Bon Iver turned down offer to perform at Grammys

Bon Iver is up for an impressive total of four Grammys this year, so it should come as no surprise that the band was invited to perform at the ceremony next Sunday.

What is surprising, however, is that frontman Justin Vernon and the rest of Bon Iver actually turned down the opportunity to do so. Vernon, currently in New York for Bon Iver’s performance on Saturday Night Live tonight, told Billboard that the band turned down the opportunity because they would have to collaborate with a more well-known artist.

“We wanted to play our music, but were told that we couldn’t play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else,” Vernon told the magazine. “And we just felt like it was such a large stage — we’re getting nominated for this record that we made. Me and Brian [Joseph] and a bunch of our f—ing friends and we were given accolades for it, and all of a sudden we were being asked to play music that had nothing to do with that. We kind of said ‘f— you’ a little bit, and they sort of acted like they wanted us to play, but I don’t think they wanted us to play.”

Vernon wasn’t willing to tell Billboard who the Grammys producer wanted Bon Iver to collaborate with, but he did say that they were “awesome people”, for whatever that’s worth. “But you know what? F—in’ rock n’ roll should not be decided by people that have that job,” he added. “Rock n’ roll should be the f—ing people with guitars around their backs.”