Just as we kicked off our Thanksgiving break, the music industry gave us a sneak peek at what’s to come early next year at the Grammys by showcasing the American Music Awards. Instituted by Dick Clark in 1973, this annual fall event displays artists from all genres, new and old.

Taylor Swift stood above the musical mountaintop with six wins, breaking the most decorated AMA winner of all time.

The “Midnights” queen will be ending her 2022 career with a bang, but she still has Mount Everest to climb when it comes to winning the war between Ticketmaster and Live Nation (this fiasco is another article for another time)!

It won’t be an easy feat, but we know T. Swift has a lot of fight and additional backing from her Swifties to start her Eras Tour on a high note.

When genre that seems to get overlooked at any music award event is rock. The phenomenon known as rock is a conglomerate of many motleys; from metal to punk, no one band is a carbon copy of the other.

That said, in no particular order, let’s discuss the rock category winners at this year’s American Music Awards. Presented with three different awards, we saw Måneskin begin the victory lap with ‘Favorite Rock Song,’ “Beggin.”

This song was first written in 1967 by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina and performed by the Four Seasons. Måneskin’s cover explores elements of ska, punk, classic rock and electropop and sold 40 million copies worldwide.

The Italian multi-sounding rockers covered this song as part of their performance in the eleventh season of “X Factor Italia,” in which they came in second.

So far, they have two albums out: “Il ballo della vita” (2018) and “Teatro d’ira: Vol. I” (2021). Their third studio album is just on the horizon. Additionally, they’re up for the nomination of ‘Best New Artist’ for the 2023 Grammys.

Måneskin wasn’t the only European group to win a well-decorated award. The Sweedish doom metal group, Ghost, won ‘Best Rock Album’ with “Impera,” their fifth studio album.

The experimental occult started popping up in the rock scene in 2006. With eight instrumentalists named the Nameless Ghouls and frontman Papa Emeritus IV, their music will take you to church – well, maybe not the church you’re familiar with.

Off of “Impera” is their chart-topping hit, ‘Call Me Little Sunshine.’

And taking the rock category home was none other than rapper/ pop-punk rocker, Machine Gun Kelly, who won ‘Favorite Rock Artist.’

MGK has faced tons of scrutiny on and off the stage. But that did not affect the East side Cleveland Wild Boy from leading the rock pack.

His sixth studio album, “Mainstream Sellout,” arrived in spring. Part of his experimentation in the genre, “Mainstream Sellout,” presented five popular singles ‘Papercuts,’ ‘Emo Girl,’ ‘Ay!’ ‘Maybe’ and ‘Make Up Sex.’

A once misinterpreted genre, it seems the American Music Awards established the umbrella of this style and the various subgenre raindrops that can fall under this category. We’ll see how the 2023 Grammys treats this diverse style.

Brie Coder is a graduate student in communication and leadership. She can be reached at bmcoder@eiu.edu or 217-581-2812.