hennemusic

If you blink you’ll miss it, but there were a few rockers nominated for the 2011 American Music Awards, as the full list was announced on Tuesday.

Typical of most industry award shows, the bulk of the categories - and nominees - are rap, hip-hop, RnB, and pop-based (aren’t they all pretty much the same category now?), arguably because that’s what’s selling these days.

Look hard enough and you’ll find a single token nod to rock.

There’s pretty much only one rock category on the AMAs: “Alternative Rock Music,” which is about as cheesy a title as they could come up…especially since “alternative” means “mainstream,” and has, for years.

Up for “Alternative Rock Music Artist” are the Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, and Mumford & Sons.

That’s it…that’s all the AMAs has to offer the rock world.

The show has a blended “Pop/Rock” category, but it’s not for rockers.

The AMAs were created by Dick Clark back in 1973 to compete with the Grammys because that show wouldn’t hire him to produce/direct the program when it left ABC for CBS.

The AMAs will be broadcast live from the Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20 starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.