Music industry people call it the “post-Grammy bump” or “post-Grammy spike.” What that means is that an artist cleaned up at the Grammy Awards and now they’re hoping to clean up at the cash register (or via PayPal), banking on fans to flood brick-and-mortar and online music stores searching for so-and-so’s huge hit. In order to prime the pump, the Grammys itself annually serves up a musical appetizer, this year, cleverly calling it 2010 Grammy Nominees.

Music’s Biggest Night: The twenty tracks on this year’s Grammy Nominees album run the gamut across the musical spectrum. Sure you’ll find The Black Eyed Peas (“I Gotta Feeling”), Lady Gaga (“Poker Face”), Taylor Swift (“You Belong with Me”), Pink (“Sober”), Beyonce (“Halo”), and Rascal Flatts (“Here Comes Goodbye”), just to name a few. But rockers will relish in the fact that 2009 breakout sensations Kings of Leon (“Use Somebody”) as well as veteran punk stalwarts Green Day (“21 Guns”), Coldplay (“Life in Technicolor II”), and stadium superstars U2 (“I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”) are also found on this collection. The following is a capsule look at these 4 bands.

Kings of Leon (3-time 2010 Grammy winners: Record of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, all for “Use Somebody”) exploded onto radio and into iPods everywhere last year with the massive success of 2008’s Only by the Night and breakout singles “Use Somebody” and “Sex On Fire.” Raised by their Pentecostal preacher father but eventually saved by rock and roll, the Followill brothers – Nathan, Caleb, and Jared – recruited their cousin Matthew Followill and formed the band in 2000. In 2003, they issued the aptly titled EP, Holy Roller Novocaine, followed later that year by their first full-length album, Youth and Young Manhood. Subsequent releases include 2005’s Aha Shake Heartbreak, 2006’s Because of the Times, and finally, Only by the Night. Oh yeah, an opening slot on U2’s 2005 Vertigo tour was pretty cool, too!

Fueled by mainline doses of The Clash, Sex Pistols, and The Who, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed their first band, Sweet Children, at 14. Three years later, they dumped the name in favor of Green Day, recorded an EP (1,000 Hours, and album (39/Smooth), two more EPs, and recruited Tre Cool to replace their original drummer in time to record 1992’s Kerplunk. Two years later they released Dookie which rocketed to No. 1, eventually selling over 10 million copies worldwide, and earning 4 Grammys. In 2009, they issued 21st Century Breakdown, which just earned the Best Rock Album Grammy. Oh yeah, singing “The Saints Are Coming” with U2 at the Superdome opening day of the 2006 NFL season was pretty cool, too!

Coldplay – Chris Martin, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, and Guy Berryman – formed in 1996 at the University College of London and began heating up the airwaves and charts in 2000 with their debut Parachutes and instant worldwide smash single “Yellow.” Their string of wildly popular albums and singles continued with 2002’s A Rush of Blood To the Head (“Clocks,” “The Scientist”), 2005’s X&Y (“Speed of Sound,” “Fix You”), and 2008’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (“Viva la Vida,” “Violet Hill”), which was produced by longtime U2 producer Brian Eno. Oh yeah, many argue Coldplay has the potential to one day become as big as U2, and that’s pretty cool. Now, as for U2: they are Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., and Adam Clayton. They formed in Dublin in 1978, and are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The rest you pretty much know!

Super(dome), Super (Bowl) Performance: Check out Green Day and U2 performing “The Saints are Coming” live at the Superdome in New Orleans:

As A Matter of Fact…

* Kings of Leon named themselves after their father, Leon Followill. In 2009, they won the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals Grammy for “Sex On Fire.”

* Green Day won two Grammys – Best Rock Album and Record of the Year – for its 2004 multi-platinum American Idiot, which has sold over 12 million copies to date.

* In 2009, Coldplay won the Best Rock Album Grammy for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

* U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005. Bruce Springsteen was their presenter.