Grammys Operate on Different Wavelength : Commentary: Only a handful of past Album of the Year winners are significant pop efforts.

When it comes to rock ‘n’ roll, fans have long looked elsewhere besides the Grammys for their barometer of what’s blowin’ in the wind.

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A look back at the annual winners in the Album of the Year category over 3 1/2 decades finds only a handful of honorees that would land on anyone’s list of the most significant pop albums of all time.

To be fair, there have been years that the Grammys got it right, or at least close enough for credibility--picking “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” as the best of 1967, Paul Simon’s “Graceland” in 1986, U2’s “The Joshua Tree” in 1987 and strong albums by respected artists such as Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Bonnie Raitt in other years.

But the pattern more clearly hews toward singling out long-forgotten superstar entries from the likes of Glen Campbell, Christopher Cross, Toto, Billy Joel and Phil Collins.

For comparison, we picked seven turning-point years in rock ‘n’ roll since the first ceremony in 1958, and lined up some of the best or most acclaimed pop LPs from those years against what actually walked off into the Grammy sunset as Album of the Year.

1958

Significant eligible albums included: Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” and “Sings for Only the Lonely,” Elvis Presley’s “King Creole,” “The Kingston Trio,” the “South Pacific” soundtrack, “The Everly Brothers,” “Sam Cooke.”

And the Grammy went to . . . Henry Mancini’s “The Music From Peter Gunn.”

1964

Significant eligible albums included: The Beatles’ “Meet the Beatles,” “The Beatles’ Second Album” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” and “Another Side of Bob Dylan,” “The Animals,” “Meet the Temptations,” Barbra Streisand’s “Funny Girl” and “People.”

And the Grammy went to . . . Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto’s “Getz/Gilberto.”

1966

Significant eligible albums included: Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Blonde on Blonde,” the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver,” the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence,” the Rolling Stones’ “Aftermath.”

And the Grammy went to . . . Frank Sinatra’s “A Man and His Music.”

1969

Significant eligible albums included: The Who’s “Tommy,” “The Beatles” (white album), “Led Zeppelin” and “Led Zeppelin II,” Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline,” the Rolling Stones’ “Beggars Banquet,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland,” Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River,” Sly & the Family Stone’s “Stand.”

And the Grammy went to . . . “Blood, Sweat & Tears.”

1978

Significant eligible albums included: Elvis Costello’s “My Aim Is True” and “This Year’s Model,” the Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks,” Steely Dan’s “Aja,” the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” Talking Heads’ “More Songs About Buildings and Food,” Al Green’s “The Belle Album.”

And the Grammy went to . . . “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1984

Significant eligible albums included: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” Prince & the Revolution’s “Purple Rain,” Don Henley’s “Building the Perfect Beast,” the Replacements’ “Let It Be,” “Run-DMC.”

And the Grammy went to . . . Lionel Richie’s “Can’t Slow Down.”

1992

Significant eligible albums included: Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” U2’s “Achtung Baby,” Arrested Development’s “3 Years 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of . . . ,” Pearl Jam’s “Ten.”

And the Grammy went to . . . Eric Clapton’s “Unplugged.”