THE 36TH GRAMMY NOMINATIONS : Grammy Nods: The Populists Lead the Way : Commentary: To isolate the recordings among the nominations that defined pop or rock during 1993, one has to turn to secondary categories.

Whose nominations were those Thursday? Were they from the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Let’s start at the beginning.

The American Music Awards, announced last month, are designed solely to acknowledge popularity and sales, right?

So it’s understandable that Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and “The Bodyguard” soundtrack were nominated as the year’s favorite single and album, respectively, in the AMA competition. Both sold umpteen million copies and topped the charts interminably.

But the Grammy Awards, whose nominations were released Thursday, are designed to salute artistic excellence, right?

Yet here we find Houston’s records nominated again.

Now, it’s possible for the best record of the year to also be the most popular, but we’ve all heard “I Will Always Love You,” so we know that’s not the case.

But wait: The ways of the Grammy get even more confusing.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is designed to look back over the years to slowly, but deliberately, honor the artists who made a difference--the artists whose best work not only defined the times in which we live, but, in some cases, actually helped shape them.

Sting, Donald Fagen, R.E.M. and Neil Young are superior artists who have demonstrated over the years the kind of consistent quality and vision that will almost certainly earn each of them a Hall of Fame induction.

But their flurry of nominations in this year’s Grammy competition seems, collectively, more a factor of their career history than their specific accomplishments during 1993. And don’t forget how last year’s Grammy ceremonies seemed like a Hall of Fame induction as it turned into a virtual testimonial to the career of Eric Clapton, who won six awards.

To isolate the recordings among the Grammy nominations that defined pop or rock during 1993, you have to turn, once again, to the secondary categories.

The three most compelling albums of the year are lumped together in the alternative music category: Nirvana’s “In Utero,” Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream” and U2’s “Zooropa.”

Two of the most celebrated singles, meanwhile, are limited to the rap duo-group category: Digable Planets’ “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” and Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang.”

In the area of mainstream pop, the most surprising omission from the best album or best single competition was Janet Jackson, whose “janet.” album contained some of the most sensual and appealing dance-minded pop in years.

So, who deserves our support in the two key categories?

Album of the Year: The 7,000 voting members of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences clearly feel most comfortable in voting for the tried and the true whenever they step out of the pop mainstream world of Whitney Houston.

Between them, Sting, Billy Joel and R.E.M. have won 18 Grammys during the years. Donald Fagen hasn’t won any Grammys, but he, as a former member of the hugely respected ‘70s band Steely Dan, is also clearly tried and true.

Any of those three choices is superior to “The Bodyguard,” a mediocre album from an even more mediocre film. But Sting’s “Ten Summoner’s Tales” and R.E.M.’s “Automatic for the People” are the class of the field.

While Sting’s album added some welcome wit to the British rocker’s usual elegance and craft, the R.E.M. collection was an ultimately more satisfying package: a superbly designed, deeply felt introspective collection, whose “Everybody Hurts” and “Man in the Moon” provided two of the year’s most magical moments.

Record of the Year: You can see how overblown Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” is by simply listening to Dolly Parton’s original version, which has been a hit twice in the country field. Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle’s “A Whole New World” was no more convincing emotionally, while Billy Joel’s “The River of Dreams” was middle-brow pop. That leaves the race between Sting’s warm “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” and Neil Young’s dreamy “Harvest Moon.”

I’ll be cheering louder than anyone if Young finally wins his first Grammy, but the nod here goes to Sting, whose song was a disarming expression of personal devotion in an age of disillusionment.