Bon Iver Turns Down Grammy Performance: Praiseworthy or Pretentious?

This isn't the first time Bon Iver's Justin Vernon has taken issue with an award ceremony, but now he's playing in the big leagues. Back in August, he slammed the MTV VMAs in a blog post -- wondering why parents were getting so emotional when their kid won, contemplating the "bright lights" and "diamond-encrusted Cristal bottles." Now that his band is up for four Grammys, he's apparently sticking to his guns. His band is turning down an offer to perform at the ceremony.

Vernon told Billboard, "We wanted to play our music, but were told that we couldn't play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else ... Awesome people. People that I would love to play a song with. But you know what? F---in' rock n' roll should not be decided by people that have that job ... Rock n' roll should be the f---ing people with guitars around their backs. And their friends. And their managers."

Last year, when presented with the possibility of being nominated for a Grammy, Vernon explained, "I would get up there and be like, 'This is for my parents, because they supported me,' because I know they would think it would be stupid of me not to go up there. But I kinda felt like going up there and being like: 'Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending that this is important.' That’s what I would say." We'll just have to wait and see what happens if Bon Iver wins.