FOO FIGHTERS, LINKIN PARK ANNOUNCE, WINEHOUSE, KANYE WEST LEAD GRAMMY NOMS

Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Akon, Taylor Swift and others were on hand to announce this year’s Grammy Nominations. And the nominees?

Foo Fighters, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, country star Taylor Swift, Fergie, Akon, and Vince Gill were among the presenters for this year’s Grammy Awards. Kanye West was the big nominee with eight; Amy Winehouse was nominated with six, and Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and T-Pain all notched five nominations.

The biggest highlight of the announcement was a spontaneous bit of excitement and the usual mispronunciation reading the honorees – all at the doing of the Foo Fighters (pause). Swift showed her excitement hugging Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters upon their announcement she was nominated for Best New Artist. Grohl and company lovingly mocked Swift later when one of their nominations was announced. Shinoda, whose band’s work for Minutes To Midnight was not nominated, took his turn at the stand, and backstage said it was nice to see an artist like Swift have the excitement and enthusiasm about the Grammys.

“I mean, it’s exciting for me to see the new faces, the new blood get some nominations. It definitely takes me back to when we got nominated for the first time.”

We caught up with Dave Grohl and asked him if he was looking to win at this year’s awards.

“Not so much. Free drinks and a gift bag I guess. I’ll tell you what, it feels really good to be nominated for Album Of The Year. It’s huge.”

He also talked about the multiple nominations of the enigmatic Amy Winehouse.

“I love Amy Winehouse. I think she’s amazing. I love that record so much. I hope she shows up. I hope she plays. I hope she does what she does best.”

The Grammy Awards will be held February 10 in Los Angeles and will air on CBS-TV. A complete list of Grammy Nominees can be found at grammy.org. The Foo Fighters song “The Pretender” is up for Record Of The Year, Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance . The Foos album “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” is up for Album Of The Year and Best Rock Album.