that the Grammys didn't have rock performance categories until 1990 – and they didn't have a best rock album category until 1995. (That's right, the Stones were the first winners of the latter prize.)
Ever since Grammy voters belatedly discovered The Stones, the band has done quite well in the nominations. They won a Grammy (Best Traditional Blues album) for their previous studio album, Tall & Lonely. Their three studio albums prior to this were nominated for Best Rock album.
The band's 2023 album Hackney DiamondsThe album, which was produced primarily by Andrew Watt, has an excellent chance of getting a nod for Best Rock album and an outside chance of an album of the Year. “Angry,” the album's opening track and lead single, was nominated for best rock song at the ceremony in February. The 2025 nominations will be announced on November 8. Prizes will be awarded on February 2, 2025.
Watt ( profile here ) has his own following in Grammyland – he won Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2021, making him the most recent producer not named Jack Antonoff to win the award. Watt, who is only 33, wasn't even born when the Stones were Steel wheels The album was released in 1989.
Take a look and see how the Stones have fared in the Grammy nominations since 1979, the year Grammy voters first invited them to the party. The show of the year is the year of the Grammy ceremony.
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1979: Some girls
Producer: The Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards)
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 1 (two weeks)
Grammy Nomination: album of the year
Note: This is The Stones' only nod in a Big Four category to date. The blockbuster Saturday night fever The soundtrack won the award.
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1981: Emotional rescue
Producers: The Glimmer Twins
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 1 (seven weeks)
Grammy Nomination: No one
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1982: Get your tattoo done
Producer: The Glimmer Twins
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 1 (nine weeks)
Grammy Nomination: Best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals
Note: This was The Stones' longest-running No.1 album.
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1985: Secret
Producers: The Glimmer Twins, Chris Kimsey
Billboard 200 Peak: Number 4
Grammy Nomination: no one
Note: The following year, the Stones were awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Academy. They didn't come to the ceremony in Los Angeles to receive their award (who could blame them?), but accepted it via satellite from the Roof Garden Club in London. Mick Jagger was suitably irreverent in his remarks: “I'd like to say thank you to all the people who have stuck with this band so much. And to all the people who got pissed, the joke's on you.”
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1987: Dirty job
Producers: Steve Lillywhite, The Glimmer Twins
Billboard 200 Peak: Number 4
Grammy Nomination: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (“Harlem Shuffle”)
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1990: Steel wheels
Producers: Chris Kimsey, The Glimmer Twins
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 3
Grammy Nominations: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (“Mixed Emotions,” 1990; “Almost Hear You Sigh,” 1991)
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1995: Voodoo Lounge
Producers: Don Was, The Glimmer Twins
Billboard 200 Peak: Number 2
Grammy wins: Best Rock album. best music video, short form (“Love Is Strong”)
Note: In addition to The Stones' wins, he won producer of the year, non-classical. His award recognized his work on The Stones album as well as Bonnie Raitt's album Longing in their Hearts“(Meet) The Flintstones” by the B-52's, “You Hung the Moon” by Patty Smyth, Felix Cavaliere Dreams in Motionby Khaled N'ssi N'ssiThe BackBeat soundtrack and the album Various Artists Rhythm, Country and Blues.
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1998: Bridges to Babylon
Producers: Don Was and The Glimmer Twins with Rob Fraboni, Danny Saber, Pierre de Beauport and The Dust Brothers
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 3
Grammy Nominations: Best Rock album. best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals (“Anybody Seen My Baby?”)
Note: This is The Stones' only nod in a pop category to date.
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2006: A bigger explosion
Producers: Don Was, The Glimmer Twins, Matt Clifford
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 3
Grammy Nomination: The best rock album
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2018: Blue & Lonely
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2025: Hackney Diamonds
Producers: Andrew Watt, Don Was
Billboard 200 Peak: No. 3
Grammy Nominations: Best Rock Song (“Angry,” 2024); 2025 nominations TBD
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/the-rolling-stones-grammy-track-record-analysis-hackney-diamonds/
