GRAMMYS GET HIP IN 1996.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

Don't call them the Grannys anymore.

It's taken some internal fine-tuning, but the Grammy Awards seem to have finally gotten hip, if the nominations announced Thursday are anything to go by.

On a day when Alanis Morissette, the young Canadian singer who caused a stir with her biting hit about love and revenge, received six nods along with Mariah Carey, it became clear that deserving women artists are finally getting noticed by the nominating committee of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS).

It wasn't always this way, but after years of gripes that the awards did not reflect music that truly mattered, the academy announced in May that final nominees in key categories would no longer be based strictly on a vote of NARAS' 7,000 members. Instead, the top 20 or so overall vote-getters in the fields of best album, record, song and new artist were submitted to a small panel that determined the five nominees in each category.

That's why we see such strong showings for Morissette and the lesser-known, Kentucky-born r&b singer Joan Osborne, who earned five nominations, including best new artist and record of the year for her sardonic number about faith, "One of Us." The single is also up for song of the year, an award that would go to the composer, Eric Bazilian.

The record of the year category also held a sense of accuracy. Along with "One of Us," the equally eye-opening "Waterfalls" by TLC, "Kiss From a Rose" by Seal and "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio were nominated next to "One Sweet Day" by Carey & Boyz II Men, who were also up for best pop collaboration with vocals.

Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill," Osborne's "Relish" and Pearl Jam's "Vitalogy" were largely unexpected entries in the album of the year list alongside the more predictable "Daydream" by Carey, and "HIStory Past, Present and Future Book I" by Michael Jackson.

The new artist list could use some tinkering, although you can't fault the inclusion of Hootie & the Blowfish, Morissette and Osborne. But Brandy and Shania Twain?

Surprisingly, the venerable Allman Brothers Band got nods in two areas - rock instrumental performance for "Jessica," and pop instrumental performance for "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." Despite 30 years in the business, the Georgia-based group has never snagged a Grammy.

Another closely watched category is best alternative music performance, which this year includes a strong lineup of Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged in New York"; "Foo Fighters," from the band led by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl; Bjork's "Post"; P.J. Harvey's "To Bring You My Love"; and the Presidents of the United States of America's self-titled album.

There were worthy entries in each genre. The country categories, for example, boasted the excellent collaboration between George Jones and Alan Jackson on "A Good Year for the Roses," while the most unusual guitarist-singer Junior Brown surfaced in the best album list.

The exciting young crooner D'Angelo turned up in several r&b categories, including r&b song for "Brown Sugar" and male r&b vocal performance.

In the end, 1996 just may be a good year for the Grammys.