Friday
Oct102014
The Rock Hall Nominees Are Crap
Friday, October 10, 2014 at 12:01AM Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... well, it has. The newest crop of Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame nominees is just terrible. Here is the list:
- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Chic
- Green Day
- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
- Kraftwerk
- The Marvelettes
- N.W.A
- Nine Inch Nails
- Lou Reed
- The Smiths
- The Spinners
- Sting
- Stevie Ray Vaughan
- War
- Bill Withers
Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lou Reed and Sting are automatic inductions at this point I think. The rest? Not so much. I seriously can't believe this is the cream of the crop. The final selections will be announced in December and inducted on April 18 in Cleveland. Thoughts?
Reader Comments (17)
Once again, worthy inductees such as Deep Purple, T Rex, The Sweet, the New York Dolls, the Runaways, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, etc... are snubbed in favor of snot like Green Day.
It's sickening.
And,while I'm at it, there are so many truly worthy 60's bands like Paul Revere & the Raiders, who should be at least recognized with a nomination.
Overall, the list IS ridiculous...
However, there are SOME deserving acts...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (though it really should be The Runaways), Lou Reed and Stevie Ray Vaughan are worthy, IMHO.
Nearly all of the others are notable, but not as "Rock & Roll" to me. Some, like Chic, for example, though influential in Pop and Disco, are hardly worth induction, at least at this time.
It is ridiculous that Deep Purple are not on the list!
Probably far fetched hyperbole on my part, but I just wonder if The Hall looked into it to see if Blackmore would show and if he said no, the committee elected not to nominate the band as they've probably grown tired of inductees not getting into the spirit of the thing a little more, i.e. KISS not playing, Axl not showing, etc., etc.
All in all, it is SUCH a shame Jan Wenner and Co., who decide who to nominate and induct, don't really understand Rock & Roll, as you would like to think such an institution would get it right.
p.s. I have CDs or iTunes of ALL the acts nominated except for NWA, though I am familiar with their "music".
This is all a new version of the old scene:
http://www.bringbackglam.com/journal/2013/12/18/2014-rock-hall-inductees-announced.html
Those "posts from the past" deal with the common gripes we seem to share annually. So let me just throw in something else to the mix: given the varied mix that the hall does include, I would think a top act to be considered would be N.W.A.
Before they either died, split, or sold out, N.W.A. were a phenomenal force. More accessible (due to the vulgarity and sonic fun of Dre) that Public Enemy, decidedly more aggressive than their older peers like Run DMC, and seemingly (and I stress _seemingly_) more "realistic" than Ice T. Though they were taken up by "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" suburban youths, they exuded an air of danger (and yes, coarse misogyny dressed up as sing-along humor) that was everything that the suburbs weren't . . . and were scared of seeing.
Sure, they petered out relatively quick. But so did GnR . . . and Grandmaster Flash, and the Sugarhill Gang. Sure, the things they did afterwards (Cube and Dre most obviously) show a slow roll into the comfort zone, just a sofa away from the non-stop branding that T now does. In retrospect (and chronologically), it certainly makes sense that Public Enemy--and DMC before them--got in earlier. Chuck D had a better sense of meter and rhythm than Dre, E, Cube, or even Ren, not to mention a much more universal and complicated sense of the world around him (still does). Terminator X could likely destroy Yella in a battle. And the Bomb Squad had a lock on innovation that even Dre's Beat headphones can't cancel out. About the only tie in this fictitious battle would be between Flav and E, and sadly, the lengths that they went to "to live the life" killed one of them and turned the other into some crack-infected version of the Crypt Keeper/Bobby Brown, a washed up and wasted court jester who doesn't realize he is the punchline. Then again, neither did E.
DMC, well, they are your parent's rap and historically important in their own right. Longer lasting than N.W.A., less political than Enemy, they are of a class and time that is now mocked (lovingly, see SNL) for being so "quaint." That said, _Tougher than Leather_ was that rare feat: old school-meets-sorta-new-school that still sounded largely unforced. In terms of overall impact and importance, they beat Gang and even the Furious Five without even trying.
Still, I think N.W.A. are deserving if we consider just how wide and varied the hall's choice of musicians and genres has always been (again, recall the points we have made previously, as this has nothing to do with whether or not those choices are right or wrong). They inspired a whole range of copy cats and, for at least a moment, made it seem like rap wasn't there to be taken up and over by the "man" (a flaw that the great Run DMC and Public Enemy fell into in a bid to curry favor, recording with has beens and never-weres in a bid to stay trendy).
100 Miles and Running, indeed.
SO MANY COMMENTS RE RRHOF... IT REALLY IS A TRAVESTY.. DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.. BUT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GROUP TOGETHER AND GET THE COMPLAINTS TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE..... I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THERE YEARS AGO.. NEED YOUR HELP.. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.. LOVE TO ALL... MAKES A JOKE OF THE WHOLE THING DOESN'T IT. XXX
you've got another thing comin' even she left it there.