4 posts were merged into an existing topic: Nonobaddog cornfielded posts
The biggest problem is that the term “Rock and Roll” or just “Rock” has been expanded to become pretty much meaningless. Very little of the music produced 25 years ago or since meets my (admittedly vague) definition of the genre.
I have always wondered:
Are they people who surf buttholes, or buttholes who surf?
Since they are from San Antonio, I assume the former.
Which also leads to one of the big criticisms some folks have about recent nominees: “They don’t play (what I consider to be) rock & roll / rock music!”
Truth in advertising would be a title for the place like, “The Hall of Fame for Music Which Has Been Popular in the U.S. from the Late 1950s Onward,” but that doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Hell, I know most of my faves which aren’t in never will even be considered for nomination. And while I don’t really care all that much for Tull, their continued snubbing is truly preposterous even if Ian Anderson said he wouldn’t accept it anyway.
I totally disagree. I like that the Hall embraces popular music in all its messy diversity, rather than trying to police the boundaries of genre. I like that it gets us to engage in ridiculous conversations about the relative merits of Iron Maiden and Luther Vandross. Apples-to-apples comparisons are boring. The greatest musicians are usually the ones that are hard to slot into any easily-defined genre, anyway.
Wrong Buckley, you’re thinking of Tim, the dad. Jeff is the Hallellujah cover guy. And I don’t think he deserves it, myself.
Put Styx in the Hall of Fame, dammit.
Yeah I realized that after the edit window closed.
32 out of 50 ain’t bad
Joy Division/New Order should and will get selected.
Wu-Tang Clan is a no-brainer, slam dunk selection.
Oasis would be an automatic pick if the Rock and Roll HOF was located in the UK. However, since it’s not, they may have to wait a bit.
Black Crowes: started off with two solid albums, but were uneven after that. I don’t know if that’s enough to get them in.
If Black Crowes get in, they would logically have to extend the size of the building to include all the more deserving acts. Two hit albums, hey, good for them, but that describes a LONG list of artists.
Again, Supertramp isn’t nominated, as well as any number of other acts that clearly are a bit more impressive in the CVs than Black Crowes. That said, there’s some decent choices here.
The weird choice here is Lauryn Hill, who did excellent work with the Fugees, then released one of the greatest albums ever made in the history of music when she was 24, and then… well, basically seemed to find the music industry uninteresting, got in trouble with the government over taxes, and so on. I’m not sure how one rates a tremendous three-year-peak.
The Zombies. Three of the greatest British Invasion singles, one album that weirdly is acclaimed (Odyssey and Oracle) that went all the way to #95 on the charts, one great obscure cover (“I Love You” by People) that nobody knows they did first.
I love those three singles. I’ll play them over and over, and I don’t usually do that. But a Hall of Fame career? The line barring short careers has already been obliterated.
No offense, RickJay…I don’t disagree with you, but I feel it’s a major indictment of the Hall of Fame that the standards have been lowered to the point that the exclusion of Supertramp is now difficult to defend!
Like I said, New Order and Oasis should be in. If I had to pick a third, I’d go Lauryn Hill in a close call over Wu-Tang.
The “Fan Vote” concludes tomorrow; the top seven vote-getters will make up the “fan ballot” (which is one of several thousand ballots).
At this point, the top seven (in order of votes) are:
- New Edition
- Phil Collins
- Pink
- Luther Vandross
- Shakira
- INXS
- Sade
Just under those (and possibly having a chance to push into the top seven) are Wu-Tang Clan and Billy Idol.
This year’s list of inductees will be announced on American Idol tonight. (The final tally for the Fan Vote remained unchanged from what I posted two weeks ago, though Shakira passed Luther Vandross.)
As it happens, I’ve been revisiting 90s music lately, and I wish to revise my opinion. Choosing Lauryn Hill over Wu-Tang is not, in fact, a close call IMO.
Talk about Slim Pickings!