Musicians Receive Top Honors At 38th Annual Grammy Awards

The idea seems as strange as grandpa in a do-rag and grandma with a pierced nose. The Grammy Awards are trying to get hip.

Even more startling is that they may be succeeding.

The Grammys have long been a subject of ridicule for honoring the dullest elements of music and occasionally wildly missing the mark - remember Jethro Tull as best hard rock artist in 1988 or Milli Vanilli as best new artist the year later?

But an effort to make the awards show more relevant bore fruit in this year’s nominations, when newcomers Alanis Morissette and Joan Osborne were picked to battle mainstream stars like Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson for some of the top honors.

Whether that trend will carry over to the winner’s circle will be revealed when the 38th annual Grammy Awards are held Wednesday in Los Angeles, with Ellen DeGeneres as host.

The Grammys have run a distant third in reputation to the Academy Awards and Emmys because they’ve traditionally been a poor indicator of true excellence in music.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the industry group in charge of the Grammys, slowly has tried to turn the ship around.

In his six years as NARAS president, Michael Greene has added several new categories to the show, including rap, world music and heavy metal. He’s also actively recruited younger industry representatives as NARAS members the people who vote on Grammys.

Even Greene cringed at some of the nominations over the years.

“The popularity and sentimentality was part of the equation and it reared its head from time to time,” Greene said. “When critics are right, I’m the first person to take that information and try to craft it into something that improves the process. And some of the criticism was absolutely founded.”

Some industry heavyweights, such as Sony Music President Tommy Mottola, grumbled last year that the Grammys don’t reflect what’s going on in music after Tony Bennett’s “MTV Unplugged” was honored as album of the year.

That may finally have convinced NARAS trustees to approve this year’s change in operations affecting the major awards everyone talks about, like song or album of the year and best new artist.

Nominations traditionally have been determined by a vote of NARAS members. But this year, a committee of industry experts - Greene won’t reveal their names - screened the top 20 vote-getters in each major category and whittled them down to five nominees.

It made for a hipper-looking list. Morissette received six nominations for her take-charge “Jagged Little Pill,” and Osborne, whose “Relish” was a highly praised debut, had six. The record of the year nominees are an intriguing mix that includes Coolio, Osborne, TLC, Seal and a Mariah Carey-Boyz II Men duet.

Rap star Coolio’s nomination for “Gangsta’s Paradise” raised some eyebrows.

“That’s a stretch, for the Grammys,” said Anthony DeCurtis, editorial director of VH1 and a 1988 Grammy winner for his liner notes on an Eric Clapton boxed set. “To put up Coolio as record of the year, I was impressed by it.”

The fate of Osborne on Grammy night will be an important indicator of whether the awards show has truly changed, DeCurtis said.

“If she wins even one major award, it will be very significant,” he said. “It certainly would serve the music better and serve the image of the Grammys.”

Thomas O’Neil, author of “The Grammys: For the Record,” isn’t quite ready to pronounce the changes a success. For all the talk about a hipper Grammy Awards, he notes that none of the top 10 albums in Rolling Stone’s critics poll were nominated for Grammys.

And since the major awards will still be decided by a vote of the general NARAS membership, he predicted the winners will be the bland leading the bland. He suggested the Grammys employ an expert screening committee to decide on the winners, not just the nominees.

“If Mariah Carey wins, as I’m certain she will, it will be business as usual at the Grammys, where they honor mellow-sounding, mega-selling artists,” O’Neil said.

He called it a “delicious irony” that a Carey sweep would prove Mottola’s point that the Grammys aren’t truly representative of the best in music. Mottola is Carey’s husband.

“I bet we won’t hear from Tommy on that point,” he said.

Greene said he’s pleased with the results of his changes. Without them, he also believes artists like Coolio, Osborne and Shania Twain would be sitting on the sidelines on Wednesday night.

“I think this year was a good start,” he said.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Top nominees : Record Of The Year: “One Sweet Day,” Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men; “Gangsta’s Paradise,” Coolio; “One of Us,” Joan Osborne; “Kiss From a Rose,” Seal; “Waterfalls,” TLC. Album Of The Year: “Daydream,” Mariah Carey; “History Past, Present and Future Book I,” Michael Jackson; “Jagged Little Pill,” Alanis Morissette; “Relish,” Joan Osborne; “Vitalogy,” Pearl Jam. Song Of The Year: “I Can Love You Like That,” Maribeth Derry, Steve Diamond, Jennifer Kimball; “Kiss From a Rose,” Seal; “One of Us,” Eric Bazilian; “You Are Not Alone,” R. Kelly; “You Oughta Know,” Glen Ballard, Alanis Morissette. New Artist: Brandy; Hootie & The Blowfish; Alanis Morissette; Joan Osborne; Shania Twain.