MUSIC AWARDS GET WITH TIMES.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Critic 

The Academy Awards of records - long known to wags as the Grannies - had to do something drastic to regain credibility after last year's ceremony - which was overshadowed by Eric Clapton and Celine Dion - saw Andy Griffith, the first lady and the Beatles taking honors.

This year, the 40th annual nominations were crowded with artists such as Paula Cole, the Wallflowers and Erykah Badu, who actually represent today's musical trendsetters. It's an encouraging first step, if not into the future then at least into the present, for the often-staid voting bloc of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).

Too often, however, the expanse between the nominations and the actual awards is vast indeed. One year ago, for example, Smashing Pumpkins got seven Grammy nods, including album of the year, for its ambitious and well-received double album.

A month later at the ceremony, the band went home to Chicago with just one statuette - for best hard rock performance - after it was beaten in the album category, naturally, by Dion.

Missing the boat in some of the most visible categories is a closely held Grammy tradition. For proof, look no further than Chumbawamba's ``Tubthumping,'' easily last year's most infectious and inventive pop singles confection, which garnered no nominations in any category. Same with Sugar Ray's immensely popular ``Fly.''

Quirks are another tradition, evident this year in the record of the year nominations, which resemble a Lilith Fair reunion in their inclusion of Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow and Cole among the five nominees.

Also, both versions of ``How Do I Live,'' cut separately but nearly identically last year by LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood, were nominated in the best female country vocal performance derby.

Overlooking the fact that hot urban producer-artist Kenneth ``Babyface'' Edmonds led the nominations for the second year running with eight nods Tuesday, NARAS is apparently moving in a hipper direction by placing Radiohead, Puff Daddy, Badu and Cole in many of the top categories.

Most agreed that the Radiohead album, ``OK Computer,'' represented some of the year's most challenging pop music. For that reason alone, not to mention its comparatively low sales figures, the disc is a long shot for album of the year where it competes with hit offerings from Babyface, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Cole.

The rap album category, particularly, reflected groundbreaking work in CDs by Wu-Tang Clan, the Notorious B.I.G., Missy (Misdemeanor) Elliott and Wyclef Jean.

Meanwhile, this year's newest category, dance recording, predictably gathered a list of songs from Daft Punk, Gina G., Pet Shop Boys, Quad City DJ's and Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder that we've never seen anybody dancing to anywhere.

That's probably to be expected. After all, it took NARAS several years to get its hard-rock category straightened out after it was won in its debut year by the flute-led Jethro Tull.