ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FERNANDO GONZALEZ THE MIAMI HERALD
YOUNG POP MUSIC STARS Alanis Morissette, Seal, TLC and Hootie and the Blowfish took several awards each, but Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell were winners, too.
The pop industry may respect innovation, but it LOVES conformity.
Wednesday night's Grammy Awards were pop perfect: the predictable wrapped in a fresh package.
Singer and songwriter Alanis Morissette, who took statuettes for Album of the Year, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album and Female Rock Vocal; British pop/soul singer Seal, who won Pop Vocal, Record and Song of the Year honors; and Stevie Wonder, who won three awards, including a lifetime achievement award, were the night's big winners.
Other multiple winners were retro-folk-rockers Hootie and the Blowfish and the female R&B vocal trio TLC.
There were some surprises: Veteran singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell took Best Pop Album. Nirvana, which spearheaded the grunge revolution but went unrecognized by Grammy voters while active, won Alternative Music Performance with ``MTV Unplugged In New York.'' Gloria Estefan won the Best Tropical Latin and Jon Secada won the Best Pop Latin awards; while The Mavericks won the Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal category.
``This is not your father's Grammys,'' promised host Ellen DeGeneres. And while Dad might not have felt totally out of place, the show did have its jarring moments.
The first came barely minutes into the festivities. After winning Hard Rock Performance for ``Spin the Black Circle,'' Pearl Jam - contrary to predictions - did not immediately renew its fight with Ticketmaster. The band picked on the Grammys instead. ``I don't know what it means,'' singer Eddie Vedder said. ``I don't think it means anything.'' And thank you.
But there were more: Morissette singing her line about oral sex in a movie theater in ``You Oughta Know'' in prime time (a four-letter word was muted out of the song). A natty Tupac Shakur saying ``we need to shock people,'' then sharing the stage with a reunited Kiss in full makeup. (His ``homeboys,'' he called them.) Bobby McFerrin pleading for music education, calling for music teachers to not wait for grants but to ``get a boombox and some CDs and play everything - Bach, Beethoven, Coltrane.''
The program attempted to nod in all directions - giving prime-time space to rap and the five nominees for Record of the Year but also gospel, jazz and classical music.
And there were several strong live performances: Morissette's heartbreaking ``You Oughta Know,'' rapper Coolio's stirring version of his ``Gangsta's Paradise,'' a powerful gospel tribute starring Whitney Houston and Shirley Caesar, and The Mavericks with Mexican-American accordionist Flaco Jimenez singing the introduction to the Best Female Country Vocal Performance nominations.
With a history of blunders to live down, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences has been tinkering with the formula, adding categories, setting a more diverse live music program, and showcasing younger, hipper performers. This year, it even set up a 25-member secret panel to pick the finalists of the top four categories - Record, Album and Song of the Year, and Best New Artist - out of the 20 entries with the most votes from the general membership.
The overall results suggest that, when in doubt, the members went for the safe choice every time. And it seemed to honor veteran stars even if their most recent work was not up to their standards - Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB