Somewhat oddly, Metallica is nominated for Best Rock Song (instead of the more logical Best Metal Performance) for the insanely thrashing track "Hardwired" from their most recent album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. “To me, it’s a really good sign for metal – that they are having a wider appeal out of just the strictly metal community into the larger rock community,” Bill Freimuth, senior vice president of awards at the Recording Academy, told us last month. “My take on that is they should be really happy that they are getting that broader recognition.”

This will be the fourth time Metallica has performed at the Grammys. They played "One" way back in 1989 - the same year they were infamously beaten out by Jethro Tull in the Best Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Recording category. After widespread criticism, the Grammys split that award into two separate categories the following year, and Metallica won the Best Metal Performance award the next three years. They also performed "Enter Sandman" at the 1992 ceremony.