Posted by Fig Tree News Team on February 28, 2001 at 08:20:45:
New York Times:
Moby Amused By Baha Men's Grammy Win
Eric Demby, with additional reporting by Teri vanHorn
The Baha Men's summer anthem, "Who Let the Dogs Out?," one of several canine-oriented hit singles from 2000, received the Grammy for Best Dance Recording on Wednesday (February 21).
"I think it's one of those songs that everyone liked, so it just got played and played and played," said the Baha Men's Colyn "Moe" Grant, after winning the award. "It's great to have a song that the whole world is rocking to."
The song beat out several major artists in the category, including Jennifer Lopez (nominated for her hit "Let's Get Loud"), Moby ("Natural Blues") and Enrique Iglesias ("Be With You," which was an international club hit). The Italian dance-pop trio Eiffel 65's smash "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" also was a contender.
Grant joked that the group is writing a sequel to the song, called "Who Let the Cats Out?" Daniel Chamberlin, an associate editor at the electronic-music magazine Urb, said "Who Let the Dogs Out?" was the logical Grammy choice.
"Though Moby is the obvious choice for me as a critic of underground dance music," he said, "I must say that Baha Men's mix of Caribbean instrumentation, shouting and social commentary on loosed pets captures not only the rah-rah energy that characterizes the American scene, but also represents our eagerness to bark and jump about in spaces besides night clubs and raves."
Best Dance Recording was among several awards presented today, before this evening's telecast of the 43rd Annual Grammys, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Moby performed "Natural Blues" ( RealAudio excerpt) at the Grammy ceremony this evening, where he was joined onstage by the performance troupe Blue Man Group and R&B singer Jill Scott. Moby played bass and sang harmony with Scott, who emulated the gospel vocals of the original song, which he sampled from field recordings made by musicologist Alan Lomax some 50 years ago.
Moby didn't expect to lose much sleep over being triumphed by the whimsical Baha Men. "I think it's quite a catchy little pop song, and my feeling is if I'm going to lose an award, I'd rather lose to a novelty act than a serious act, 'cause it feels like less of a slight," he said. "Last year I lost to Beck and Santana, and that actually hurt a little bit more, but losing to the Baha Men — you can't help but laugh, you know?"
Moby was nominated last year for Best Alternative Performance for his unstoppable album Play, and for Best Instrumental Rock Performance for "Body Rock."