Keys, “O Brother,” U2 Top Grammys
The Grammy Awards are designed to honor the best that music has to offer, and every once in a blue moon that goal is actually met. That was certainly the case at the 2002 edition of the awards, which offered up something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue(grass) — but thankfully, nothing in the embarrassing shade of (Milli) Vanilli that once seemed unavoidable on Grammy night.
Most pundits expected twenty-year-old diva Alicia Keys — the gal with something new — to be one of the evening’s biggest winners, and she certainly did not disappoint, taking home five awards (and shutting out fellow multiple nominee India.Arie entirely). Keys, who was named Best New Artist, also earned Song of the Year honors for “Fallin'” — making her the youngest writer to ever win in that prestigious category.
Belying her age, the Manhattan native proved herself a consummate entertainer, performing her breakthrough hit with aplomb — and matching steps with flamenco master Joaquin Cortes during a nicely choreographed tango session.
U2, the grand old men of the post-punk generation, proved indomitable in the rock categories, winning four awards — including a Record of the Year nod for “Walk On.” Interestingly enough, the Irish rockers didn’t achieve a standard sweep through a single song: They also took home Grammys for “Elevation” and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.”
Bono and company could not, however, get out of the way of Train, who pulled a surprise in the Best Rock Song category with “Drops of Jupiter.”
The biggest upset of the evening was scored by that l’il ol’ “band” from the hill country, a.k.a. the Soggy Mountain Boys — who mobbed the stage three-score strong when the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou was named Album of the Year. The multi-generational O Brother crew, which brought down the house with a mid-show medley, won five awards in all.
The lure of those hills even proved strong enough to win Earl Scruggs a Grammy for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” — the second time the song, initially honored in 1968, was named Best Country Instrumental. Likewise, Alison Krauss, a key player on the O Brother soundtrack, grabbed a pair of statuettes on her own, including one for Best Country Song (“The Lucky One”).
While there was no shortage of junk food on the menu offered to viewers of CBS’ telecast of the ceremony — which trotted out virtually every imaginable teen-pop standard bearer over the course of the evening — award voters seemed eager to dig into the meat and potatoes of 2001’s releases.
As such, Lucinda Williams was able to beat out her higher-profile competition to take home a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (for “Get Right With God”), while Tool’s purposefully obscure “Schism” was given the nod in the Best Metal Performance category.
Lenny Kravitz’s win in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was a bit more predictable — Grammy voters always seem to respond to a guy in love beads, after all — as was the Best Hard Rock Performance victory by new-metal pinup boys Linkin Park (who brought home the bacon with the year’s best selling rock record).
Brisk sales certainly helped propel Enya’s A Day Without Rain to victory in the Best New Age album category (the only nomination garnered by the disc, which parked itself in the top ten for a good part of last fall). The similarly platinum-clad boys in Creed, however, earned nothing more than a spot as the punch line in one of host Jon Stewart’s jokes.
On the other hand, Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft, which barely dented the charts despite sweeping virtually every poll of pundits and critics in 2001, still eked out one win, a rather odd one in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category.
OutKast, whose Disney-fied P-Funk rendition of “Miss Jackson” was one of the evening’s performance highlights, assuaged the pain of being passed over for Album of the Year by walking away with Best Rap Album honors (for Stankonia) and Best Rap Group performance (for “Miss Jackson”).
Despite recent — and very public — internecine warfare that’s pitted artist-rights advocates such Don Henley and Courtney Love against the industry that celebrates itself at the Grammys, the ceremony offered little in the way of controversy. Yes, Henley (who served as a presenter) mumbled something about not being the most popular man in the room, but no one rose to carry on the tradition of ghosts of troublemakers past.
But even without the tragicomic relief, Wednesday’s show had no shortage of memorable moments, from Mary J. Blige’s electrifying rendition of “No More Drama” (goosed, perhaps, by her oh-fer on the award docket) to Kid Rock’s unscripted shout-out to his spiritual dad, the late Waylon Jennings.
The events of September 11th, while not as pre-eminent as on awards shows held late last year, were clearly not forgotten — as evidenced by Alan Jackson’s moving performance of “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” and the “New York State of Mind” duet between Tony Bennett and Billy Joel, who looked surprisingly ill at ease when forced from behind his piano.
Not everything was that serious, of course. Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink added some sass to the proceedings with a striptease-punctuated take on their Grammy-winning “Lady Marmalade” (replete with an appearance by fierce ruling diva Patti LaBelle, who left her clothes on).
And for those in need of one more win for that office Grammy pool, never fear: Jimmy Sturr’s Gone Polka did indeed rule the Best Polka Album category. The win gave Sturr his twelfth Grammy. Take that, Alicia and Bono!
The complete list of the 44th Annual Grammy Awards winners:
Record of the Year
“Walk On,” U2
Album of the Year
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Various Artists
Song of the Year
“Fallin’,” Alicia Keys
Best New Artist
Alicia Keys
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
“I’m Like a Bird,” Nelly Furtado
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” James Taylor
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal
“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” U2
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
“Lady Marmalade,” Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, Pink
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
“Reptile,” Eric Clapton
Best Dance Recording
“All for You,” Janet Jackson
Best Pop Instrumental Album
No Substitutions: Live in Osaka, Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather
Best Pop Vocal Album
Lovers Rock, Sade
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Songs I Heard, Harry Connick Jr.
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance
“Get Right With God,” Lucinda Williams
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
“Dig In,” Lenny Kravitz
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal
“Elevation,” U2
Best Hard Rock Performance
“Crawling,” Linkin Park
Best Metal Performance
“Schism,” Tool
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
“Dirty Mind,” Jeff Beck
Best Rock Song
“Drops of Jupiter,” Train
Best Rock Album
All That You Can’t Leave Behind, U2
Best Alternative Music Album
Parachutes, Coldplay
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
“Fallin’,” Alicia Keys
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
“U Remind Me,” Usher
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal “Survivor,” Destiny’s Child
Best R&B Song
“Fallin’,” Alicia Keys
Best R&B Album
Songs in A Minor, Alicia Keys
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album
At Last, Gladys Knight
Best Rap Solo Performance
“Get Ur Freak On,” Missy Elliott
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
“Ms. Jackson,” OutKast
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
“Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” Eve with Gwen Stefani
Best Rap Album
Stankonia, OutKast
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
“O Death,” Ralph Stanley
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
“Shine,” Dolly Parton
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal
“The Lucky One,” Alison Krauss and Union Station
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
“I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen and Pat Enright
Best Country Instrumental Performance
“Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” Earl Scruggs and Friends
Best Country Song
“The Lucky One,” written by Robert Lee Castleman
Best Country Album
Timeless [Hank Williams tribute], Various Artists
Best New Age Album
A Day Without Rain, Enya
Best Contemporary Jazz Album
M2, Marcus Miller
Best Jazz Vocal Album
The Calling, Dianne Reeves
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
“Chan’s Song,” Michael Brecker
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
This Is What I Do, Sonny Rollins
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Homage to Count Basie, Bob Mintzer Big Band
Best Latin Jazz Album
Nocturne, Charlie Haden
Best Rock Gospel Album
Solo, DC Talk
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
CeCe Winans, CeCe Winans
Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album
A Billy Graham Music Homecoming, Bill and Gloria Gaither
Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album
Spirit of the Century, Blind Boys of Alabama
Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album
The Experience, Yolanda Adams
Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album
Love Is Live!, LFT Church Choir
Best Latin Pop Album
La Musica de Baldemar Huerta, Freddy Fender
Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album
Embrace the Chaos, Ozomatli
Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album
Dejame Entrar, Carlos Vives
Best Salsa Album
Encore, Robert Blades
Best Merengue Album
Yo Por Ti, Olga Tanon
Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album
En Vivo . . . El Hombre y Su Musica, Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte
Best Tejano Album
Nadie Como Tu, Solido
Best Traditional Blues Album
Do You Get the Blues?, Jimmie Vaughan
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Nothing Personal, Delbert McClinton
Best Traditional Folk Album
Down From the Mountain, Various Artists
Best Contemporary Folk Album
“Love and Theft”, Bob Dylan
Best Native American Music Album
Bless the People: Harmonized Peyote Songs, Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike
Best Reggae Album
Halfway Tree, Damian Marley
Best World Music Album
Full Circle, Ravi Shankar
Best Polka Album
Gone Polka, Jimmy Sturr
Best Musical Album for Children
Elmo and the Orchestra, Sesame Street characters
Best Spoken Word Album for Children
Mama Don’t Allow, Tom Chapin
Best Spoken Word Album
Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, Quincy Jones
Best Spoken Comedy Album
Napalm and Sillyputty, George Carlin
Best Musical Show Album
The Producers
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Various Artists
Best Score Soundtrack Album For a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tan Dun
Best Song Written For a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
“Boss of Me,” from Malcolm in the Middle, They Might Be Giants
Best Instrumental Composition
Cast Away end credits, Alan Silvestri
Best Instrumental Arrangement
“Dr. Graddus ad Parnassum,” Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists
“Drops of Jupiter,” Paul Buckmaster
Best Recording Packaging
Amnesiac [Special Edition], Stanley Donwood and Tchocky
Best Boxed Recording Packaging
Brain in a Box: The Science Fiction Collection Hugh Brown and Steve Vance
Best Album Notes
Tie
Richard Pryor . . . And It’s Deep Too!: The Complete Warner Recordings, Walter Mosley
Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection, Elijah Wald
Best Historical Album
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-44
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
The Look of Love, Al Schmitt
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
T-Bone Burnett
Best Short Form Music Video
“Weapon of Choice,” Fatboy Slim, directed by Spike Jonze
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
“Thank You,” Deep Dish
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Bernstein: West Side Story Suite
Producer of Year, Classical
Manfred Eicher
Best Classical Album
Berlioz: ‘Les Troyens’
Best Orchestral Performance
Boulez Conducts Varese
Best Opera Recording
Berlioz: ‘Les Troyens’
Best Choral Performance
Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (With Orchestra)
Strauss Wind Concertos
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra)
Britten Cello Suites 1-3
Best Chamber Music Performance
Haydn: The Complete String Quartets, The Angeles Quartet
Best Small Ensemble Performance (With or Without Conductor)
After Mozard, Gidon Kremer
Best Classical Vocal Performance
Dreams and Fables, Cecilia Bartoli
Best Classical Contemporary Composision
Concert de Gaudi for Guitar and Orchestra, Christopher Rouse
Best Classical Crossover Album
Perpetual Motion, Bela Fleck