Los Angeles - The Grammy Awards, which annually gather the who's who of the US music industry for a virtual orgy of self- appreciation, are all set for blastoff on Sunday night.

The list of performers is long enough to make the organizers of President Barack Obama's inaugural celebrations cringe with envy, while the slate of nominees in more than 100 categories could serve as an encyclopedia of the US music industry.

But as stars of every imaginable musical genre descend on Los Angeles for what organizers call "music's biggest night," fans are weighing whether to give their precious leisure time to what are often derided as the Grannies. If there's one consistent criticism leveled at the Oscars of the music world, it's that they usually honour outdated styles more than the musical cutting edge.

Last year's victory for retro-soul wreck Amy Winehouse showed that the tastes of Grammy voters and the record-buying, or more accurately music-sharing public, do sometimes intersect.

This year, the Academy of Recording Arts is making an even greater effort to appeal to the trendsetting youth who represent the future of the music industry.

"It appears that members of the Recording Academy have discovered the internet, or let their 12-year-old daughters cast all the ballots," MTV's Grammy expert James Montgomery quipped.

To be sure, favourite old dinosaurs including U2, Paul McCartney and James Taylor will show their wrinkled faces, but they will be in a distinct minority amid a more youthful collection of superstars from the modern world of hip hop, pop, soul and dance music.

New Orleans rap sensation Lil Wayne is the leading nominee with eight nods, followed by Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Coldplay, each with seven.

If you don't follow the latest pop stars, then names like Adele, Sara Bereilles and Estelle may not mean that much to you, though a few bars of their songs would probably spark a glimmer of recognition, as songs like Pavements, American Boy and Love Song have been insanely popular on the radio.

All are up for song of the year, along with another relative newcomer, Jason Mraz, for the calypso-inspired I'm Your's. They will all find it tough to beat the other nominee, Coldplay, whose song Viva la Vida, is considered the front runner.

Coldplay, which enjoyed the year's second best-selling album, is also nominated for the show's other two most prestigious categories, album of the year and record of the year. For the album prize, the Brit-poppers will be competing with Ne-Yo, duo Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Lil Wayne, who is the co-favourite with Coldplay.

Record of the year offers another intriguing contest filled with fresh names.

Adele's Chasing Pavement and Coldplay's Viva la Vida are up against Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love, and Please Read The Letter by Plant and Krauss. There is also a chance that the Grammys may mirror the Oscars by honouring MIA, whose music features in the surprise mega-hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, and whose song Paper Planes could be a surprise winner in the category.

Montgomery is hoping that Grammy voters will embrace the new.

"They are the make-or-break Grammys," he notes. "If Wayne or Radiohead somehow walk away with a boatload of awards, or a very pregnant MIA waddles up on stage to accept record of the year, well, then the awards are cool again." (dpa)