Kings Of Leon Win Three Grammys, Including Record Of The Year

If you told fans of Kings of Leon back in 2003 when they released their debut album Youth and Young Manhood that seven years later they’d be accepting the Grammy for Record of the Year, they might call you crazy. Not because the band wouldn’t be deserving, but the Grammy folks usually are not known for their out of the box thinking to even consider a band like KOL.

But sometimes they get it right and Sunday night at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Kings of Leon took home 3 Grammys, including the biggie: Record of the Year. The other two were Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for their hit single “Use Somebody” from their 4^th studio album Only By The Night.

When accepting the award, frontman Caleb Followill said -

“I’m not going to lie, we’re all a little drunk. But we’re happy drunks.”

That’s four Grammy’s total for KOL; the band previously won their first Grammy for Best Rock Performance for “Sex On Fire,” which also appears on Only By The Night.

They weren’t winning awards when Aha Shake Heartbreak came out in 2004 – arguably their finest output thus far. But with Because of the Times in 2007 and the recent Only By the Night the band cut their trademark long hair, traded southern-fried, whiskey-soaked rock n’ roll for a more polished style to go with those new, stadium-rock anthems, and just like that, the band crossed over from indie rock darlings to big-time, big-selling music brand.

And then they won a Grammy.

“It’s really weird, because this is our fourth album, and it seems like in America it was our first album,” KOL bassist Matthew Followill told MTV News after their wins. “It’s great, it’s good to be famous.”

To win Record of the Year the band had to fight off Beyoncé – “Halo,” The Black Eyed Peas – “I Gotta Feeling,” Lady Gaga – “Poker Face” and ‘Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me.”

Congratulations Kings of Leon! And thank you for not having to make us live in a world where Lady Gaga is a Grammy winner for Record of the Year.