The Crock n' Roll (Your Eyes) Hall Of Shame: Yes... and No

Today's post is from our friend HIM.

I have tired of the annual cycle of discussion relating to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (henceforth, RaRHoF). It happens here (but not yet). It happens elsewhere. It is almost stately in its boring “what if” character.

 

Which befits a shameless edifice like the RaRHoF. It serves only its masters. It feigns popular significance while pandering to the upper crust. It aims for diversity, while blurring boundaries that no one ever thought were that hard to maintain. At its best, it serves to remind us of its irrelevance every time a champion of music—the Rottens and the Millers of that world—decide to cast a sneering eye upon its inner workings. If it was as good as its namesake museum (which I recommend), it would still be less than one would expect with a moniker like the RaRHoF.

 

So let me serve up a bit of something different. Reflecting on the nomination (again!) of Yes, former (several times over) member Rick Wakeman strikes a pessimistic tone on Boston’s WROR. Not only about the fact that Yes deserves entry. As if that mattered. No. Wakeman opines on the majesty that is the (sub?) genre to which Yes belongs:

 

It seems that anything to do with prog rock was considered a dirty word by them, and it’s almost like an era of music, despite the fact it’s proven to be the most inventive and the most influential music to musicians that there’s ever been in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, and yet it’s ignored,” he added. “I’m not sure whether I’d turn up. I’m so disgusted with the way that prog rock and Yes have been treated I might be busy. I might be washing my hair that night.

Does that sound like Prog to you? To me, yes (no pun) and no. On the one hand, Wakeman is right. The RaRHoF picks and chooses as Wenner and his cronies see fit. Which would be a travesty if it was worth caring about. On the other, he sounds like a preening diva. Secure in the knowledge that he has created great music, Wakeman has to prattle on about Prog’s lasting impact. Not by merely asserting it as fact, which it is. But by coating it in a lacquer of pretension relating to inventiveness and influence . . . directed at, you guessed it, musicians. So he slams the RaRHoF while also reinforcing the very trappings of fey grandeur that tarred Prog in the first place.

 

I don’t often listen to seven hundred minute celestial jams of intricacy, ones which herald the evolution of mankind while paying tribute to the majesty of both roundabouts and the galaxy. But, when I do, I listen to Yes. But Wakeman needs to walk it back a bit. He is acting like the very thing he decries. Now set that to music and see who buys it. I, for one won’t.

Comments

[Gary]

Yes tended to only work for me after about 15 bong hits. lol. Incredible musicians,w/o a doubt. But 45 minute "songs", with 15 different completely time changes tended to lose me, even after said bong hits. Rush was my go to prog rock band,hands down. And even there,my favorite songs were of the shorter variety,compared to 13 minute "stroke fests" ( I equate a lot of these opuses as wank fests for the band members). Give me a 4/4 time signature, and explosive,rumbling backbeat and basic 1,4,5 chord changes through a Marshall amp for about 3 minutes and you'll hold this guy's attention. On a side note,If A.D.D. we're around in my youth, I'm pretty sure I'd have been a poster boy for it. . (The cure for a short attention span back then was my dad or a teacher cracking me upside the head and yelling "pay attention) LMFAO

[Ace Steele]

"I don’t often listen to seven hundred minute celestial jams of intricacy, ones which herald the evolution of mankind while paying tribute to the majesty of both roundabouts and the galaxy. But, when I do, I listen to Yes. "

I DON'T EITHER... but when I do, they're glammed up, glittered out, & 100 times more interesting, because it's NOT Yes, but ANGEL playing it.

Seriously, the only remotely prog stuff I could ever tolerate came from Angel's first 2 LP's, or some of Jon Lord & Deep Purple's more long winded forays into that genre'.

[stu]

every incarnation of yes has yielded some great stuff. are they as influential as they think they are, maybe. do they deserve enshrinement, probably. do we all forgive them for "owner of a lonely heart," hell no. but i do enjoy progging out from time to time and yes is normally at the forefront when i do.

[Metalboy!]

Always loved these guys from the git-go, which just goes to show, if it's good, it doesn't matter what genre it is as I dislike ALMOST everything from the genre, particularly bullsh*t artists, RUSH.

"Roundabout", "Long Distance Runaround" and "I've Seen All Good People"... Now THAT'S Music.

However, there are a lot more bands that should get in before they do. Ace has the definitive list.

p.s. I wonder if The Runaways were inducted, would Joan Jett be willing to get up on stage with the remaining living members... How KILLER would that be? Hopefully, Joan Jett would disobey manager Kenny Laguna who's obsessively stopped her at every turn from reuniting with them in the past.

[Him]

At this point, Metalboy!, methinks Jett's aversion to the idea has as much to do with that as it does with the fact that Ford is as unstable as three-legged table.