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ā€˜What makes a record of the year?ā€™ Here are our rankings of the all-time Grammy winners

Illustration of Bobby Darin, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Bono of U2 and Billie Eilish
Illustration of Bobby Darin, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Bono of U2 and Billie Eilish.
(Ariana Pacino / For The Times)

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Itā€™s Sunday. Iā€™m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Hereā€™s what you need to know to start your weekend:

    The Grammys are back tonight. Here are our rankings of the previous winners, from No. 66 to No. 1.

    Before I get into it, hereā€™s the L.A. Timesā€™ 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.

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    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.

    Itā€™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.

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    The rundown includes expert commentary from half a dozen previous winners: Sheryl Crow, Totoā€™s Steve Lukather, producer Mark Ronson, Michael McDonald, Chicā€™s Nile Rodgers and Charles Kelley of the country trio Lady A.

    No. 63 ā€œHere We Go Againā€
    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 ā€œDonā€™t Worry, Be Happyā€
    Bobby McFerrin, 1989

    ā€œHeā€™s one of the greatest jazz singers of all time ā€” like Al Jarreau on steroids ā€” and he wins for making some little fā€”ing novelty song,ā€ Lukather says of McFerrinā€™s a cappella chart-topper. ā€œHit records are a blessing and a curse, man.ā€

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    No. 45 ā€œUptown Funkā€
    Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, 2016

    Ronson credits the ā€œTodayā€ showā€™s Hoda Kotb, of all people, for helping to break this future wedding-reception staple: ā€œShe talked about it for like 20 minutes one morning ā€” ā€˜I love this Bruno Mars songā€™ ā€” and next thing I know, it shot into the top five on the iTunes Store. Then it didnā€™t leave for six months.ā€

    No. 32 ā€œHigher Loveā€
    Steve Winwood, 1987

    ā€œI donā€™t know if heā€™s the most soulful white guy, but heā€™s certainly on the Mt. Rushmore,ā€ Ronson says of the English singer who did time in the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith before striking out on his own. ā€œWhen music got very slick and expensive-sounding in the late ā€™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 ā€˜Higher Loveā€™ ā€” itā€™s got something really honest and earnest in it.ā€

    No. 28 ā€œChange the Worldā€
    Eric Clapton, 1997

    It makes zero sense that the great Kenny ā€œBabyfaceā€ 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 1996ā€™s ā€œPhenomenonā€ (in which [John] Travolta plays a small-town mechanic who ā€¦ turns into a genius after being struck by lightning?). That said, ā€œChange the Worldā€ cooks, not least because of the rub between Babyfaceā€™s luscious groove and Claptonā€™s well-creased vocal. Says Crow, who reportedly dated Clapton in the late ā€™90s: ā€œItā€™s like Bonnie and ā€˜Nick of Timeā€™ ā€” these people whoā€™ve lived a full life and then sing a song that cauterizes itself in a moment.ā€

    No. 13 ā€œRosannaā€
    Toto, 1983

    Among the musicians who didnā€™t vote to nominate Totoā€™s ā€œRosanna,ā€ 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. ā€œOnce we found out, they wouldnā€™t let us join until after the Grammys because obviously we wouldā€™ve voted for ourselves,ā€ Lukather says. ā€œPeople can lie and say they donā€™t do that. They do.ā€

    No. 10 ā€œHotel Californiaā€
    The Eagles, 1978

    A high point for polished yet hirsute L.A. rock: The Eaglesā€™ Hollywood phantasmagoria is named record of the year the same night Fleetwood Mac wins the album prize with the darkly glittering ā€œRumours.ā€

    No. 8 ā€œWhatā€™s Love Got to Do With Itā€
    Tina Turner, 1985

    McDonald hears Turnerā€™s comeback smash ā€” the one that launched her as a superstar solo act after she left an abusive marriage to her longtime musical partner, Ike ā€” as a testament to her perseverance. ā€œI donā€™t know who else could deliver that message the way Tina did,ā€ he says. ā€œFrom anyone else, the song mightā€™ve just sounded cynical. With her, it took on a kind of profound meaning.ā€

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    No. 1 ā€œI Will Always Love Youā€
    Whitney Houston, 1994

    ā€œThereā€™s no other record where somebody put on a better performance than ā€˜I Will Always Love You,ā€™ā€ Babyface told The Times in 2022, and itā€™s hard to disagree as Houstonā€™s vocal rolls over you in all its splendor and precision. But the finest recording by popā€™s greatest ballad singer is also a story about Houstonā€™s lifelong drive to bring herself into being. Itā€™s high on possibility and haunted by loss.

    For the entire list, click here.

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      Column One

      Column One is The Timesā€™ home for narrative and long-form journalism. Hereā€™s a great piece from this week:

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      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 ā€” Imperial Countyā€™s littlest empire ā€” 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.

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      He was so grateful that she didnā€™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 Bachā€™s ā€œJonathan Livingston Seagullā€ 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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