38th Annual Grammy Awards

The 38th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the main recipient, being awarded four trophies, including Album of the Year.[1] Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men opened the show with their Record of the Year nominated "One Sweet Day".

The ceremony was controversial for its unexpected snub of Mariah Carey's Daydream album, which proved to be one of the bestselling and most acclaimed albums of 1995.[2] When the Grammy Award nominees were announced, and Daydream was nominated for six different awards, critics began raving how it would be "cleaning up" that year.[3] Carey, being a multiple award nominee, was one of the headlining performers. Together with Boyz II Men, she sang a live rendition of "One Sweet Day", to a very positive response.[4] However, as the award winners were announced one by one, Carey watched as her name was not called up even once.[2] Daydream had lost all of its six nominations, shocking most critics who branded it the "album of the year".[4] With every passing loss, the television cameras continued to zoom on Carey's face, who was finding it more difficult to retain her smile. By the end of the night, Carey had not won a single award. The disappointment on her face was painfully obvious. Carey did not perform again until the 2006 ceremony, when she was nominated for eight awards (winning three) for The Emancipation of Mimi.[5]

The ceremony is also significant for Tupac Shakur introducing Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley of Kiss for the first time in full makeup and costume since 1979. Shakur said “And I’ve seen just about everything now,” in response to seeing Kiss walk on stage to announce the nominees for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal.[6]