It’s not predominantly that I like them, but that they were really influential for literally thousands of bands that followed. In my view, commercial success should be a second thought for this kind of awards, but influence and artistic merits should count most. Someone said (mostly attributed to Brian Eno): “Only one thousand people bought the first Velvet Underground album, but everyone of them formed a band.”. The MC5 are similar in that regard.
MC5 adds up to 1105, actually. Seriously, even Wikipedia lists the classic five member line-up of the Motor City Five.
If modern fan appreciation and Wikipedia articles are your criteria for entry into the Hall of Fame, then most of the artists instrumental in the development of the genre don’t belong there.
I’ve seen plenty of questionable criteria for admission to the R&R HoF, but Wikipedia page quality might be the most ridiculous I’ve heard of.
That “top five” is the fan vote, which will account for only one ballot out of the thousand-plus voters on the committee (the other voters are industry professionals, music journalists and historians, etc.)
That said, since they instituted the fan vote, it seems like the artists which finish in first place in that vote nearly always do wind up get elected by the entire committee.
I disagree a bit. What good are artistic merits if nobody ever hears them? Also note that I never said they shouldn’t be on the list. My objections were to Beck and Dolly Parton.
Hyperbole that no one can actually trace to who said it is not really something I would rely on. Just like I don’t rely on what music people say about their influences and what their lyrics mean. That often changes from interview to interview. And, I suspect, how high/loaded they are at the time.
That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying most people outside the music business have not heard of this band. They couldn’t even drum up enough fans capable of putting together a Wiki page. Compare them to Fela Kuti, who I also never heard of. It’s child’s play to find out everything about his music and his life, probably because he still has fans. And this is an artist from Nigeria that barely made a dent in the US charts.
Again, I didn’t say that alone. There simply is not a lot of info on them on the internet at all. This leads me to believe that they are fairly obscure to the general public. Which is no big deal, everyone likes some obscure to most people bands.
Arg, sorry, I read that from you earlier. Don’t know what I was thinking.
Which is probably the best argument for their induction. It’s shameful that such a pivotal and influential band in the history of Rock and Roll is remembered by so few people today. Those people inside the music industry you are talking about are the musicians (Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, and all the artists influenced by those artists) you HAVE heard of that never would have not gotten to where they are without bands like the MC5.
There’s a separate influencers category. Maybe it should be extended past the 40s and early 50s and into later years.
I did not know that, but that would be a good fit for them from the sounds of it. It should definitely include bands from the 60s/70s, if not later. I think 50 years is plenty of time to decide if someone is influential.
As an aside, T-Bone Walker is in the influencers category and was talked about in the new Reacher tv series. So that’s twice I’ve heard his name in 24 hours compared to zero in the last 24 years.
I don’t want to sound rude, but how informed do you think you are about bands from the 60s/70s? The MC5 really aren’t as obscure as you seem to think they are. Any person familiar with the the evolution of American Heavy Metal and Punk has at least heard of the MC5. Heck, anybody who has read about the 1968 Democratic Convention has heard of them. They made the cover of the Rolling Stone for cripe’s sake! - Well, at least their singer did.
Well you sound a bit rude. It’s not like I’m trash talking your mom. I’m not even trash talking MC5. I never said a word about them not belonging on the list. All I’m saying is that today they are not well known, and they really don’t seem to be.
I’m a big heavy metal fan and like a fair amount of punk also. What I don’t care about is their evolution. I mean, come on. Can you name the top 10 influences in the evolution of music that influenced MC5? What artists specifically made them possible? What about the 10 before that?
I’m willing to bet a lot of people made the cover of Rolling Stone that are just blips on the radar now. Except for Dr. Hook, they’ll always be the number one in the hearts of the people for their connection to the Cover Of The Rolling Stone.
I’m not sure why you quoted me about T-Bone Walker. He has nothing to do with what you wrote, or anything I’ve wrote in this thread except for that one paragraph. I specifically said it was an aside.
I was commenting on the fact that you apparently had never heard of the MC5 in the last 24 years. I don’t think that is representative of most people with any kind of familiarity with Rock music of that era.
I’d heard about T Bone Walker plenty over the past 40+ years. Then again I am interested in blues music so that makes my experiences different.
To be fair, I grew up in the 1970s, I’m a big fan of a lot of music from the late '60s and early '70s, and I DJed at my college radio station for two years, and I had never heard of MC5 until I started reading Rolling Stone, about 15 years ago.
No, I’ve never heard of MC5 until today. I’ve known about and listened to T-Bone Walker for decades, he’s just not normally brought up in general conversation. To me, music is to listen to, not something I talk about in any detail. I’m willing to bet I don’t know all the band members in most of the music I listen to. Or who they are married to or fucking or anything else about them. All I care about is the music. I get it, you like the minutia of the music you like, I don’t. It’s not really something to argue about.
Listened to him, yes, probably hundreds of times. Heard anyone bring him up in conversation about who were his influences and who he influenced? None.
Yeah, I don’t understand the big deal about me not knowing them seems to be such a big deal. I’m sure there are millions just like me, and we don’t seem to be ostracized for it yet. 
How many of the NYDolls are still alive?
Of the five band members on their first album (from 1973), only David Johansen is still alive.
AKA Buster Poindexter.
I’ve been mishearing that lyric for 30+ years. You’ve just blown my little 80s-music-loving mind.
Dolly Parton requested that her nomination be withdrawn because she isn’t rock enough (yet).
Though, as the article goes on to note, the ballots apparently are already in the hands of the voters, so it’s up to them whether or not to heed Dolly’s request to withdraw from consideration.