Backstreet Boys, Kid Rock Pay Homage In Grammy Medleys

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Feb 26, 2000 Source: MTV Submitted By: Ivy C 2.23.00 22:30 EST The Backstreet Boys began the second hour of the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards by paying a cappella homage to such Motown vocal groups as The Temptations and Boyz II Men during their intro to "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely." After singing snippets of "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and "I'll Make Love To You" on a barren stage, the Backstreet Boys made their way to a cluster of stools, where they sat down and crooned through the rest of "Show Me," displaying the kind of cool charisma that has earned them a place in the hearts of teenage girls (and women) across the world. TLC, on the other hand, opted for the kind of flashy visuals provided to them by a corps of rhythm gymnasts for a medley of its "Fanmail" hit singles, "Unpretty" and "No Scrubs." In the middle of the performance, the R&B trio stripped off its red robes to display matching red patent leather outfits for "No Scrubs," although the vocals noticeably dropped out when TLC focused on some of the stylized dance moves popularized by the video. Sting, the winner of a pair of Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, got into the evening's global flow by enlisting the help of Middle-Eastern singer Cheb Mami for "Desert Rose," Sting's newest single. Even though Sting's delivery of "Desert Rose" didn't seem to match the vocal passion of his early solo years, he was more than willing to share the Grammy spotlight with Mami, who developed his reputation on the Parisian dance scene as part of the Algerian-born "Rai" movement of the early '90s. A slight change of pace came courtesy of Kid Rock, who wowed audiences just months ago at the Video Music Awards by joining Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler for a rave-up of "Walk This Way." For his Grammy performance, however, he started things off rather stoically. Kid began by plaintively tapping out a few bars from "Only God Knows Why" on a grand piano, though the missing vocoder effect from the song's studio version only made it more apparent how much the number owes to Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home." But Rock quickly kicked things into high gear by bringing out his Crazy Brown Trucker Band for a riff-heavy reading of "Bawitadaba" as Joe C. stalked across the stage and led the audience through the chant-like chorus. Kid Rock closed out the second hour of the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards with another history lesson (of sorts), capping off the medley with a drive-thru of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band," a song which hit number one on the singles chart some 27 years ago. -- David Basham Comment on this item. Next Item: Backstreet coming of age Prev Item: Backstreet, Britney, Ricky, And Others Come Up Empty