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"To live off your emotions is a necessary evil if you're a singer, but it doesnąt make for an easy life." -- Bono |
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"To live off your emotions is a necessary evil if you're a singer, but it doesnąt make for an easy life." -- Bono |
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Keys to VictoryNew neo-soul singer shares spotlight with old-time country and evergreen U2
The Washington Post,
February 28, 2002
Writing a fairy-tale end to a story that already seemed far-fetched, Alicia Keys won five Grammys tonight, completing her one-year transformation from unknown soul singer to one of the most celebrated performers in pop. She took home not just best new artist, but song of the year for "Fallin'," best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song and best R&B album.
Her haul was nearly matched by U2, the Irish supergroup that has pulled off a remarkable feat by remaining at the top of the rock heap for more than two decades. But as outsize as the triumphs of Keys and U2 are, they were at least equaled by the startling victories of a collection of old-time country artists who gathered to make a soundtrack that far outpaced its movie. The music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? captured six Grammys, and even more if you count solo recordings by musicians connected to the project. Among the trophies: album of the year, a category that this year included Bob Dylan. "We were all just very surprised," said contributing vocalist Emmylou Harris in a backstage interview. "Something's going on. I don't know what it is." The O Brother wins were long shots, in part because soundtracks rarely win top prizes, and in part because the music is from a genre that has been almost totally overlooked by mainstream pop and completely ignored by country radio. Keys, U2 and the O Brother crew took so many prizes they left other artists empty-handed. That includes both Michael and Janet Jackson, who failed to win the big awards they were nominated for (Janet did win for dance recording), and newcomer India.Arie, who was shut out entirely despite seven nominations. Still, for .Arie, this was a tremendous night, since few knew who she was before the Grammys got hold of her. Despite multiple nominations for his Love and Theft, Bob Dylan won just once, for best contemporary folk album. Jon Stewart returned as host and again proved he's the best thing to happen to the Grammys since the gold-plated gramophone. Satirizing the tight security at the Staples Center, where the show took place, he was frisked and stripped to his undies by a pair of immense "bodyguards" when he took the stage. "Remember when security was tight because Eminem was doing a duet with Elton John?" he asked. Later he deadpanned that after Afghanistan was liberated, the citizens of that oppressed country played music on the streets as their first act of freedom. He waited a beat and then added, "And three days later, even they were sick of Creed." Cramming a maximum of music into 3 1/2 hours, the show featured more than a dozen live performances, some of them a tumbled mix of genres. Alejandro Sanz paired with Destiny's Child for "Quisiera Ser," which hooked Latin pop to new-soul hip-hop. And since it's still not possible to throw an awards show without 'N Sync, the cutie-pies had their allotted five minutes, playing this time with Nelly -- a career move that the St. Louis rapper is going to regret in about six months. The prize for pop collaboration with vocals went to a remake of "Lady Marmalade," a group effort by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink. Just before collecting the prize, the four tag-teamed with Patti LaBelle -- who had the original version in the '70s -- to perform the song. The four younger artists were dressed as Paris courtesans, a nod to the film Moulin Rouge, whose soundtrack featured the tune. For better or worse, Lil' Kim was the most convincingly hookerish of the bunch, dressed as she was in a green leather bustier and four-inch heels. She and Aguilera seem like they're gearing up for a side career in porno. Tony Bennett and Billy Joel wore black tie and pocket hankies for a delicate, jazzy work-over of "New York State of Mind." Joel looked like he couldn't wait to get out of his tuxedo and back into a pair of sweats. The show felt padded in parts, and never more so than when the head of the Recording Academy, Michael Greene, launched into a lengthy harangue against Internet piracy, urging fans to consider their favorites' finances and feelings when downloading songs for free from the Web. That's a perfectly reasonable message, but with a solid hour left in the program and the great OutKast still to come, he picked the wrong moment for a public service announcement. Canadian Nelly Furtado snared the award for female pop vocal for "I'm Like a Bird" from her Whoa, Nelly album, whupping established forces like Janet Jackson, Faith Hill and Sade. OutKast took top honors for rap album for Stankonia, one of the best hip-hop albums in a very long time. The Atlanta-based duo took the opportunity to thank its label and the Lord and announce the arrival of its new line of clothing. The mawkish and suspiciously hunky members of Train beat U2 and Aerosmith for best rock song for "Drops of Jupiter," which everybody on Earth probably thought was a Black Crowes tune until the band came out and played it just before winning the award. Keys is a New York-reared pianist who knows her way around Chopin and has clearly studied up on Stevie Wonder and other R&B masters. She was all but unknown this time last year, when she was introduced to the music business at the annual pre-Grammy party thrown by Clive Davis, the veteran label executive who signed and marketed her. She has appealed to kids looking for something a little more soulful than Britney Spears, as well as more mature fans who like Keys's cosmopolitan edge and fluid piano style. The neo-soul movement that has been edging forward in recent years through such artists as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and D'Angelo may have found its most successful expression in Keys. With its recent harvest of Grammys, U2 has made pop history. No other band has remained commercially popular and, for the most part, critically acclaimed for even a fraction of this group's 20-plus years. The recording career of the Beatles lasted about a third as long, and two decades into the Rolling Stones' uneven life the band was releasing deservedly forgotten albums like Dirty Work. How has U2 done it? Over the years, it's had enough nerve to change its sound, often from the ground up and occasionally in ways that put it at the vanguard of pop's evolution, a place where bands of such vintage rarely venture. More than that, U2 has a sniper's eye for the line that separates the ironic from the sincere, and the group can operate with ease on either side of that divide. They are a "rock band," capable of poking fun at the silly, glamour-puss elements of stardom, as well as a Rock Band, a supergroup that can belt out arena rock with total earnestness. They're also very skilled marketers. U2 aimed for -- and earned -- two trips through the Grammy publicity machine by releasing part of All That You Can't Leave Behind before last year's Grammy deadline and the rest of it in time for this year's prizes. That calculation allowed the band to win two consecutive Record of the Year awards with two tracks from the same album. Old-time country music has reached its largest audience ever thanks to the Coen Brothers' comic tale of bumbling Depression-era prison escapees. The O Brother, Where Art Thou? album has sold more than 3 million copies, bringing fame to a group of highly regarded but largely obscure country artists. The album draws on bluegrass and even older folk forms, and its astonishing success has flummoxed country radio, which has spent years trying to push country music as far in the direction of pop as possible. If the Nashville establishment was floored when O Brother won album of the year at the Country Music Association awards in November, imagine the meetings in Music Row's office suites on Thursday. Alison Krauss, who appears on O Brother, won two awards for music from her own album, New Favorite. And a song from the album, The Lucky One, written by Robert Lee Castleman, won best country song. "Now you might be able to find a radio station in your town that plays traditional music, and that sure wouldn't hurt anybody," Krauss said afterward. Someone asked the slimmed-down Krauss how she stayed in such great shape on the road. "Is this a joke?" she answered. The prize for male country vocal performance went to Ralph Stanley, the bluegrass legend who is the patriarch of the O Brother soundtrack, for his chilling "O Death." "I don't know how to explain that," he said backstage about beating artists like Johnny Cash and Tim McGraw. "It's the greatest thing that ever was, I never dreamed of it. I'm certainly happy happy happy," he said. "I think when we did this old-time country music and they put it out in the world, people found what they'd been waiting on. I'm glad to be a part of it and I think it'll be around for a while." T-Bone Burnett won the producer of the year and compilation soundtrack prizes, both for O Brother. "Everybody thought I was insane" when he started to put together the soundtrack, but the veteran producer added that, just a few years ago, he had produced a Counting Crows record that sold millions. "It just seemed like one of those kinds of records," he said. "Except instead of one good singer, we had 15 or 12 great singers." There seemed to be an O Brother coattails effect, too. Artists who weren't on the soundtrack but who made roots albums or country music on Nashville's margins had stellar nights. Best female rock vocal went to Lucinda Williams for "Get Right With God." Dolly Parton won for female country vocal performance for her back-to-basics "Shine." Best country album went to the excellent but largely overlooked Timeless -- Hank Williams Tribute. The record featured performances by Bob Dylan and Beck, plus Hank's grandson Hank Williams III, but it received little publicity and sold poorly. With any luck, the prize will change that. In R&B, "You Remind Me" by Usher won for male R&B vocal performance. Best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal went to Destiny's Child for "Survivor." Best traditional R&B vocal album went to Gladys Knight for At Last. Best short form music video went to Fatboy Slim featuring Bootsy Collins for "Weapon of Choice," the video that features actor Christopher Walken dancing through a hotel lobby. Bootsy, perhaps funk's greatest bass player, showed up backstage in a leopard-skin jacket, leather pants and dark glasses festooned with diamonds. Asked why he had "dressed down," Bootsy responded: "The mothership has landed." Best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media went to "Boss of Me" from the TV show Malcolm in the Middle, which was written and performed by John Flansburgh and John Linnell, otherwise known as the pop duo They Might Be Giants. The song had been written years earlier, Flansburgh said in a backstage interview, and is available on the band's dial-up-a-song service, which offers a rotating selection of free recordings of TMBG tunes to anyone with a phone. Best hard rock performance was won by Linkin Park for "Crawling." Tool took best metal performance for "Schism," besting better-known metal machers like Slayer and Black Sabbath and the masked, jumpsuited ghouls of Slipknot. Coldplay nabbed best alternative album for Parachutes. Aging guitar wiz Jeff Beck took best rock instrumental performance for "Dirty Mind." Some Washington artists fared well. D.C. Talk -- one of its three members is from the city -- won best rock gospel album for Solo. "This is all about unity, even though we're breaking up right now," said a Toby McKeehan during the pre-telecast. "Just kidding," he quickly added. The D.C. DJ duo Deep Dish won for remixed recording for their version of "Thank You," a Dido tune. OutKast won for best rap duo or group for "Ms. Jackson." Eve featuring Gwen Stefani won best rap song collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind." "Dr. Dre is hard to work with -- he's a great producer but he's very critical," Eve said backstage. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott took home the prize for rap solo performance for "Get Ur Freak On." © Washington Post, 2002. All rights reserved.
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