8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 26, 1997
Cheese or
creativity? Do
tell, Grammy
By Shannon O'Neill
For the Daily
The 1997 Grammy's: the glitz, the glamour, the schmaltz.
So, who will stand at the podium this year, amid the sea of
black suits and slicked-back hair of industry bigwigs, and
thank mom and god and the muses for such an honor? Will
Beck's "Odelay" triumph over the cheesy craftsmanship of
Celine Dion's "Falling Into You?" Is this the year that the zany
kid in the back of the music industry classroom overthrows
the popular and perfectly coifed crowd in the front row? One
can dream.
In a year of rock-critic-fave nominees like Beck, Smashing
Pumpkins, Fugees, R.E.M. and Tracy Chapman, the Grammy
voters may have finally acknowledged creativity and talent
over big money sales. Of course, the traditional fare, the "safe
choice," is still alive and kicking. Whitney Houston,
Babyface and Celine Dion will no doubt make a sweep. The
song remains the same.
Sheryl Crow's "Sheryl Crow," for best
rock album? Of course the field itself is::.
pretty limited. The low key Dave
Matthews Band and the typical nods to Gr
Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young with Crazy
Horse is as rockin' as this category gets.
Could you really see Gwen Stefani of No
Doubt bounding up to the stage in full
Tigger mode to accept a Grammy? It is still a mystery that No
Doubt and Neil Young are considered to be in the same musi-
cal stratosphere.
Some more surprises: The Journey nomination for best pop
performance and Hillary Rodham Clinton for best spoken-
word album. Bruce Springsteen has made a leap into
Contemporary Folk this year, perhaps only to squelch the
p
I
m
aR
,a
Man of the year, Beck.
chances of newcomer Gillian Welch. Proof positive that the
old dinosaurs need to move on to new pastures.
Beware children, you are now entering Grammy Land,
where half the nominees are over-
hyped and over-played candy for -the
SE V I E W ears, and the other half are obscure cat-
The 1997 egory fillers. Will the dark horse -ide
mmy Awards into New York's Madison Sciiare
Garden this year? Has "alternative"
Tonight at 8 finally risen to the top? Have the me
in suits finally seen the light?
If the stars are aligned right, Billy
Corgan and Beck may be shoving gold trophies into their
polyester pantsuit pockets. Garbage's Shirley Manson might
kick the sunshine out of cutesy Jewel for Best New Artist, and
Mary J. Blige could out-soul the R&B cheese fluff -of
Whitney Houston. Or, it could be another year of the super-
bland ballad rising to the top. A word to the wise as the pres-
sures rise: Remember Milli Vanilli.
1997 Grammy Nominees
Record of the Year
"Give Me One Reason," Tracy Chapman; "Change the
World," Eric Clapton; "Because You Loved Me," Celine
Dion; "Ironic," Alanis Morissette; "1979," The Smashing
Pumpkins
Album of the Year
"Odelay," Beck; "Falling Into You," Celine Dion; "The
Score," Fugees; "Mellon Collie and the Infinite
Sadness," the Smashing Pumpkins; "Waiting to Exhale"
(Soundtrack), Various Artists .
Song of the Year
"Because You Loved Me." Diane Warren, songwriter;
"Blue," Bill Mack; "Change the World," Gordon Kennedy,
Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims; "Exhale (Shoop
Shoop)," Babyface; "Give Me One Reason," Tracy
Chapman
Best New Artist
Garbage; Jewel; No Doubt; The Tony Rich Project; LeAnn
Rimes
Best Pop Performance, Duo or Group with Vocal
"Free as a Bird," the Beatles; "As Long as it Matters,"
Gin Blossoms; "When You Love a Woman," Journey;
"Fire on the Mountain," Neville Brothers; "Peaches,"
Presidents of the United States of America; "When You
Wish Upon a Star," Take 6
Best Rock Album
"Sheryl Crow," Sheryl Crow; "Crash," Dave Matthews
Band; "Tragic Kingdom," No Doubt; "Road Tested,"
Bonnie Raitt; "Broken Arrow," Neil Young with Crazy
Horse
Best Alternative Music Performance
"Boys for Pele," Tori Amos; "Odelay," Beck; "The
Burdens of Being Upright," Tracy Bonham; "New
Adventures in Hi-Fi," R.E.M.; "Mellon Collie and the
Infinite Sadness," the Smashing Pumpkins
I
11
Best Rap Album
"Gangsta's Paradise," Coolio; "The Score," Fugees; "Mr.
Smith," LL Cool J; "Beats, Rhymes and Life," A Tribe
Called Quest; "All Eyez on Me," 2 Pac
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
"Not Gon' Cry," Mary J. Blige; "Sittin' Up in My Room,"
Brandy; "You're Makin' Me High," Toni Braxton; "Exhale
(Shoop Shoop)," Whitney Houston; "You Put a Move on
My Heart," Tamia
Best Country Album
"Borderline," Brooks & Dunn; "High Lonesome Sound,"
Vince Gill; "The Trouble With the Truth," Patty
Loveless; "The Road to Ensenada," Lyle Lovett;
"Everybody Knows," Trisha Yearwood; "Gone," Dwight
Yoakam
Best Contemporary Folk Album
"Yonder," Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan; "Braver New
World," Jimmie Dale Gilmore; "The Ghost of Tom Joad,"
Bruce Springsteen; "You, me, us?," Richard Thompson;
"Revival," Gillian Welch
Best Spoken Word or Non Musical Album
"It Takes a Village," Hillary Rodham Clinton; "The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Garrison Keillor;
"Charles Kuralt's America," Charles Kuralt; "Grow Old
Along With Me The Best Is Yet to Be," Edward Asner,
Ellen Burstyn, CCH Pounder, and Alfre Woodard;
"Harry S. Truman: A Journey to Independence," Lauren
Bacall, Martin Landau, Jack Lemmon, and Gregory
Peck
11
No Doubt
Real-time audio hits the Internetr
New product makes online music more accessible
By Mark St. John
For the Daily
Already the Internet has seen
tremendous growth in the past few
years. More and more within the past
few years, new multimedia products
have been intro-
duced to interact
with the World R.
Wide Web. Re
Many pages
now contain audio By)
clips and music in Av
the form of digital os
sound files.
However, these files are often very
large, even for only a few minutes of
sound.
Downloading such files can take a
long time, especially when using a
modem connection. A new product
from Progressive Networks, called Real
Audionet,
.E
a
Prc
ailat
>an
http://www.audionet.com.
Audionet offers a large number of
recorded compact discs from more than
30 categories, including alternative,
hard-core, rap and country.
Although a few
of the CDs are
V I E W from popular
i Audio 3.0 groups such as
Tool and Gravity
ogressive Networks Kills, most are
ble for Windows, Mac from unknown or
nd some Unix systems less popular bands.
Broadcasts from
radio stations throughout the country
that play all types of music can also be
heard.
Sports fans will appreciate all of the
live coverage of collegiate, profession-
al and even high school sports that are
not broadcast on Ann Arbor radio sta-
located
cast radio playlists. However, it does
offer Indie Rock, a category for new
and unsigned rock bands.
A music site called Imusic offers
music news, tour information, an o
line store and even 'more Real Aud
music-related options.
Imusic offers a modern-rock chan-
nel, a classic-modern-rock channel
and a club-music channel.
Beside providing a large amount of
music in these categories, all of the
Imusic channels have links that can
benefit users who have a high-speed
Internet connection. Those living in
residence halls or campus-comp
ing-site users can listen to compa
disc quality music off of this site.
Imusic is located at
http:/imusic.com.
The Real Audio player is a new prod-
uct that may compete with broadcast
THE CHEAPER WAY
STO CALL COLLECT