What's so alternative about this roster?
In 1991, when the Grammys handed out the first award for best alternative music album, the winner was already a household name. OK, so she was a chrome-domed pop star who would later rip up a photo of the pope on national television, but Sinead O'Connor was still an acclaimed artist who broke out the previous year with "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got." She blew away Grammy competition that was arguably much more alternative: Kate Bush, the Replacements, Laurie Anderson, and World Party (who?).
It was deja vu the next year, with R.E.M. prevailing over Elvis Costello, Nirvana, Jesus Jones, and Richard Thompson. Finally, in 1993, a more left-field victor emerged: Tom Waits for "Bone Machine," leaving Morrissey, the Cure, the B-52s, and XTC empty handed.
Of course, the first and obvious question these days is: What is alternative, anyway? When it rippled into our vernacular, after "college rock" faded with the '80s, the term meant something, as in an alternative to the majority. But in the time-honored tradition that saw punk and hip-hop bubble up from the underground and into the mainstream, artists in the alternative music category have become an extension of popular culture.
This year's nominees for alternative music album (which will be decided at tonight's Grammy Awards, airing at 8 on CBS) are Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Gnarls Barkley, and Radiohead - all respectable choices who made solid albums. But, with the exception of Radiohead, they're all on major labels.
The even more glaring problem is what's missing from the category. Independent artists such as Fleet Foxes, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, and Bon Iver were completely shut out. They made albums that mattered and resonated with both critics and consumers last year, yet they're still not on Grammy voters' radars. (And if you want to get even more esoteric, what about Santogold, MGMT, or Deerhunter?)
Keith Dakin, program director for Boston alternative station WFNX-FM (101.7), says the nominees are par for the course. "First of all, we're talking about the Grammys, which have been completely out of touch for a long time now, if not forever," he says. And while he does think this year's contenders are for the most part alternative - with the exception of Gnarls Barkley - they're definitely on the mainstream side of things: "These are not exactly edgy acts."
Susan Busch, director of radio promotions and A&R for Sub Pop, the Seattle-based label of Fleet Foxes, points out that this year's nominees are longtime Grammy favorites. "Bands like Radiohead and Beck are pretty much alternative heritage acts," she says. "They've been around forever."
What we need is an alternative to alternative: a new category geared toward indie artists who aren't quite established but well on their way. It would certainly signal that the academy is at least attuned to modern tastes, if not exactly ahead of the curve.
To its credit, the Recording Academy has begun recognizing more indie-rock acts in recent years. The White Stripes have won three times, and nominations have gone to PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand, Bjork, the Flaming Lips, and even Clinic.
But time and again, artists who start on indie labels only get noticed once they've had a bit of mainstream success. Often that coincides with leaving their boutique labels for the majors, as we saw with Death Cab for Cutie in 2006. After coming up in the indie ranks and releasing its first four albums on Barsuk, the band got its first Grammy nomination after it had jumped to Atlantic Records. (If that's the new model, watch for indie darlings the Decemberists, who left Kill Rock Stars for Capitol in 2006, to get some Grammy love in coming years.)
How Paul McCartney ended up in the alternative category in 2001 for his ambient "Liverpool Sound Collage" is a complete mystery. Even more confounding is how some artists graduate from underdog status to the big leagues. Coldplay won back-to-back Grammys in the alternative category for "Parachutes" (2002) and "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2003). This year, Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" has seven nominations, including best album, song, rock album, and pop performance with vocals. Yet Radiohead and Beck still show up in alternative, which makes sense to WFNX's Dakin.
"Radiohead is still making very quirky music," he says, "while Coldplay has become so huge, kind of like U2 did."
You can't fault the academy entirely for not recognizing independent artists, though. Sometimes the Grammys are not even a part of a smaller label's thinking. Last week, Lucy Robinson, a publicist for Secretly Canadian (home to Antony and the Johnsons), Jagjaguwar (Bon Iver), and Dead Oceans (Akron/Family), was reading the Grammys' nomination guidelines online for the first time. "I guess you have to enter in stuff to get nominated," Robinson says. "We've never done that. I've never personally entered any of our records for awards."
"What we do is so far removed from the Grammys that we don't really worry about it," says Christina Rentz, a publicist for Merge Records, which put out Grammy-worthy albums by She & Him and Conor Oberst last year.
It's hard to say if independent musicians are really even concerned with Grammy recognition. That, after all, is sort of the antithesis of underground credibility. Last week Win Butler, frontman for Arcade Fire, sounded off online about his band's "horrifying experience" at the two Grammy ceremonies it attended.
"I think in our [indie] world, we're supposed to not care, but of course it matters," Busch says, noting that the members of No Age, an experimental punk duo nominated this year for best record package, were so excited about their nomination that they immediately called their parents to share the news. "It's probably not a cool thing to be nominated for a Grammy, but I think it definitely means something."
Secretly Canadian's Robinson agrees, but wishes there was a proper place for the artists. "If they want to have an award that really means something, you can't shut out people who are making independent music. And if they want to have a category for indie rock, I'd be glad to submit for that."
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com. 