Steely Dan Wins With an Unlikely Best Album

The top winner when the 43^rd annual Grammy Awards were presented Wednesday evening at the Staples Centre here was an album about incest, statutory rape, threesomes and drugs. But it was not by the rapper Eminem. It was a very different sort of album: “Two Against Nature,” a marriage of funk, rock, jazz and lecherous lyrics by Steely Dan, a veteran rock group that had never won a Grammy.

The album, the band’s first in 20 years, earned four Grammys. It was an unlikely victory: many were predicting that the award for album of the year would go to either “You’re the One” by Paul Simon, a perennial Grammy favourite, or the much debated “Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem, which sold at least seven million more copies than “Two Against Nature” (which has sold 800,000 copies).

“We’d like to thank Eminem for taking the heat,” Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen said backstage, commenting on the lack of censure the band had received for the subject matter of “Two Against Nature”. As for his feelings on not having won a Grammy for his past three decades of work, Mr. Fagen cracked, “They gave us plenty of time to work on our speeches.”

Eminem, the subject of more hand-writing than any artist in recent history, didn’t leave empty-handed, however. The white rapper swept up the hip-hop awards. His song “The Real Slim Shady”, in which he raps that he’ll never win a Grammy because critics can’t stand him, won for best rap solo performance. And he beat his mentor and producer, Dr. Dre, to win the best rap album for “The Marshall Mathers LP.”

“I guess first of all I want to thank everybody who could look past the controversy and see the album for what it was, and also for what it isn’t,” Eminem said in an acceptance speech before going on to prove that he is a family man by thanking his daughter and saying that he loved her. He also delivered the night’s most memorable performance, rapping his song “Stan” (changing about half of the swearwords), a tale about an obsessed fan that also serves as a response to his critics (the moral is, don’t practise what Eminem preaches). Elton John sang the chorus and, after the performance, made a point of hugging and clasping hands with the rapper, who has been heavily censured for his homophobic lyrics.

Outside there were protests against Eminem early on. With the ceremony a half-hour old, about 30 people were demonstrating, though the crowd had been larger earlier. “Hate set to a groove is still hate,” one sign read. The protest had dissipated before the ceremony was over.

Eminem also won best rap performance by a duo or group along with Dr. Dre for “Forgot About Dre,” from the producer’s “2001” album. Despite the title, Grammy voters don’t seem to have forgotten about Dre: he also won the best producer award.

But while Eminem dominated the conversation onstage and backstage, U2 sneaked into the winner’s circle. “Right now, it’s our night,” Bono said with a characteristic lack of humility, accepting the award for record of the year (given to a single) for “Beautiful Day” (though he did concede that a competitor, the helium-voiced diva Macy Gray, also deserved the honour).

U2’s return to bare-bones rock from the ironic high-concept electronic pop of its previous albums paid off with three awards. “Beautiful Day,” a propulsive tribute to simply being alive in the world, also won the best song award, presented to the song-writers (in this case U2), and the band won for best rock performance by a group.

“Honestly, we thought we’d come along this year and reintroduce ourselves,” Bono said backstage. “We didn’t think we’d win any awards. One we thought would be great, and then next year we thought we’d have an avalanche.” (Though U2’s single was released in time to be nominated for this year’s awards, its album wasn’t.)

“This megalomania thing starts from an early age,” Bono added.

As for the pop’s reigning trend, teenybop pop, its stars were completely shut out of the winner’s circle. “I Try” by Ms. Gray beat hits by Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears to win best female pop vocal performance, and, in a more unpredictable twist, “Two Against Nature” triumphed over ‘N Sync and Mr. Spears for best pop vocal album. (Madonna, who opened the show with a slickly choreographed tribute to herself, lost in both categories.) The other two awards Steely Dan’s music earned were best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal, for “Cousin Dupree”, and best engineered non-classical album.

Shelby Lynne, accepting the award for best new artist, also felt like her moment in the sun was a long time coming, remarking onstage that it took her “13 years and six albums to get here.”

D’Angelo picked up two awards: his slow-burning, soulful “Voodoo” won for best R&B album, and his falsetto delivery of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” earned him the best male R&B performance. Another double winner in R&B was Destiny’s Child, whose “Say My Name”, a song about calling a boyfriend and checking to see whether he’s in bed alone by asking the question posed in the song title, won for best R&B song and best R&B group performance. And the English band Radiohead picked up the best alternative music album Grammy for its most experimental album to date, “Kid A”.

The album was also nominated for album of the year, but Ed O’Brian, a guitarist with the band, said he felt Eminem deserved to win. “We all feel that he’s made the most culturally significant album, whether it’s good or bad,” he said.

In the relatively recent best dance recording category, many in the business complained that the only song that was out of place in the running, because it wasn’t club-oriented, was “Who Let the Dogs Out,” the first American hit by the Bahamian group the Baha Men. Nonetheless, the Baha men, after having been dropped by two major labels over the last 10 years, had their day in the sun, winning their first Grammy for the song.

In the classical field, music by 20^th-century composers and nontraditional choices dominated. Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic won the Grammy for best orchestral performance for their construction and performance of Mahler’s difficult, unfinished ‘Symphony № 10”. In a twist, a chamber music group, the Emerson string Quartet, picked up the second best classical album Grammy of its career, this one for “Shostakovich: the String Quartets”. And, in an untraditional choice, a guitarist, Sharon Isbin, won for best solo instrumental album without orchestra for her diverse folk-inspired “Dreams of a World”; she is the first guitarist to win the award in some 30 years.

For best musical show, the star power of “Elton John and Tim Rice’s ‘Alda’ was an easy winner. And few could have been surprised when B. B. King and Eric Clapton won best traditional blues album for “Riding With the King”. Bjork, snubbed by the Oscars for the film “Dancer in the Dark,” didn’t get love from the Grammys either, losing in both categories she was nominated in: best pop instrumental performance (the Brian Setzer Orchestra won) and best instrumental arrangement accompanying a vocalist. The winner there was Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, which was arranged by Vince Mendoza. Ms. Mitchell, often upset about not receiving enough accolades for her work from the mid-70’s on, won’t have anything to complain about this year: her “Both Sides Now” also won best traditional pop vocal album.

Lee Ann Womack’s bittersweet (it’s achy, but not breaky) “I Hope You Dance” won the best country song award for the writers. And two country legends who can’t even get signed in Nashville won awards: Dolly Parton for her haunting bluegrass collection “The Grass Is Blue” (for best bluegrass album) and Johnny Cash for best male country vocal performance for “Solitary Man.”

In the first year of a new award, Best Native American Music Album, one of the most persistent lobbyists for the addition of the category, Tom Bee, won along with Douglas Spotted Eagle, both of whom produced the drum-group compilation “Gathering of Nations Powwow.”

In the very open-ended best contemporary jazz album category, “Outbound”, by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones was a surprise winner.

Less surprising, Branford Marsalis walked away with the best jazz instrumental album for “Contemporary Jazz”. Tito Puente received a posthumous acknowledgment for his album with Eddie Palmieri, “Masterpiece/Obra Maestro,” which won best salsa album. And Jimmy Sturr picked up his 11^th award for best polka album.

And who said hard rockers are slobs? Members of both Rage Against the Machine, which won best hard rock performance for “Guerilla Radio”, and the Deftones, who won for best metal performance for “Elite”, were wearing suits and ties.

By Neil Strauss

The New York Times, 23.02. 2001

Ex. 32. Compare the two articles dedicated to the Grammy Awards 2000. Any differences in the evaluation of Steely Dan’s and Eminem’s music? Where does the attention of the authors focus?

What kinds of awards does Grammy include?

How is the ceremony depicted in the article?

What vocabulary does the author employ to characterize the winners, their behaviour, their albums and songs?

Ex. 33. Summarize the texts “No Free Pass For Eminem”, “Steely Dan Wins With an Unlikely Best Album”.