Girls rock at the Grammys

Brittany Howard leads the Alabama Shakes. Photo/supplied

For years, men - and legacy acts - have dominated in the rock category at the Grammy Awards, leaving little room for female stars who rock as loud and hard as the guys hoping to break through on the music scene.

But there is a shift at this year's Grammys, with women and budding acts dominating in the rock field, thanks to the Brittany Howard-led Alabama Shakes and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine(four nominations each) and to promising performers such as James Bay and Highly Suspect, both up for best rock album and rock song.

Elle King, the 26-year-old carefree, raspy-voiced newcomer, earned nominations for best rock song and rock performance for the platinum single Ex's and Oh's, which topped the Billboard rock and alternative charts last year.

"There's been space for people to make different music that's not so pop-driven ... that's why we went with alternative because I didn't think I was another Katy Perry of this world," King says.

"But to be in the rock category at the Grammys, for me and my heart, it's like ... so rad!' That made me extremely happy."

Alabama Shakes' nominations include album of the year and best alternative music album for Sound & Color as well as rock performance and rock song for Don't Wanna Fight.

Florence + the Machine are also up for the latter two rock honours with the single What Kind of Man, along with best pop vocal album for How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful and pop duo/group performance for Ship to Wreck.

The Grammys on February 15, could bring the often-praised Howard, 27, and Welch, 29, their first gramophones after earning multiple nominations in the past.

"I feel like women have always written incredible songs, but I feel like right now what's so rad is we're all taking back the conversation and supporting each other and holding each other up," says Hayley Williams, the 27-year-old frontwoman of Paramore. "We're taking notice of each other earlier on in each other's careers."

Paramore won its first Grammy last year for best rock song with Ain't It Fun. A year before that, Imagine Dragons took home best rock performance for their breakthrough track, Radioactive; Halestorm, with frontwoman Lzzy Hale, won best hard rock/metal performance in 2013.

Also in recent years, seasoned acts like Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Jack White and Beck have won rock Grammys, though the awards have usually been reserved for veterans in the vein of U2, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. And in the past women have had an even tougher road than the young acts: Before Paramore's win, Alanis Morissette was the last woman to win best rock song in 1999. It was the same year Sheryl Crow won best rock album; a woman hasn't won the honour since.

"I think it's time that they're back in the mix as far as the Grammys goes," said Bill Freimuth, the Recording Academy's senior vice-president of awards.

Elle King. Photo/supplied

This year, nominees for best rock performance include four women or female-led acts, with King, Alabama Shakes, Florence + the Machine and Wolf Alice, whose lead vocalist is 23-year-old Ellie Rowsell. The fifth nominee is the Foo Fighters.

The best rock song nominees are made up exclusively of women and new acts with King, Alabama Shakes, Florence + the Machine, Bay - the acclaimed 25-year-old British singer-guitarist - and British trio Highly Suspect.

It's a sea change from 2014, when nominees for best rock album included David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Kings of Leon and winners Led Zeppelin. Best rock song nominees that year included The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney.

"I think that some of the legacy artists, some of the things that may have been in contention for this year, is it their best work or is it the name?" said Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King.

Williams, who said Paramore is busy writing its fifth album, recalls how tough it was to be taken seriously as a teen musician when the band released its debut album a decade ago. And King, whose debut was released a year ago, says she's slowing seeing how some people view her as a young, female rock singer.

"It's funny because for years I said, 'No way, I've never had any hurdles or speed bumps or anything, and it literally wasn't until the past couple months where I realised ... that people didn't take me seriously and I finally saw it, and it kind of broke my heart a little bit, a lot of musicians that I knew," she said.

Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine. Photo/supplied

"And so now I'm just like, seriously like, 'I will show you and all these other women who are literally taking over rock 'n' roll right now will all (expletive) kick your asses, seriously."