Tell that to the Committee.
I did some searching on it. It certainly was a strange choice.
What Ian Anderson said:
Ian Anderson: The hot ticket was Metallica, in this newly introduced category of Hard Rock/ Metal. I was told by our record company, by the then-head of Chrysalis in the USA, not to bother going, which is a euphemism for: “We’re not going to pay your air fare or get you a hotel, because we don’t think you’re going to win.”
It was assumed that we would not win because we were up against Metallica and Iggy Pop and Jane’s Addiction. So we were definitely the odd ones out, because we were more commonly thought of as a folk rock band, certainly not hard rock or heavy metal.