The Grammys are considered the lowliest of the four biggies (Oscar, Emmy, Tony rounding out the block) because they typically award old people or Alison Krauss. Most Grammy Award-winning music is, for better or for worse, KOIT music in its nascent stage.

But several local acts received nominations last night. Jennifer Maerz at SF Weekly has the lowdown.

Your Bay Area nominees are:

Oakland's Green Day is nominated for "21 Guns" ("Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals"). Also, their album 21st Century Breakdown was nominated for "Best Rock Album." They seem like very nice guys. The kind of tough guys who might defend their effete gay pals when they get too drunk and starting mouthing off at a bar.

Metallica was nominated for a shiny trophy, but we won't say in which category or for what body of music unless they agree to fill our iTunes library with all of the free music we've missed out on since Napster's collapse. (Yes, yes, we know how and from where to download free music; we're trying to make a point.)

Also, Quartet San Francisco, a classical musical group, was nominated. Indeed. And so was chanteuse Ledisi, who landed a nomination for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "Goin' Through Changes". (Aside: We highly, highly recommend Hair - Actors' Fund of America Benefit Recording. Ledisi's version of "White Boys" is pretty damn spectacular;.It'll give you goosebumps, it'll give you chills, when it hits your ear, that's the touch that kills.)

And finally, we're thrilled to see our very own San Francisco Symphony land a few well-earned nominations. The symphony’s live concert recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10 conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT!) received three nominations today for "Best Classical Album," "Best Choral Performance," and "Best Engineered Classical Album." Check out this short clip featuring behind the scenes footage and more from the recording of Universe of Sound: Recording Mahler’s Symphony No. 8..

The Grammys are held before the Oscars.