CEREMONY REWARDS WOMEN OF ROCK, POP, RAP.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Critic Noun 1. music critic - a critic of musical performances critic - a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art Most hard-core music fans given the choice would probably rather spend three hours cleaning shrimp than watching the yearly orgy of self congratulations, back-patting and missed cues that is the Grammy Awards Grammy Awards Annual awards given by the Recording Academy (officially the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences). The first Grammies (the name is a dimunitive of “gramophone”) were given in 1958. . Still, there's always a veneer of excitement about the glittery event. Wednesday's 41st annual show at the Shrine Auditorium was no exception. For sheer star power, Madonna opened the telecast in Kabuki mode, suggesting a step away from the Indian Buddhist look and London cabby accent of the American Music Awards earlier this year. Much has been made of the number of nominees with two X chromosomes this year, but that's been the trend for the past several years. Year of the woman? The '90s have been the decade of the woman. The record academy recognized aspects of what was a pretty good period for pop music overall, even while it may not have been a stellar year for many of those who toil within the industry. Best rock album winner Sheryl Crow mentioned from the Grammy podium that her label, A&M, went under recently as a result of the largest shake-up in music history. She dedicated her trophy to those employees who lost their jobs in the Seagram's acquisition of PolyGram. ``I wanted to win a Grammy tonight because it is a closing of an era. . . . I am sort of a poster child for my label and small labels like A&M,'' she said. Even though the academy advertised the ceremony as ``the awards show where anything can happen and usually does,'' there was no ``Soy Bomb'' moment like last year when an uninvited un·in·vit·ed adj. Not welcome or wanted: uninvited guests. uninvited Adjective not having been asked: uninvited guests guest dropped in on Bob Dylan's performance. And apparently no cuss words had to be bleeped out of the telecast. The only hint of controversy - and it was so minor hardly anyone noticed - was the absence of hard-edged rapper Jay-Z, who won the pre-telecast rap album category but boycotted the event to protest what he considered the lack of prominence given to the rap genre and specifically for not nominating his fellow New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. rapper DMX See DMX512. for best new artist. It seemed a bit short-sighted in a year when hip-hop diva Lauryn Hill led the field with 10 nominations for her solo disc, ``The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,'' which won album of the year. Hill, one-third of the enormously successful rap group the Fugees, won five Grammys to add to the pair of trophies she took home several years ago. There will be few calls for Hill's impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow. . A single mom and recent Time magazine cover gal who cut the largely reggaefied grooves of her debut album at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong studio in Jamaica, Hill's smart pop-rap was one of the few musical events most critics and academy voters could agree on this year. Another critically acclaimed disc, Lucinda Williams' twice-nominated ``Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,'' didn't have the support Hill's effort enjoyed. ``Car Wheels,'' entirely ignored by commercial radio, was voted best contemporary folk album. On Monday, it won the 1998 Village Voice music critics poll, which solicits 496 critics nationwide. The poll is one of the most respected in the industry. By halfway through the seemingly endless show, those backstage were quietly praying for the return of Soy Bomb or Ol' Dirty Bastard “ODB” redirects here. For other uses, see ODB (disambiguation). Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13,2004) was an American MC known by the stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard (often shortened to ODB). , the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of rapper who rushed the podium last year during Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech, to liven li·ven tr. & intr.v. li·vened, li·ven·ing, li·vens To make or become more lively: liven up a party; a discussion that livened up. things up. But there was heavy security at the Shrine, and you got the feeling that even if the Ol' Dirty one had a bona fide [Latin, In good faith.] Honest; genuine; actual; authentic; acting without the intention of defrauding. A bona fide purchaser is one who purchases property for a valuable consideration that is inducement for entering into a contract and without suspicion of being ticket in his possession, he'd be hustled off to a holding cell immediately. Predictably, the people's choice was heard loud and clear Wednesday. Celine Dion's ``My Heart Will Go On'' sopped up four of the miniature golden gramophones. A contender for the most irritating song of the year, the ``Titanic'' theme had the extra oomph of an Oscar win - a fact, combined with 26 million records sold, that was irresistible to academy voters. Ultimately, it was a granny kind of Grammys. But there's always next year to look forward to - by then Ol' Dirty Bastard should be out of house detention, and kiddie kid·die or kid·dy n. pl. kid·dies Slang A small child. kiddie Noun Informal a child pop star Britney Spears will have developed a political agenda. |
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