February 1999 – Could it be that Grammy is wisening up? Sure, when the nominations were announced a month ago, I was the first to scream bloody murder at the ineptitude of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to pick a sensible bunch of nominees overall.

But Wednesday night in Los Angeles proved that at least the academy can take its collective head out of its ass and give a justifiable award from time to time. Lauryn Hill wound up the big winner, taking home five awards including the gem: Album of the Year. If the Academy wanted to look like it knew what it was doing, there was no other way to go. With Bob Dylan's worthy Time Out of Mind winning last year, the Grammys are finally doing the honorable thing. Record sales jump significantly after the show's over and the notion of everyone running out today to buy a copy of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill warms the soul. Hip-hop's first victory in the Album of the Year category is long overdue. If you want to say that the awards don't mean anything, imagine everyone running out today and buying Shania Twain's record. Even more terrifying, imagine everyone trying to squeeze into her Ally McBeal-meets-Sprockets getup from last night. These are the trends to try and nip in the bud and Grammy did by choosing an album that matters in the scheme of music. Hopefully, the days of Tony Bennett's Unplugged being chosen as the album to represent the year in the almanacs are behind us.

Other positives to come from last night are victories for Madonna's Ray of Light for Best Pop Album, a nod that makes sense for a record that didn't fall into convention. Also, the still-progressive Beastie Boys winning Best Alternative Album for Hello Nasty is downright dandy, as was Sheryl Crow collecting Best Rock Album for her heralded The Globe Sessions. Crow actually made the most emotional speech of the night by not focusing on herself and her struggles, but instead acknowledging the people who had just lost their jobs in the Polygram/Seagrams music merger. On a night when most people want to revel at themselves – Puff Daddy was so in awe of his slick-suited self that he didn't even need to speak when he was on stage presenting an award – Crow remembers to thank the little people. Bravo.

Sure, the awards offered up the usual share of TV-ready apocalypses. What coming together of celebrities doesn't? For instance, saying that Madonna deserved her Best Pop Album award doesn't cover up for the fact that:

• Her constant nationality morphing has got to go. With her geisha-girl-gone-club-hopping outfit last night (following her MTV Video Awards Hindu whatchamacallit), the woman proved she's a walking Epcot Center, long on fashion and short on culture. And what were those women dancing behind her in her musical number holding? The objects looked like fetuses from last week's X-Files.
• Was Madonna born in England and I just didn't know it? During her acceptance speech, she spoke in her new faux Brit brogue sounding like some clueless dame trying to pass herself off as a classy fashion magazine editor.
• The woman uses these events as a dating service. After she wiggled into her front row seat to see Latin stud Ricky Martin's energetic number, she ran backstage and started flirting with him while he addressed the press. Can't she wait until the after-party to get some? And just imagine if anyone was to interrupt her spotlight moment. She'd probably get more angry than Sean Penn in a paparazzi pit.

Madonna should also be knocked for flailing her arms all night long in support of pal Rosie O'Donnell. Nothing against Rosie, who does bring her wide-eyed excitement to every awards show she hosts, but does the woman have to sing every word that comes out of her mouth? It's one thing to whistle while cooking around the kitchen or in the shower, but giving a woman who makes Eartha Kitt sound like a soprano free reign to host a sing-a-long in front of the music industry is asking for trouble. Maybe the secret is to give her a one-record deal. They gave one to the dreadful Joe Pesci, and you haven't heard a peep out of him since. If Rosie knew she was going to sing all night, couldn't she have at least orchestrated a bit of choreography. Instead, she remained painfully static next to a gold sequined Grammy design that was far too Gong Show for an end of the millennium awards show.

Clearly, the heart of the show was in its performances, which didn't have much going for or against it. The large stage setup that was overlit like some Flock of Seagulls video set and a very poor mix on the vocals made some groups – like Aerosmith – seem small, while others, like Shania Twain actually used it to her advantage. It's nice to see that eight years after Nevermind broke barriers, the modern rock wave is still branching out and affecting all areas of popular music. Last night, Twain's band dressed up like Smashing Pumpkins wannabees, proving that the Grand Ole Opry and the alternative nation are due for a square dance to the death. Alanis Morissette successfully turned the room into her own personal Pottery Barn, complete with swaying neutral shaded curtains, candles and a string section. Other performers, like Luciano Pavarotti (who appeared to make up for his last-minute sore throat last year) and Hill, were stellar. Celine Dion, who did a duet with Andrea Bocelli, received a standing ovation. Certainly, the ovation was for the Bocelli, but one gets the scary feeling that the energy will give Dion more power to take hold of all things pop. Under the guidance of her sugar-daddy hubby, she is just getting warmed up. Backstage, she suggested that the Grammy-winning song "My Heart Will Go On" was not yet at its peak of popularity. I have just reserved my ticket on the next Space Shuttle off the planet. Have you?

To these eyes, though, the 41st Annual Grammy Awards ended on a positive note for two reasons. One was seeing Whitney Houston trying desperately to crash Hill's victory. Hugging Hill for dear life and trying to stand right behind her while Hill accepted the award, I kept saying to myself: "Out with the old, in with the new." It's nice to see that a do-it-yourself star like Hill is recognized while the Whitneys fade away. The other is realizing that Hill is the real deal. She's so real that Sheryl Crow proclaimed to the world that she wants her to produce her next album. She's so real that Madonna actually had a smile on her face after losing to her. She's real because the 23-year-old beauty spoke so gracefully after winning. "This is hip-hop," she said, ecstatic. After all of their Milli Vanilli screwups, Grammy finally got the message.

Related material on NY Rock:
• 1999 Grammy Nominations: Anyone Have a Painkiller?
• Flop of the Year: The 1998 MTV Video Music Awards