I wrote last year that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was a joke. Why? I will tell you why. That place has regularly left out bands/artists that have been more deserving than some that have been inducted. Let’s go through a partial list of those artists who are borderline (ie. not good enough or not rock and roll enough) at best:
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Most of these artists are very good and I enjoy their work but I wouldn’t consider them rock and roll (The Righteous Brothers). Some of them are good but not good enough to be hall of famers (The Pretenders). Then there are those that are just plain terrible (The Sex Pistols).
There is a large list of bands/artists that should be there but haven’t even gotten a sniff from the so-called committee. Bands like Kiss, Rush, Deep Purple, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Should I continue? Okay, and if they are going to add rap artists, then what about Run-DMC or The Beastie Boys? Or if pop artists like Prince are there then why not Michael Jackson? There is no rhyme or reason to whom they induct.
This year’s inductees were announced the other day and I was excited that maybe, just maybe, one of these long overdue artists would get their rightful recognition. I saw John Mellencamp’s name: okay, yeah, I guess I can buy that…then The Dave Clark Five: a really big stretch here but better than the Furious Five…The Ventures: who the f#ck are the Ventures?…Leonard Cohen: I thought for a minute that this was a joke list or something until it I saw this next artist…Madonna. Are you serious? Madonna!? Sure she had tons of hits back in the day, pop hits, dance hits, no rock and roll.
That place is a complete sham. Not that they will care but until they straighten up their act up there in Cleveland, I will never ever visit the Rock And Roll Hall Of Shame Fame. Maybe next year we can get The Monkees in the hall.
I agree with you 100% about Madonna. Some of the others I’m not so sure about.
The Ramones may be terrible (or not), but there’s no denying that they made their mark. Same goes with the Sex Pistols.
I’d love to stay and chat but I’m going to click on that Queensryche link you’ve got there.
I disagree with your list of who’s in and who’s out. Why. I’ll tell you.
Rock and roll in this context is not a genre of music, but a continual evolution or progression of the popular music culture created in the 20s/30s in the Delta black communities and credited to Robert Johnson known as the father of blues and grandfather of rock and roll.
Blues over time evolved into rock and roll, country, mutated into jaxx, soul, funk, swing, rock, R&B, punk, rap, reggae etc..
However with the exception of reggae (created and baptised in Jamaica) most of these so called genres of music were classified and named by the anglo saxon culture through the record labels in the US and not by the musicians who created and performed them.
Herein lies the misunderstanding. The writer (anglo saxon no doubt) claims that prince and the supremes should not be in the hall of fame. Why not. Their influence on the pop culture and the music in general earns them a place. So does Madonna’s and Bob Marley for that matter.
The Police/Sting for example performs rock, pop, reggae, jazz and slow jams or ballads. Should they be exculded also?
Ike Turner was credited for the first ever officially recognized rock and roll song Rocket 88 and he is not even considered a rock and roll artist by most. He now sings blues or should I say sang, should he have been excluded also?
The Hall of Fame in my opinion is not a registry for anyone and his brother with enough pocket money to buy a guitar, amp and mike. Its a tribute to those who has shaped pop culure worldwide through music either by performing, producing, managing and most importantly influencing generations to come worldwide.
I look forward to the day when Cuban, South American and African artists are honoured for their contributions also.
Music should never be appreciated in terms of genre but in terms of context, technique and delivery.
I hope my two cents helped.
Look at this article. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07354/843048-42.stm