Foo Fighters and Metallica won big at the fifth annual iHeartRadio Music Awards (March 11). It was a show to remember, hosted by Hailey Baldwin and DJ Khaled, with unforgettable live performances from Ed Sheeran, Eminem featuring Kehlani, Cardi B, Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, Camila Cabello, Charlie Puth, and N.E.R.D and G-Eazy.
Year after year, the iHeartRadio Music Awards shines the spotlight on a multitude of genres, alternative rock included. Among this year's big winners were Foo Fighters and Metallica.
As previously announced earlier in the week, Rock Song song of the year went to Foo Fighters's "Run." The song was nominated alongside rock hits including Papa Roach’s "Help," Theory of a Deadman’s "Rx (Medicate)," Stone Sour’s "Song #3," and Nothing More’s "Go To War."
On their Rock Song win, the band's Dave Grohl says in their acceptance speech:
"We’d like to thank iHeartRadio and all the fans for giving us the Rock Song of the Year award for our song 'Run.' Thank you very much," followed by a round of applause from the entire band.
"Run" is the lead single from Foo Fighters' latest album Concrete and Gold, which topped the rock charts after its release in September 2017. The song also won the 2018 Grammy for Best Rock Song and was nominated for Best Rock Performance. Concrete and Gold features 11 songs in total, including "Run," and topped the charts in the US plus more countries around the globe. In fact, the record is Foo's second US number one album, after 2011's Wasting Light.
Metallica took home the award for Rock Artist of the Year. The rock legends were nominated alongside Foo Fighters, Highly Suspect, Papa Roach, and Royal Blood.
Metallica released their latest album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, at the end of 2016. The record is the iconic rock band's tenth, was nominated for a Grammy Award this year, and includes singles "Moth into Flame," "Atlas, Rise!," "Now That We're Dead," and "Spit Out the Bone." Metallica also headed out on their extensive "WorldWired Tour" in 2016, and is continuing on into 2019.
Additionally Rock Album of the Year went to Linkin Park for their latest album One More Light. The album was was the band's seventh full-length studio album, and last with late frontman Chester Bennington, who passed away last year. One More Light featured songs including "Heavy" and "Talking To Myself," and topped the Top Rock Albums chart as well as the Billboard 200.
Back in February 2017, Bennington and Mike Shinoda explained to iHeartRadio of the process of putting together One More Light:
"For us, usually we start with writing riffs, and making cool noises, and then we kind of write the song on top of that. The music influences the words, and on this album, it actually was the other way around. We walked in every day saying like, what do I want to sing about, what do I want to talk about, what's on my mind? And we've had a bit of a rough year, personally. Life happens to you, to me, everybody, and starting each song that way, there's a personal nature to the album that I think is [there] because we started with the words."
Congratulations to Foo Fighters, Metallica & Linkin Park! For the full list of 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards winners, click HERE.