No, anything but that! Don’t you know that the Best New Artist Grammy is the ultimate kiss of death?
Just for fun, I give you the list of winners, starting with 1975:
Natalie Cole
Starland Vocal Band
Debby Boone
A Taste of Honey (?)
Rickie Lee Jones
Christopher Cross (whose “Sailing” swept the 1980 Grammys)
Sheena Easton
Men at Work
Culture Club
Cyndi Lauper
Sade
Bruce Hornsby and the Range (I’ll give them this one; I’m a big fan of Bruce)
Jody Watley
Tracy Chapman (another anomaly, although I can’t say anything since “Fast Car” has grabbed me)
Milli Vanilli (taken away, of course; IIRC, they beat the Indigo Girls for this one)
Mariah Carey
Marc Cohn
Arrested Development (again, I’ll give them this one)
Toni Braxton
Sheryl Crow (sure, why not)
Hootie and the Blowfish
LeAnn Rimes (Ye Gods, I can’t stand her)
Paula Cole
Lauryn Hill (OK, sure–that was a good album)
Christina Aguilera
So that’s five in 25 years that I’m willing to agree with, although I’d have to see the other artists on the list to be sure. The other 20 are mostly one-to-two-hit wonders, horrible anachronisms, or embarrassments to the good name of music.
Kiss of Death, I say.
Dr. J