Foo Fighters win big at Rock Awards

LONDON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. rock group Foo Fighters was declared band of the year at the Classic Rock awards in London.

The group's lead singer Dave Grohl sent a prerecorded acceptance speech to be shown at Monday night's awards presentation because his band couldn't attend the event.

Whitesnake won the prize for best album for its CD "Good to Be Bad," Ozzy Osbourne was presented with the living legend award by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley was named showman of the year and the Australian group Airborne was declared best new band, the BBC said. Led Zeppelin also picked up the prize for event of the year for its first concert in 19 years, which took place in London last December.

"Ozzy's a household name and bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Guns N' Roses are getting more headlines and front covers than ever, breaking box-office records and topping the charts," said Classic Rock magazine's editor-in-chief Scott Rowley. "The Classic Rock Roll of honor is a celebration of rock music as the most vital and vibrant genre of music."