Metallica Promise ‘Very Unique And Special’ Performance At 2017 Grammys

Metallica will perform at the 2017 Grammy Awards, and the hard rock band promises that it will be a night to remember. In a statement posted by rock website Blabbermouth, Metallica confirmed their performance at the 59th annual Grammy Awards — their fourth invite to the high-profile music awards show — next month. Metallica is also nominated in the Best Rock Song category for the song “Hardwired” from their recently released Hardwired… To Self Destruct album.

“First, it was a total honor to be nominated, but now this?!!?” Metallica said in the statement.

“We’re beyond excited that we have been invited to perform on the 59th annual Grammy Awards telecast… It’s been three years since we were lucky enough to participate in the awards show when we last performed with world-renowned Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang and we’re thrilled to be asked back. We have something very unique and special planned for this celebratory night, so tune in to watch…”

Metallica’s promise for something “very unique and special” has fans wondering how they’ll top their last Grammy Awards performance three years ago. In 2014, Metallica teamed up with Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang for an unforgettable performance of their signature MTV classic “One.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the unusual collaboration, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett said the band was able to keep the integrity of the song while incorporating classical music elements into it.

“We’re keeping all the heavy parts,” Hammett told Rolling Stone. “And it’s going to be really cool and it’s really dynamic.”

In an interview with the Recording Academy, Lang Lang admitted he prepared himself for rehearsals with the hard rockers by making sure he had “very good headphones,” because “heavy metal is serious stuff.”

On their website, Metallica recently announced plans to reunite with Lang Lang for their concert in Beijing later this week.

Of course, years before they hooked up with Lang Lang, Metallica also played “One” at the 1989 Grammys, which was their first visit to the once-stuffy awards show. The band also made headlines that year for losing the inaugural Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording trophy to flute-playing Jethro Tull.

After the controversial rock category was promptly split into two separate categories, Metallica went on to win the Grammy for Best Metal Performance three years in a row. In fact, when Metallica’s Black album won for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards in 1992, drummer Lars Ulrich famously gave a shout-out to the unlikely band that beat out Metallica in 1989.

“We gotta thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album out this year,” Ulrich cracked.

In addition to the band’s two performances of “One,” Metallica played their hit “Enter Sandman” at the 1992 Grammy Awards.

Of this year’s nomination in the more mainstream rock category, Hammett told Billboard he never knows what to think when the Grammys come calling.

“Y’know, we’ve had such a crazy relationship with the Grammys, so when the Grammys do something like this we kind of like throw our arms in the air — ‘Whatever. Whatever!'” the Metallica guitarist told Billboard of the band’s surprising 2017 nod. “But it’s still an honor. It’s still great to be recognized by the academy, and it’s still fun to play the Grammys when we’re asked. I think it’s cool. I think it’s funny we’re in a different category, but we take it all in stride.”

You can see Metallica’s live performance during the 59th annual Grammy Awards broadcast Sunday, February 12 starting at 7 p.m. ET on CBS.

Take a look at the video below to see Metallica’s performance with Lang Lang at the 2014 Grammy Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3K9e7pP24Y

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]