Pop Stops Picks for the Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are just around the corner (Wednesday, February 25th), so now's the time to get out your score cards, look over the list and pick your favorites to win. Clip the following list and make your choices; see how you and I each score next week! If you need background music as you check your Grammy boxes, MCA has released a collection CD titled 1998 Grammy Nominees. The disc includes songs from all the nominees in three categories: Record of the Year, Pop Group Vocal and Best New Artist (the latter category is missing the track from Puff Daddy, however).

For a complete listing of the Grammy Nominees, visit the official web site (http://www.grammy.com).

Paula Cole is listed in several categories, and has my nod for the artist who will walk away with the most little gramophone trophies. For the purposes of this column, I will choose a few of the high profile categories and list my picks — which aren't necessarily the ones I would have nominated, or even the ones I really believe will win. But given the list that the Grammy nominators have given us, here are my votes, with the occasional comment:

Editor's Note: Now that the Grammy Awards are over, I've gone ahead and noted with a red X the actual winners (as opposed to my own picks, the black checkmarks).

Record of the Year:

"Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" — Paula Cole from This Fire

x "Sunny Came Home" — Shawn Colvin from A Few Small Repairs

"Everyday Is A Winding Road" — Sheryl Crow from Sheryl Crow

"MMMBop" — Hanson from Middle Of Nowhere

"I Believe I Can Fly" — R. Kelly from: Space Jam - Soundtrack

Album of the Year

Babyface — The Day

Paula Cole — This Fire

x Bob Dylan — Time Out Of Mind

Paul McCartney — Flaming Pie

Radiohead — OK Computer

Song of the Year

"Don't Speak" — Eric Stefani & Gwen Stefani, songwriters (recorded by No Doubt) from Tragic Kingdom

"How Do I Live" — Diane Warren, songwriter (recorded by LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood)

"I Believe I Can Fly" — R. Kelly, songwriter (recorded by R. Kelly) from Space Jam - Soundtrack

x "Sunny Came Home" — Shawn Colvin & John Leventhal, songwriters (recorded by Shawn Colvin) from A Few Small Repairs

"Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" — Paula Cole, songwriter (recorded by Paula Cole) from This Fire

Best New Artist

Fiona Apple

Erykah Badu

x Paula Cole

Puff Daddy

Hanson

Best Rock Song

"Bitch" — Meredith Brooks & Shelly Peiken, songwriters (recorded by Meredith Brooks) from Blurring The Edges

"Crash Into Me" David Matthews, songwriter (recorded by Dave Matthews Band) from Crash

"Criminal" — Fiona Apple, songwriter (recorded by Fiona Apple) from Tidal

"The Difference" — Jakob Dylan, songwriter (recorded by The Wallflowers) from Bringing Down The Horse

x "One Headlight" — Jakob Dylan, songwriter (recorded by The Wallflowers) from Bringing Down The Horse

* "One Headlight" is a close second for me in this category

Best Rock Album

Aerosmith — Nine Lives

x John Fogerty — Blue Moon Swamp

Foo Fighters — The Colour And The Shape

The Rolling Stones — Bridges To Babylon

U2 — Pop

Best Alternative Music Performance

Bjork — Homogenic

David Bowie — Earthling

The Chemical Brothers — Dig Your Own Hole

Prodigy — The Fat Of The Land

x Radiohead — OK Computer

* Where are the REAL pop-alternative artists in this category like: Blur, The Cure, Live, Tanya Donelly, Lili Haydn, Veruca Salt, The Offspring, Jill Sobule, Nick Cave? It kills me to choose Earthling here (though it was a decent album by Bowie.)

Best Pop Album

Paula Cole — This Fire

Fleetwood Mac — The Dance

Jamiroquai — Travelling Without Moving

Sarah McLachlan — Surfacing

x James Taylor — Hourglass

* Surfacing is a close second for me in this category

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

Mariah Carey for "Butterfly" from Butterfly

Paula Cole for "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" from This Fire

Shawn Colvin for "Sunny Came Home" from A Few Small Repairs

Jewel for "Foolish Games" from Batman & Robin - Music From & Inspired By The Motion Picture

x Sarah McLachlan for "Building A Mystery" from Surfacing

* This category may be the best (toughest) collection to choose from in the entire Grammy list. Cole and McLachlan come in right behind Jewel for me.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Babyface for "Every Time I Close My Eyes" from The Day

x Elton John for "Candle In The Wind 1997"

Maxwell for "Whenever Wherever Whatever" from MTV Unplugged

Seal for "Fly Like An Eagle" from Space Jam: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture

Duncan Sheik for "Barely Breathing" from Duncan Sheik

* The perfect pop performances of Matthew Sweet, Kyle Vincent and Ben Folds Five are noticeably absent from this list.

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

Fleetwood Mac for "Silver Springs" from The Dance

Hanson for "MMMBop" from Middle Of Nowhere

x Jamiroquai for "Virtual Insanity" from Travelling Without Moving

No Doubt for "Don't Speak" from Tragic Kingdom

The Rolling Stones for "Anybody Seen My Baby?" from Bridges To Babylon

* Hanson deserves something for reminding us how catchy a kid group can be, but realistically, Ben Folds Five should top this category.

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals

Babyface & Stevie Wonder for "How Come, How Long" from The Day

Tony Bennett (with Billie Holiday) for "God Bless The Child" from Tony Bennett On Holiday

x John Lee Hooker With Van Morrison for "Don't Look Back" from Don't Look Back

Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams for "Finally Found Someone" from The Mirror Has Two Faces

Barbra Streisand & Celine Dion for "Tell Him"

* Modern artists didn't do any pop collaborations this year but Barb gets two nominations? Please.

Best Dance Recording

"Da Funk" — Daft Punk from Homework

"Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit" — Gina G from Fresh!

"To Step Aside" — Pet Shop Boys from Bilingual

"Space Jam" — Quad City DJ's from Space Jam: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture

x "Carry On" — Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder from NRG Unlimited 1

Best Female Rock Vocal Performance

x Fiona Apple for "Criminal" from Tidal

Meredith Brooks for "Bitch" from Blurring The Edges

Ani Difranco for "Shy" from Living In Clip

Abra Moore for "Four Leaf Clover" from Strangest Places

Patti Smith for "1959" from Peace And Noise

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance

David Bowie for "Dead Man Walking" from Earthling

x Bob Dylan for "Cold Irons Bound" from Time Out Of Mind

John Fogerty for Blueboy from Blue Moon Swamp

John Mellencamp for "Just Another Day" from Mr. Happy Go Lucky

Bruce Springsteen for "Thunder Road" from In Concert MTV Plugged

* Green Day, Teenage Fanclub, Paul McCartney, Blur and Collective Soul all should have been contenders on this list.

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

Aerosmith for "Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)" from Nine Lives

Fleetwood Mac for "The Chain" from The Dance

Matchbox 20 for "Push" from Yourself Or Someone Like You

Dave Matthews Band for "Crash Into Me" from Crash

x The Wallflowers for "One Headlight" from Bringing Down The Horse

Best Hard Rock Performance

Bush for "Swallowed" from Razorblade Suitcase

Foo Fighters for "Monkey Wrench" from The Colour And The Shape

Nine Inch Nails for "The Perfect Drug" from Lost Highway - Soundtrack

Rage Against The Machine for "People Of The Sun" from Evil Empire

x The Smashing Pumpkins for "The End Is The Beginning Is The End" from Batman & Robin - Music From & Inspired By The Motion Picture

Hey Pop Stops readers! If you want to read the reviews of many of these albums, use the Best of 1997 column for easy links.

—John Everson

Originally published in The Star Newspapers February 19, 1998
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