Morissette, Seal Take Home Top Honors

Alanis Morissette, a Canadian rocker whose raw-edged tales of romantic conflict touched a chord with music fans, was the big winner Wednesday in the 38th annual Grammy Awards.

The 21-year-old singer-songwriter picked up four Grammys, including album of the year, during nationally televised ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium. Her success was considered a victory for the progressive wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,” which has sold more than 5 million copies since its release in June, also won for best rock album.

“You Oughta Know,” an expletive-dotted song that shot Morissette to prominence, earned the singer awards for best female rock vocal and best rock song.

Other major awards went to Seal, whose three Grammys included record and song of the year for “Kiss From a Rose,” a tender, wistful ballad from the “Batman Forever” soundtrack.

Hootie & the Blowfish, a South Carolina rock group whose “Cracked Rear View” was last year’s top-selling album, was honored in the best new artist and group pop performance categories.

Other key winners in the awards--which recognized records released between Oct. 1, 1994, and Sept. 30, 1995--included Joni Mitchell for best pop album, Shania Twain for best country album, Naughty by Nature for best rap album, and TLC for best R & B album and best R & B duo/group performance.

Morissette’s acoustic rendering of “You Oughta Know” was a highlight of Wednesday’s telecast, although CBS edited out a line that includes an expletive. The network did leave in an explicit reference to a sexual encounter.

“I’m always disappointed when the Federal Communications Commission gets its way on anything,” Michael Greene, the recording academy’s president and CEO, said after the show. “But the network has its own constituency in Ames, Iowa, and Marietta, Ga. And they did allow the sexually explicit stuff.”

In picking up her Grammy for album of the year, Morissette said, “I accept this on behalf of anybody who’s ever written a song from a very pure place--a very spiritual place.”

The former television actress and Canadian teenage pop star made the transition to rock with help from producer and songwriting collaborator Glen Ballard, who shared three of the awards. Morissette may have benefited from a nominating process that was instituted this year to give cutting-edge artists a better chance against mainstream hit-makers.

Although all 8,000 members of the academy once picked the nominees in the four major categories--best album, song, record and new artist--the academy this year put the nomination process in the hands of a special 25-member committee. The idea was to try to make the nominees more reflective of the contemporary strains in pop music. In the past, the Grammys have often been criticized as too conservative.

Among the other highlights from Wednesday’s show:

* Nirvana, which revitalized rock music with its 1991 album “Nevermind,” collected its first Grammy. The group, which disbanded after the April 1994 suicide of leader Kurt Cobain, was honored for best alternative music performance for its album “MTV Unplugged in New York.”

* Stevie Wonder was presented with a lifetime achievement award and picked up Grammys No. 18 and 19, taking the awards for best R & B vocal and best R & B song.

Other repeat winners included Vince Gill, picking up Grammys No. 7 and 8 for best country song and best country vocal performance; Anita Baker, whose eighth Grammy was for best female R & B vocal; the Pat Metheny Group, which won its eighth Grammy for best contemporary jazz performance; Jimmy Sturr, who won his seventh Grammy for best polka album, and Asleep at the Wheel, which picked up its sixth for best country instrumental.

Michael Jackson, shut out in the major categories, won his 13th Grammy for best short-form video. Mariah Carey and Joan Osborne failed to collect on six and five nominations, respectively.

Among the first-time Grammy winners were Pearl Jam, Tom Petty, the Allman Brothers Band and Van Morrison, who shared the honors for best pop collaboration with his Irish countrymen the Chieftains.

In the classical field, Pierre Boulez brought his lifetime Grammy total to 18, second among conductors only to Sir Georg Solti. Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won for best classical album and best orchestral performance for their recording of symphonic works by Debussy.

The telecast included a rare snippet of live classical music, from violinist Maxim Vengerov and the New Jersey Symphony in an excerpt from Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto. Itzhak Perlman, who won for his album “The American Place,” at one point had been scheduled to play during the ceremony but had to cancel because his father is ill.

Times staff writer Daniel Cariaga and correspondent Steve Hochman contributed to this story.

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Grammy’s Greatest Hits

The top prizes awarded Wednesday night in the 38th annual Grammys in Los Angeles:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Jagged Little Pill”, Alanis Morissette

RECORD OF THE YEAR: “Kiss From a Rose”, Seal

SONG OF THE YEAR: “Kiss From a Rose”

BEST POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE, FEMALE: “No More ‘I love You’s’,” Annie Lennox

BEST POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE, MALE: “Kiss From a Rose”, Seal