\n\tLeading up to\u00a0the Grammy nominations on Nov. 7, Rolling Stone is breaking down 10 different categories. For each, we\u2019re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Grammys won\u2019t have an easy time this year picking the nominees for Best Rock Album since longtime favorites like Foo Fighters, U2, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dave Matthews Band didn\u2019t release new albums. There was also nothing from recent winners the Rolling Stones, Paramore, Ozzy Osbourne, the Strokes, or Cage the Elephant. That means we\u2019re likely to see a relatively eclectic, by Grammy standards, mix of albums that\u2019s pretty tough to predict, along with recognition for acts that usually fly under the radar \u2014\u00a0even though some of them have been packing stadiums for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tBest Rock Album \u2013 Our Predictions\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDavid Gilmour, Luck and Strange\u00a0
The Cure, Songs of a Lost World\u00a0
Wet Leg, Moisturizer\u00a0
Machine Gun Kelly, Lost Americana\u00a0
Yungblud, Idols<\/p>\n
\t\tWho Will Win?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDavid Gilmour, Luck and Strange<\/strong> \t\tWho Should Win?\t<\/p>\n \n\tWet Leg, Moisturizer<\/strong> \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \t\tForecasting the Field\t<\/p>\n \n\tThe Cure have been treated even worse by Grammys voters than Pink Floyd or the Rolling Stones. They have two Best Alternative Albums nominations, and zero wins. But Songs of a Lost World is a stunning work, and their first album in 16 years. \u201cIt came out in November of last year and it felt just like the world did at the time,\u201d says Kade. \u201cIt\u2019s gloomy, dreary, and just beautifully crafted.\u201d <\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\tOn the other end of the spectrum is Machine Gun Kelly\u2019s Lost Americana. His 2023 album Mainstream Sellout was nominated for Best Rock Album. Might he win this time? \u201cI think his time has passed,\u201d says Kade. \u201cHe had a good run during Covid since there wasn\u2019t a lot going on, but it feels like there\u2019s a backlash on him.\u201d A much fresher face is Yungblud. In the past few months alone, he\u2019s performed at the Black Sabbath farewell concert and cut an EP with Aerosmith. It puts his album Idols in a good position this year. \u201cHe\u2019s been embraced by a rock audience more than guys like Machine Gun Kelly or Grandson,\u201d says Kade. \u201cThe guys sells tickets. There\u2019s already a passion for him. Keep an eye on him as we head into 2026.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tBack in 2024, Paramore beat out titans Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age to win Best Rock Album for This Is Why. Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams dropped the excellent solo album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party just two days before the Grammy window closed this year. She\u2019s also a strong contender for the prize \u2014 don\u2019t rule her out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leading up to\u00a0the Grammy nominations on Nov. 7, Rolling Stone is breaking down 10 different categories. For each,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,140216,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-269552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-grammys-2026","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115299751366468397","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
David Gilmour has been making music and touring the globe ever since he joined Pink Floyd in 1967. But the sole Grammy on his shelf is a Best Instrumental Award for Pink Floyd\u2019s 1995 song \u201cMarooned.\u201d (Yes, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and every other Floyd album and single racked up a combined nada. And yes, their one Grammy is for arguably the most obscure song in the Floyd catalog.) The Grammys treated the Stones with a similar level of stunning disrespect until awarding them Best Rock Album last year for Hackney Diamonds. We feel that something very similar could happen this year for Gilmour. It\u2019ll be recognition that Luck and Strange is one of the best albums of his solo career, and a great showcase for his daughter Romany, but also a chance to make up for the deep wrongs of the past. (In movie terms, this is like when Martin Scorsese finally received the Oscar for Best Director for The Departed after denying him the honor for decades.) \u201cMr. Gilmour will probably win this,\u201d says Jason Squires, program director of KFRR in Fresno, California. \u201cIt\u2019s a very good record, and he\u2019ll get his flowers and a little victory lap. They\u2019ll be awarding the arc of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line between Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Album is pretty thin in Grammy world. Back in 2023, U.K. indie-rock group Wet Leg won Best Alternative Music Album for their self-titled debut. Their followup, Moisturizer, is an even stronger effort. \u201cIf you thought they might catch a case of sophomore-slump neurosis, you guessed wrong,\u201d wrote Rolling Stone\u2018s Rob Sheffield in a four-star review. \u201cThey crank up the drum mix, enough to make you suspect they hang out in some pretty sleazy rock clubs these days, for a sound that\u2019s aimed at the floor.\u201d If the Grammy Gods move them over to Best Rock Album this time, taking a page from the Beck playbook, they deserve to win. \u201cI love these ladies,\u201d says Justin Kade, a SiriusXM DJ specializing in rock and alternative. \u201cThey have great senses of humor, and they can rock. They\u2019ve also got a throwback vibe to some of the Nineties girl groups like Belly and the Breeders.\u201d \u2018Mangetout\u2019 is a great song off that album. I have no idea what they\u2019re talking about, but it\u2019s funny. If they\u2019re nominated, it would be much deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n