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"The Grammys have always been a bone of contention for music lovers.\nNot only do listeners not get to vote, but they&amp;apos;re forced to watch\nas their favorite artists get passed over in favor of commercial\nsuccesses, cookie-cutter bands and the Old Guard.| It got to be so\nfrustrating, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences\n(NARAS), which spearheads the awards, even changed its nominating\nrules two years back to leave room for new talent and baby bands\n(no, that doesn&amp;apos;t mean Hanson), rather than just focusing on the\nobvious.\n\nBut change comes slowly, and since the voting committee consists of\nindustry insiders and not music fans, rarely do the nominations\nreflect what&amp;apos;s truly happening in the rock, rap, R&amp;amp;B and pop\nworld. This year, the nominations are as expected as always, with\nonly a few twists in an otherwise straight and narrow path. Radio\nhits &amp;quot;Iris&amp;quot; by the Goo Goo Dolls, Celine Dion&amp;apos;s\n&amp;quot;My Heart Will Go On,&amp;quot; Brandy and\nMonica&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;The Boy Is Mine,&amp;quot;\nMadonna&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Ray of Light&amp;quot; and Shania\nTwain&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;You&amp;apos;re Still the One&amp;quot; predictably received\nnominations for Record of the Year. (Confusingly for laypersons,\nthat award goes to a track, not an entire record).\n\n\nSwap Brandy and Monica for Kirk Franklin (&amp;quot;Lean on\nMe&amp;quot;) and Madonna for Aerosmith (&amp;quot;I Don&amp;apos;t Want to\nMiss a Thing&amp;quot;), and you&amp;apos;ve got the Song of the Year nominations.\nThe couple tiny shockwaves came from Radiohead&amp;apos;s\nBest Alternative Music Performance nomination for the EP\nAirbag/How Am I Driving?, and the placement of the\nBeastie Boys in both the Best Alternative Music\nPerformance and the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group\ncategories.\n\n\nThe biggest surprise came not in the form of genre, but gender.\nNineteen-ninety-eight appears to have been the year of the woman --\nin music at least.Madonna shone with her dance single &amp;quot;Ray of\nLight,&amp;quot; which garnered thematerial girl a nod for Record of the\nYear. Her album of the same name is upfor a total of five\nnominations, including Album of the Year.\n\nShania Twain, with her crossover pop-country, placed in all of the\nfour general categories for which she qualified (Record of the\nYear, Song of the Year, Album of the Year). Had she been a\nnewcomer, no doubt the committee would have thrown Mrs. Mutt Lange\nin the Best New Artist category as well. Twain and Sheryl\nCrow got six nominations apiece, but were trumped by the\nhigh priestess of hip-hop, Lauryn Hill, who was\ngranted a generous ten nominations. Both were granted spots in the\nAlbum of the Year category, as were -- quite surprisingly,\nconsidering slouchy sales -- the Shirley\nManson-fronted group Garbage. Add it all\nup, and not one single Y-chromosome lurks anywhere near the Album\nof the Year.\n\nEven the Best New Artist category was swarming with chicks. The\nDixie Chicks, for one, as well as Natalie\nImbruglia and Lauryn Hill outnumbered Andrea\nBocelli and the Backstreet Boys, the only\nmale representatives.\n\n\nBut even with their girl power message, the ruling powers behind\nthe Grammys are still mostly related to commercial prowess. To wit,\ncheck out the Best Pop Album category, where perennial mega-sellers\nEric Clapton, Celine Dion, Natalie Imbruglia,\nMadonna and Brian Setzer are all up for the same\naward. Where are the nominees for less commercial pop albums, like\nLiz Phair&amp;apos;s whitechocolatespaceegg? And\nwhat about such stellar releases as Sunny Day Real\nEstate&amp;apos;s How It Feels to be Something On or\nBelle and Sebastian&amp;apos;s The Boy With the Arab\nStrap, which are on countless &amp;quot;Best of 1998&amp;quot; lists? Guess if\nthey don&amp;apos;t make the industry richer, they don&amp;apos;t get patted on the\nback for a job well done."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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