‘What makes a record of the year?’ Here are our rankings of the all-time Grammy winners
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Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:
- Ranking the 66 songs that won Grammy record of the year.
- Palisades and Eaton fires now 100% contained. But recovery looms.
- ‘Significant bluff collapse’ sends steps, rocks tumbling to the sand in Laguna Beach.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper.
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The Grammys are back tonight. Here are our rankings of the previous winners, from No. 66 to No. 1.
Before I get into it, here’s the L.A. Times’ live coverage of these ongoing fires.
A slight bit of normalcy will return to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the area fires as the Grammy Awards kick off, live at the former Staples Center, with the main telecast tonight at 5 on Paramount+ and CBS.
While my colleague, pop music critic Mikael Wood, has handicapped his favorites and underdogs for the 67th edition of the awards show, perhaps his more ambitious project was to rank all 66 songs that previously won record the year.
It’s a fun look into the history, fads, controversies and legacies of the songs and their artists. A few of the selections are listed below, and the full list can be found here.
What makes a record of the year?
According to Wood, it can be a stunning performance or an ingenious production, a glimpse into the future or a glance at the past, a worldwide smash or an obscurity by a longtime fave.
The rundown includes expert commentary from half a dozen previous winners: Sheryl Crow, Toto’s Steve Lukather, producer Mark Ronson, Michael McDonald, Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Charles Kelley of the country trio Lady A.
No. 63 “Here We Go Again”
Ray Charles and Norah Jones, 2005
The victory delivered a posthumous win for Charles that you can scorn and sympathize with at the same time.
No. 56 “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Bobby McFerrin, 1989
“He’s one of the greatest jazz singers of all time — like Al Jarreau on steroids — and he wins for making some little f—ing novelty song,” Lukather says of McFerrin’s a cappella chart-topper. “Hit records are a blessing and a curse, man.”
No. 45 “Uptown Funk”
Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, 2016
Ronson credits the “Today” show’s Hoda Kotb, of all people, for helping to break this future wedding-reception staple: “She talked about it for like 20 minutes one morning — ‘I love this Bruno Mars song’ — and next thing I know, it shot into the top five on the iTunes Store. Then it didn’t leave for six months.”
No. 32 “Higher Love”
Steve Winwood, 1987
“I don’t know if he’s the most soulful white guy, but he’s certainly on the Mt. Rushmore,” Ronson says of the English singer who did time in the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith before striking out on his own. “When music got very slick and expensive-sounding in the late ’80s, he always walked the right side of the line: You could hear the $200,000 Synclavier, but the grooves and arrangements were so clever and intricate. And the message of ‘Higher Love’ — it’s got something really honest and earnest in it.”
No. 28 “Change the World”
Eric Clapton, 1997
It makes zero sense that the great Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds had to wait to win record of the year until he produced this acoustic roots-soul jam that Clapton cut for the soundtrack to 1996’s “Phenomenon” (in which [John] Travolta plays a small-town mechanic who … turns into a genius after being struck by lightning?). That said, “Change the World” cooks, not least because of the rub between Babyface’s luscious groove and Clapton’s well-creased vocal. Says Crow, who reportedly dated Clapton in the late ’90s: “It’s like Bonnie and ‘Nick of Time’ — these people who’ve lived a full life and then sing a song that cauterizes itself in a moment.”
No. 13 “Rosanna”
Toto, 1983
Among the musicians who didn’t vote to nominate Toto’s “Rosanna,” according to Lukather: the members of Toto, none of whom had yet joined the academy when the L.A. band earned a nod for record of the year with this exceedingly crafty studio-geek classic. “Once we found out, they wouldn’t let us join until after the Grammys because obviously we would’ve voted for ourselves,” Lukather says. “People can lie and say they don’t do that. They do.”
No. 10 “Hotel California”
The Eagles, 1978
A high point for polished yet hirsute L.A. rock: The Eagles’ Hollywood phantasmagoria is named record of the year the same night Fleetwood Mac wins the album prize with the darkly glittering “Rumours.”
No. 8 “What’s Love Got to Do With It”
Tina Turner, 1985
McDonald hears Turner’s comeback smash — the one that launched her as a superstar solo act after she left an abusive marriage to her longtime musical partner, Ike — as a testament to her perseverance. “I don’t know who else could deliver that message the way Tina did,” he says. “From anyone else, the song might’ve just sounded cynical. With her, it took on a kind of profound meaning.”
No. 1 “I Will Always Love You”
Whitney Houston, 1994
“There’s no other record where somebody put on a better performance than ‘I Will Always Love You,’” Babyface told The Times in 2022, and it’s hard to disagree as Houston’s vocal rolls over you in all its splendor and precision. But the finest recording by pop’s greatest ballad singer is also a story about Houston’s lifelong drive to bring herself into being. It’s high on possibility and haunted by loss.
For the entire list, click here.
The week’s biggest stories
Los Angeles fires
- Palisades and Eaton fires now 100% contained. But a long road to recovery looms.
- What — or who— started the Palisades fire? Two leading theories emerge as investigation intensifies.
- PCH and Pacific Palisades are reopening to the public. Some say it’s too soon.
- Meryl Streep ‘cut a car-sized hole in the fence,’ fled fire through a neighbor’s yard, nephew says.
Rebuilding from the blazes
- Online tracker shows insurance payments to wildfire survivors.
- A world away from the Palisades and Altadena, landlords try to sell fire victims on living downtown.
- Your car didn’t escape the fire? Here’s how to get rid of it.
- Schools opening near fire zones are safe, district officials say. Parents aren’t so sure.
Rain and water issues
- L.A.’s second big winter rainstorm is coming. What you need to know.
- Acting on Trump’s order, federal officials opened up two California dams.
- Newsom issues order to ‘maximize’ water capture during storms. Critics say it sounds just like Trump.
Crime and courts
- LAPD captain claims she saw cops slamming teen into concrete — then faced union’s wrath.
- Former Fox Sports anchor alleges network executive sexually assaulted her in 2016.
- ‘Fear has been sown.’ Street vendors and other workers in L.A.’s massive informal economy react to Trump.
- Malibu homeowner sues Tripadvisor, renter for fire that destroyed house, killed student.
More big stories
- A rising San Diego politician abruptly quit, citing ‘personal safety.’ It raises a lot of questions.
- 2 hostages return to Israel after release in southern Gaza; American Israeli’s handover imminent.
- Sundance’s top prizes go to ‘Atropia’ and ‘Seeds.’
- California snowpack is below average, but winter storms could change that.
- The Inland Empire is a hotbed for Latino culture. De Los wants to tell its stories.
Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.
Column One
Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and long-form journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:
Picture a thin slab of sandy, inhospitable desert land by the side of Highway 78, just a few miles from the Salton Sea. A flag and a border gate welcome you to the United Territories of the Sovereign Nation of the Republic of Slowjamastan — Imperial County’s littlest empire — where a border patrol agent in a black beret hands you a passport and stamps you into the tiny micro-nation that has declared itself independent from the United States.
More great reads
- This French film about Mexico has 13 Oscar nominations. Why ‘Emilia Pérez’ is tanking in Mexico.
- Solutions: The Los Angeles fires demand a better answer to the question ‘How can I help?’
- Your next great bottle of wine might come from this under-the-radar California region.
- Column: For L.A. County Supervisor Barger, the right to rebuild in Altadena is nonnegotiable.
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].
For your weekend
Going out
- 🕺 Television star Topher Grace begins his perfect Los Angeles Sunday Funday with avocado toast at Joan’s on Third.
- 💆 Need a breather? These are our favorite ‘mental health escapes’ within driving distance of L.A.
- 🍽️ We’ve got the the best places to eat and drink in L.A. this month.
- ♨️ Whenever you feel like taking a soak, here are 10 serene hot springs in California to heal your weary soul.
Staying in
- 🎶 The 67th annual Grammy Awards get going today at 5 p.m. Here’s how to watch them.
- 🏠 Jeff Hobbs, author of “Seeking Shelter,” tells the the scary, humiliating reality of surviving homelessness in California.
- 📚 It’s a new month, so here are 10 books to add to your reading list in February.
- 🧑🍳 Echo Park’s Little Fish and Chainsaw is offering up a secret, the recipe for a delicious Chicken and Leek Congee.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.
L.A. Affairs
Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
He was so grateful that she didn’t want to go to Disneyland and preferred having a picnic at the beach instead. He showed her Las Virgenes Road, and they drove through the tunnel and then on Mulholland Drive toward Topanga Canyon. He loved Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and gave her a copy of it. She fell in love with him, but also with the city. Spurred by the recent fires, she returned to visit both and her memories of a passionate romance.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Lozano, news editor
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