Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album

The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award given to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative rock genre at the Grammy Awards. The Grammy Awards were established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.^[1] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony each year by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".^[2]

The definition of "alternative" has been debated.^[3] The award was first presented in 1991 to recognize non-mainstream rock albums "heavily played on college radio stations".^[4]^[5] According to the academy, the award is presented to "vocal or instrumental alternative music albums containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded music".^[6] The academy defines "alternative" as a "non-traditional" genre that exists "outside of the mainstream music consciousness".^[6] In 1991, and from 1994 to 1999, the award was known as Best Alternative Music Performance.^[3] Beginning in 2001, award recipients included the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists.^[7]

As of 2011, Radiohead and The White Stripes share the record for the most wins in this category, having won three times each. Radiohead's lead singer, Thom Yorke, was also nominated for the 2007 award for his solo album. Beck and Coldplay have each received the award twice, the latter being the only group to win two years in a row. American artists have been presented with the award more than any other nationality, though it has been presented to musicians or groups from the United Kingdom five times, from Ireland twice, and from France once. Female musicians Tori Amos and Björk hold the record for the most nominations without a win, with five each.

Recipients

Year^[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Work	Nominees	Ref.
1991	Sinéad O'Connor	Ireland	I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got	Laurie Anderson – Strange Angels Kate Bush – The Sensual World The Replacements – All Shook Down World Party – Goodbye Jumbo	^[5]
1992	R.E.M.	United States	Out of Time	Elvis Costello – Mighty Like a Rose Jesus Jones – Doubt Nirvana – Nevermind Richard Thompson – Rumor and Sigh	^[8]
1993	Tom Waits	United States	Bone Machine	The B-52s – Good Stuff The Cure – Wish Morrissey – Your Arsenal XTC – Nonsuch	^[9]
1994	U2	Ireland	Zooropa	Belly – Star Nirvana – In Utero R.E.M. – Automatic for the People The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream	^[10]
1995	Green Day	United States	Dookie	Tori Amos – Under the Pink Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral	^[11]
1996	Nirvana	United States	MTV Unplugged in New York	Björk – Post Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love The Presidents of the United States of America – The Presidents of the United States of America	^[12]
1997	Beck	United States	Odelay	Tori Amos – Boys for Pele Tracy Bonham – The Burdens of Being Upright R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness	^[13]
1998	Radiohead	United Kingdom	OK Computer	Björk – Homogenic David Bowie – Earthling The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land	^[14]
1999	Beastie Boys	United States	Hello Nasty	Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel PJ Harvey – Is This Desire? Radiohead – Airbag / How Am I Driving? The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore	^[15]
2000	Beck	United States	Mutations	Tori Amos – To Venus and Back Fatboy Slim – You've Come a Long Way, Baby Moby – Play Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile	^[16]
2001	Radiohead	United Kingdom	Kid A	Fiona Apple – When the Pawn… Beck – Midnite Vultures The Cure – Bloodflowers Paul McCartney – Liverpool Sound Collage	^[17]
2002	Coldplay	United Kingdom	Parachutes	Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls Björk – Vespertine Fatboy Slim – Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars Radiohead – Amnesiac	^[18]
2003	Coldplay	United Kingdom	A Rush of Blood to the Head	Beck – Sea Change Clinic – Walking with Thee Elvis Costello and the Imposters – Cruel Smile The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Behind the Music	^[19]
2004	The White Stripes	United States	Elephant	The Flaming Lips – Fight Test Radiohead – Hail to the Thief Sigur Rós – ( ) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell	^[20]
2005	Wilco	United States	A Ghost Is Born	Björk – Medúlla Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News	^[21]
2006	The White Stripes	United States	Get Behind Me Satan	Arcade Fire – Funeral Beck – Guero Death Cab for Cutie – Plans Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better	^[22]
2007	Gnarls Barkley	United States	St. Elsewhere	Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones Thom Yorke – The Eraser	^[23]
2008	The White Stripes	United States	Icky Thump	Lily Allen – Alright, Still Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Björk – Volta The Shins – Wincing the Night Away	^[24]
2009	Radiohead	United Kingdom	In Rainbows	Beck – Modern Guilt Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges	^[25]
2010	Phoenix	France	Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today Death Cab for Cutie – The Open Door EP Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!	^[26]
2011	The Black Keys	United States	Brothers	Arcade Fire – The Suburbs Band of Horses – Infinite Arms Broken Bells – Broken Bells Vampire Weekend – Contra	^[27]

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.

References

General

"Grammy Award Winners". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2010. Note: User must select the "Alternative" category as the genre under the search feature.
"Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Performance". Rock on the Net. Retrieved April 27, 2010.

Specific

Other websites

Official site of the Grammy Awards

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