Some thoughts on the Metal Juno...

Back in March, I blogged about the lack of a Metal Juno. And I also stated what had to be done to get one.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a group already working to get the Metal Juno back and on September 29th, the day before opening up nominations, CARAS introduced the Metal/Hard category.

Many people wondered if I had anything to do with it, and I can honestly state that it would be great if I did, but I did not.

Now if I was on the committee just making that statement would get me punted from the committee.

I have my suspicions of who is on the committee, and I wish them luck. Theirs is not an easy job. They will have to filter the nominations down from whatever number gets nominated (and I'm thinking that everyone with a release within the dates under the rules will try) down to 15, then down to five that will be put onto the ballot that will decide who wins the Juno.

And with any secret committee there will be accusations and sniping about why one band got to the vote and another didn't. "They're not real/true metalheads", "They only represent one area of the country," and the rest of the complaints will surely come from disgruntled fans who will then take the Groucho Marx/Fox and the Grapes attitude of, "well, who needs an (insert your favourite expletive) award anyway..."

I will say that if my suspicions are true, the committee is balanced across the country with people who are true metal fans and have been for some time, so I will immediately discredit anyone who says that the committee isn't real/true. Anything that goes wrong after that, isn't their fault, it's the voters.

I just hope that the final nominees will be strong and someone who all metal fans of Canada can get behind, regardless of sub-genre.

Here's waiting until the spring and look out Ottawa! I hope they ask Jeff Waters to give the first one away.

Yours in Metal,
Kevin