There is no “objectively”. That’s the difference between something like the RHOF and, say a platinum record. There’s no rubric for who gets in and who doesn’t.
And so, subjectively to me, parody/pure comedy is a disqualifier - I wouldn’t vote for Tom Lehrer, either, and I like his stuff.
You know who else doesn’t think Dolly belongs in the RRHoF? Dolly. She knows she’s a country star.
So instead of fighting them, she went out and recorded a rock n roll album.
She’s so rad. She’s another near-universally beloved figure. I don’t know most of her music that well, but Jolene is a hell of a song. Plus she gives books to kids.
If Al gets in, hey, why not Howard? (I’m not a fan, just throwing it out there)
Nancy Wilson of Heart makes push to get Howard Stern inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
“I am a big fan of Howard Stern…There’s another list coming up that would include him in a special category…So I suggest that you all talk about putting him on the special list for this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Howard Stern. Let’s go!”
This thread spawned a contentious morning discussion at The House Sitnam breakfast table this morning. My son and I were firmly in camp Weird Al, my wife and daughter vehemently opposed.
I had no idea I was sleeping with a Weird Al Hater!
Grounds for divorce, IMHO.
There’s a song for that.
One More Minute
Interesting. My husband is “meh” on Weird Al but thinks he belongs in the HoF.
What instruments does he play? How many hit records has he sold? How many bands did he influence? Was Nancy high at the time?
There is a category for “non-performers” (DJs, songwriters, record producers, industry executives, etc.), now called the “Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement.” It’s an annual honor (and is an induction into the Hall), but not part of the main performer ballot. That said, I was not aware that Stern was particularly influential in the music industry, though I have no doubt that he has had many musicians as guests on his talk show.
Well I guess I’m in the minority here. I’m just not seeing it. Yes, he’s had some charting songs but they are novelty songs. Not even, really, because he didn’t write the melodies - he just takes popular songs and makes up funny words to them. Even his originals didn’t do that well.
“White & Nerdy” is a parody of the 2005 song “Ridin’”. “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” didn’t break into the top 40.
He might be a ‘great’ musician, but so are thousands of other people who are not included.
From the RRHoF website:
“Nominees are chosen based on musical excellence, influence, and impact on the development of rock and roll.”
I don’t see how he has influenced the genre or impacted the development of Rock and roll.
Good post
I found an article that talks about 135[!] people and groups who are eligible but haven’t been voted in, many of them never even nominated, although they’ve produced some of the greatest albums of all time. (Scroll past the opening piece on McCartney to read the descriptions.)
Most of them have good reasons for being overlooked, true, but a good percent could be swapped for people and groups already in and the overall Hall wouldn’t be much different.
And yeah, Weird Al is one of them.
To be clear, the piccolo solo is not from the Brandenburg Concerto. Your article only states that, while listening to that Concerto, McCartney liked the sound of the piccolo, so he used a piccolo in the Beatles song. The notes in the solo, however, are not from any Bach piece, and didn’t influence what was played on the Beatles song. Only the instrument did.
Sorry, I’ll drop the hijack now.
Possibly so, but without actually counting on a quick scan through I wouldn’t support 90% of those 135 entries. Certainly none of the artists already inducted as band members. For example Stephen Stills is already inducted twice, but his solo work is so not deserving of being inducted. It’s fine, but c’mon. Same for David Gilmour, Pete Townsend et al.
There are also so, so many bands on that list that are just bog standard (semi-)successful rock bands or have very limited careers OR both. I mean Ram Jam? Sure their version of ‘Black Betty’ is kinda fun, but never.
Of course I’m a HoF minimalist. I’ve seen multiple people on this board advocate for bands like Supertramp. I like Supertramp, but I would never, ever vote them in. They were good, they were significant in their time, but nope.
Weird Al? No. I’m one who wouldn’t nominate a more or less pure parody/novelty act. The closest I might consider is the B-52’s who border on novelty a good bit of the time, but I think are arguably significant enough.
I guess there are two ways of interpreting this thread’s title question:
See. B-52s I can get behind. Definitely not just a novelty act (especially after they ditched the wigs) and a groundbreaking queer band.
I hadn’t heard Dog Eat Dog in ages, so I searched for it last night and played it from youtube. One of the comments said the of Talking Heads had performed that song that no one would have even thought it wasn’t their original.
To me, that’s a very interesting idea; which of Al’s style parodies are so good that they could have been played by the original band with no one the wiser?
Ong the style parodies, I don’t think anyone has mentioned Frank’s 2000" TV yet.
Craiglist (The Doors)
The fact that Ray Manzarek plays keyboards might be cheating.
I don’t like The Who at all, but if they had to revote the entire Hall and I had a vote, I would vote for them in a heartbeat.
I feel exactly the same way about Rush. The gave/give me nothing, but I can’t deny their influence, their staying power, etc.