Grammy Award 2000 Preview
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Feb. 18, 2000) - It's Grammy Awards time again - the award ceremony will be telecast next Wednesday, Feb., 23, on CBS-TV at 8 p.m. And if the nominated artists and songs are an indication of prevailing trends in commercial music, then light, manufactured pop music may be more popular now than ever in the rock era.

With only a few exceptions, all of the major nominations for performers and recordings have gone to pop artists for whom others write songs - people like Ricky Martin, Cher, the Backstreet Boys and TLC. Accordingly, most of the songwriting nominations go to writers-for-hire - Desmond Child, Dallas Austin, Mutt Lange, for example -- as opposed to performers who write their own material.

There are no rock artists with nominations in any of the major categories - best single, album, or song - other than those for the group Santana, which goes into Wednesday night's ceremony with the most to lose, having been nominated for 10 awards. Santana has never won a Grammy Award; in the band's 33rd year, it took a slew of more famous guest performers, including Dave Matthews, Eric Clapton, Everlast and Lauryn Hill, to put an album by the Latin-oriented, jam-rock group at the top of the charts and within striking distance of a Grammy trophy.

Speaking of Latin music, there has been a lot of hype over the past year about the supposed popularity of Latin rhythms. Pundits point to the success of Santana, as well as pin-ups like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, and the surprising popularity of the Afro-Cuban artists documented in the hit film "Buena Vista Social Club," as evidence of a Latin trend. The Grammys have responded to the hype by expanding the number of Latin music categories from five to seven, and the awards broadcast will feature a special tribute to Latin music with performances by Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Pancho Sanchez, Chucho Valdes and Ibrahim Ferrer.

Other performers will include Sting, Santana, TLC, Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, Whitney Houston, Kid Rock and Britney Spears - not exactly a heavyweight lineup. For the second year in a row, TV personality Rosie O'Donnell will host the award ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in reality and at www.grammy.com in virtuality.

On a purely provincial note, Stockbridge native and superstar rock drummer Kenny Aronoff was involved in several Grammy-nominated projects, including Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" and Melissa Etheridge's "Breakdown." The latter also boasts a Berkshire connection - it was co-produced and some of it co-written by John Shanks, son of Ann and Bob Shanks of Sheffield.

And now, to the awards themselves. "W" means the predicted winner; "SR" is this critic's pick.

Best Record: Awarded to the best commercially-released single or album track, this category pits the Backstreet Boys against Cher, TLC, Ricky Martin and Santana. Martin's sprightly "Livin' La Vida Loca" must have annoyed anyone who heard it more than twice, while TLC's "No Scrubs" is a delectable bit of contemporary R&B. But contemporary wisdom favors sentimentality over all, which pits this year's one-name comeback kings, Santana and Cher, against each other. Santana will have plenty of chances to win in other categories, so I'm betting that the industry hacks will go with Cher, bizarre computerized vocals and all, for the top honor of the night. (W: Cher. SR: TLC.)

Best Album: There are a couple of surprises in this category. It's rare that a jazz artist is recognized for her efforts, but "When I Look In Your Eyes" by jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall is really more of a throwback to the classic, jazz-tinged pop of Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole than a jazz album.

Much has been made about the Dixie Chicks's album, "Fly," being a throwback to old-fashioned country. Indeed, the first thing you hear on the group's album is a fiddle and tin whistle, before the three female singers harmonize high-lonesome style and banjos, dobros and pedal-steel guitars - played by the Chicks themselves! -- join the mix. Still, the album is a carefully programmed mix of pop music in country dress, a delightful listen, but nothing to write to Appalachia about.

The other nominees in this category are the Backstreet Boys, TLC and Santana. The first two are vivid examples of shamelessly manufactured kiddie-pop, although at least TLC's "Fanmail" has the hint of a concept running through it. They are also feature utterly impersonal, at times robotic vocals. Sentimentality favors Santana; look for "Supernatural" to take best album honors. (W: Santana. SR: Diana Krall.)

Best Song: The nominees for best song (a songwriter's award) are all commercial hits. Granted, the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" and Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" were catchy hits, but does anyone really believe they were great songs? Well, apparently some do. With Shania Twain's "You've Got a Way," Santana's "Smooth" and TLC's "Unpretty" also nominated, it's a hard category to call. (W: Shania Twain. SR: TLC.)

Best New Artist: This kiss-of-death category (remember Christopher Cross? Milli Vanilli? I didn't think so) includes three commercial powerhouses (Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Kid Rock), one critical favorite (Macy Gray), and one ringer (Susan Tedeschi). The teeny-bopper votes for Aguilera and Spears will cancel each other out, and Gray is frankly such a phenomenally promising talent (with a great p.r. machine behind her) that I predict a rare conjunction of critical and commercial wisdowm in this category. (W and SR: Macy Gray).

Best Female Pop Vocal: Again, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, neither of whom can sing her way out of a paper bag, cancel each other out, leaving Madonna, Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette to duke it out. McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" is one of the more sedate tracks on her live album, "Mirrorball;" Morissette's "Thank U" is characteristically over the top; Madonna's retro-psychedelic "Beautiful Stranger" could win through the synergy of the hit movie ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me") in which it appeared. (W: Alanis Morissette. SR: Madonna.)

Best Male Pop Vocal: The Spanish-tinged Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Lou Bega all had catchy hit records this year which will cancel each other out, leaving Sting vying with the virtuoso pipes of Andrea Bocelli. (W: Bocelli. SR: Sting.)

Best Group Pop Vocal: The Backstreet Boys can't go home totally empty-handed. (W: Backstreet Boys. SR: TLC.)

Best Pop Vocal Collaboration: Santana is up against itself in this category, for duets with Dave Matthews and Rob Thomas (who the heck is Rob Thomas, by the way?), and a split vote could cost him an otherwise likely win. Other nominees include Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, and 'N Sync and Gloria Estefan. (W: Bocelli/Dion. SR: Santana/Rob Thomas.)

Best Pop Album: This is where Cher, the queen of comebacks, gets her due for yet another comeback, "Believe," a shameless throwback to the disco era. Her contenders are the Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Sarah McLachlan and Sting. McLachlan's "Mirrorball" is a live album, which pretty much puts it out of contention. Sting's is a mature, jazzy, world-beat-inflected collection which could give Cher a run for her money, especially as it includes appearances by James Taylor, Stevie Wonder and Branford Marsalis. That's a lot of friends and a lot of votes. (W: Cher. SR: Sting.)

Best Female Rock Vocal: Someday the Academy is going to ruin Ani DiFranco's reputation for fierce independence and actually pin an award on her. In the meantime, they tease her with annual nominations, as for this year's "Jukebox." Sheryl Crow ("Sweet Child o' Mine") and Melissa Etheridge ("Angels Would Fall") are more mainstream contenders, and LilithFair types Sarah McLachlan ("Possession") and Tori Amos ("Bliss") round out a category overflowing with merit and talent. (W: McLachlan. SR: Ani DiFranco.)

Best Male Rock Vocal: Youth (Everlast) goes up against middle- (Lenny Kravitz and Chris Cornell) and old age (Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits) in this category, another tough one to call. Again, Kravitz has the "Austin Powers" synergy in his favor, but it's hard to imagine voters overlooking Springsteen totally in this year of his great comeback. (W and SR: Bruce Springsteen.)

Best Rock Instrumental: Green Day contributed an awesome, moody surf-guitar instrumental ("Espionage") to the "Austin Powers" soundtrack. Moby's "Bodyrock" from his fantastic album, "Play," is a great track, but it's not an instrumental (go figure?). I find it hard to believe that anyone other than guitar-heads actually listen to Jeff Beck or Steve Vai, which of course leaves Santana with Eric Clapton the shoo-in winner in this category. (W: Santana. SR: Green Day.)

Best Rock Song: The Berkshires' own John Shanks is co-credited for writing Melissa Etheridge's "Angels Would Fall," but he's up against venerable rock songwriters including Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty ("Room at the Top"), as well as the folks from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Garbage. Only Grammy logic, however, can explain why Springsteen's solo, acoustic piano ballad, "The Promise," counts as a rock song. (W: Etheridge/Shanks. SR: Tom Petty.) Best Rock Album: As co-producer, Shanks owns a piece of the nomination for Etheridge's "Breakdown," as does Stockbridge native Kenny Aronoff, if only unofficially, for powering the effort on drums. They're up against some lightweights, including Limp Bizkit and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as some heavy-hitters, including Tom Petty and Santana, the obvious shoo-in in this category. (W: Santana. SR: Tom Petty.)

Best Alternative Album: It's quite an achievement for Nine Inch Nails's dark, murky, double-CD, "The Fragile," to have garnered a nomination, as it is for Moby's rootsy-yet-experimental "Play." For that matter, Beck's "Mutations" is also quite a bit left of center for the Grammys, which is why Tori Amos, who looks downright mainstream in this company, will win for "To Venus and Back." (W: Tori Amos. SR: Moby.)

In general, look for the Dixie Chicks to clean up in the country music categories, TLC in R&B, Diana Krall for best jazz vocal, June Carter Cash for best traditional folk album, Tom Waits for best contemporary folk album (even though it's anything but "contemporary folk"), Wynton Marsalis for best spoken word album for children, and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" for best soundtrack.

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[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Feb. 18, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]