Paula Cole’s 1997 hit “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” could easily be rewritten as this year’s Grammy theme song, posing the question “where have all the alternative bands gone?”

While last year’s list of Big Four nominations (Record, Album and Song of the Year and Best New Artist) was bombarded by Smashing Pumpkins, Alanis Morrisette, No Doubt, Garbage, Jewel and Beck, this year’s bunch has only one true representative of the alternative genre — Radiohead’s “OK Computer”—for Record of the Year.

Similar to the Oscars, the Grammys do not traditionally award the artist who sells the most records. In the 1960s, crooners like Frank Sinatra stole the award from rockers like The Beatles year after year.

So when bands that rocked the record charts in 1997 are not giving acceptance speeches tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, it should come as no surprise.

What is a surprise is this year’s ballots, which have an unusual bias against modern rock bands.

Cole, considered more Americana folk than alternative, is up for seven of the coveted awards, including a rare sweep of the Big Four. R & B giants Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Sean “Puffy” Combs are up for seven and six, respectively. Even classic rock fables Fleetwood Mac and Bob Dylan appear on a few of the premier ballots.

So where have all the alternative bands gone?

Many were lost in the shadows of the entourage of women who launched or boosted their careers in 1997.

In a year that featured Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair trouncing on alternative summer concert festivals Lollapalooza, H.O.R.D.E. and Ozzfest, it is only fitting that four of the five compositions nominated for Song of the Year were sung and written (or co-written) by women.

And perhaps the toughest competitive field outside the Big Four can be found in the Best Female Pop Vocal category, featuring Cole, Shawn Colvin, McLachlan, Jewel and Mariah Carey.

Another reason alternative groups were overlooked is simply because the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences is sick of awarding bands like the Fine Young Cannibals with Grammys and then watching as their careers go nowhere.

From 1976-78, the Best New Artists were the Starland Vocal Band, Debby Boone and A Taste of Honey — none of whom are notable for their long-term impact on the music scene.

Members of the Academy may have had these embarrassing winners in the back of their minds when they skipped by Smash Mouth, Third Eye Blind and Sugar Ray onto Erykah Badu and Fiona Apple, two young talents expected to last the test of time.

This concept could even explain the snubbing of the Spice Girls, who were no doubt the biggest sensations of 1997 and were not nominated for a single Grammy, or even LeAnn Rimes, who was the best-selling artist of the year and was only nominated for one.

Whatever the reason, the Academy is trying to kill modern rock.

It is unreasonable to expect an alternative band to win Record of The Year (that is what the MTV Awards are for), but when there is not even an alternative band in the Best New Artist category, something is wrong.

Neither Cole, who released her debut three years ago, or Combs, who is far from a rookie in the music industry, should even be considered for the award, which could easily be handed to true newcomers Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind or Tonic.

Sinatra may have won during the 1960s, just as the Sinatras of today probably will, but at least the Beatles were nominated.

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Corey Moss is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.

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Editor’s Note: The 40th annual Grammys Awards will be broadcast from Radio City Music Hall in New York tonight, beginning at 7 p.m.