I gotta run but will get back with comments. At first blush, The Smiths, NIN, Chic, Green Day and Lou Reed on the posthumous honor vote. Not necessarily who I want, but who I think will get in.
As long as Gordon Sumner gets passed over once or twice before getting, inevitably (sigh) admitted. Hate his solo stuff…
I would actually select NIN and Sting from that group. Maybe Green Day. Maybe.
In a long list of travesties by the lake, I predict NIN will get in before Kraftwerk. :smack:
Lou Reed isn’t already in?
Oh, VU is. Good enough.
Still no Yes-what a surprise. I guess they are severely out of fashion now.
I don’t want to live in a world that thinks Green Day is any kind of hall of fame worthy.
Again, Todd Rundgren is shut out. He’s not in as a performer, but not even as a producer? Hello? Bat Out of Hell? Skylarking?
He must have said something really snarky to Jann Wenner back in the day.
I’m more floored by the fact Green Day’s been around long enough to be nominated for the RnR HOF. Damn, I’m getting old.
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Lou Reed isn’t already in?
Oh, VU is. Good enough.
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I’m as surprised about that as you. I thought for sure he was already in as a solo performer.
Good god, frigging Green Day? And I’m sure, A) This being Rolling Stone and B) my luck being, well, my luck, that they’ll make it in in this, the first year they’re eligible.
Dammit!
Quick hijack (with apologies): I never get this. The man has written and released some terrific music in his time, and I’m not just talking about the Police material. Seriously, go back and listen to The Dream of the Blue Turtles, and especially …Nothing Like the Sun and The Soul Cages. Sure, it’s generally not the peppy, reggae-tinged pop that the Police regularly put out, but songs like “Fortress Around Your Heart”, “Children’s Crusade”, “They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)”, “We’ll Be Together”, “Why Should I Cry for You”, and “The Wild Wild Sea” (and many more) are all excellent damn songs.
And it’s not like this type of material wasn’t heralded long before Sting went solo, as far back as 1981, with songs like “Invisible Sun” and “Spirits in the Material World”.
Anyway, sorry again for the thread hijack. Knee-jerk Sting bashing tends to stick in my craw the tiniest bit.
Well, crud- this year there’s not a single nominee that I’ll be excited to see inducted.
2 & 3. Chic and NWA have been waiting their turn. I say they both get in this year.
Sting is in
Green Day is in
Stevie Ray Vaughn is in
I never much liked Kraftwerk, but they DESERVE to get in.
Everybody else? Who cares?
Get back to me when Deep Purple is on the ballot again.
I call shenanigans if the Smiths don’t make it in. They and Kraftwerk are the two most deserving nominees this year by far.
My guess: NWA, Lou Reed, Sting, Bill Withers, and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Not going to argue at all.
As for Sting - I would like to argue that I am not engaged in “knee-jerk” Sting bashing - I am bashing him with a fully-informed conscious decision, gosh darn it!! 
Bottom line: to me, IMHO, YMMV and all that - Rock n’ Roll should be dangerous. Someone should feel threatened by Elvis, Hendrix, punk, etc. Sting’s solo stuff is the antithesis of dangerous. It is easy listening music, however well written and performed by some amazing musicians I deeply respect.
But N.W.A. are far more rock n’ roll than Mr. Sumner’s solo work has ever been, again IMHO.
And he’s a hack lyricist. There, I said it. His lyrics suck.
I’ve listened to all three, and saw him on the …Nothing Like the Sun and Soul Cages tours (I had a girlfriend who was a big fan), and to me it’s all pretentious easy-listening yuppie twaddle. Certainly not rock and roll (though I realize that doesn’t have any real bearing on this particular institution), but even beyond that: are there any solo Sting songs that are considered “classics”? I mean, I may have heard “Fortress Around Your Heart” playing over a supermarket sound system in the last 20 years, but honestly, it doesn’t seem like his non-Police songs are part of the cultural consciousness the way many of these other artists’ are. But he’ll probably get in.
I agree with this, but would add Lou Reed, as well.
Two things:
I’m glad Stevie Ray Vaughan got nominated, being a huge fan, and
It’s VAUGHAN, not Vaughn!
WordMan and woodstockbirdybird, I get - and can agree with - what you’re both saying on an intellectual level. But on a pure gut level, I feel no ill will or animosity toward the man and his solo music. But I guess I was primed pretty early to not hate the man’s solo work, as I first really got into the Police (and I mean really got into the Police) upon first listening to their far and away biggest hit, “Every Breath You Take” (which is nigh unlistenable to me now, even though I’ll always delight in the fact that their biggest commercial success was attached to a dark as night song about stalking). I mean, while I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard “Fortress Around Your Heart” playing in the supermarket, I know I’ve heard “Every Breath You Take” played in the market, the doctor’s waiting room, the mall food court, and in umpteen elevators over the years.
Anyway, regarding singers that most of the internet despises that I haven’t all that many negative things to say about: I’m also pretty cool with Bono. And I even don’t hate (gasp!) Phil Collins. So, may as well burn my Cool Card posthaste, no?
Oh, and one more thing: What are the odds of the Smiths all getting back together and if not actually performing a song or two, at least getting up onstage together to accept their statuettes?
I will turn your face to alabaster, when you see the servant is your master!
I have stood here before, out in the pouring rain,
I see the world turning circles, running round my brain,
I’m always hoping that I’ll end this reign
But it’s my destiny to be the King of Pain.
His lyrics suck? I don’t know what you mean.
Phil Collins has written some great stuff. He went too far into popland, but I have much respect.
I’ve never been a U2 guy, and they are going through a tough run, but Bono’s written some great lyrics. I don’t do earnest uplifting very well, but he gets my respect for One and Mysterious Ways alone.
Smiths - did you read what Moz wrote about the drummer in his autobio? Never, ever happen.
As for Sting - I love much of the Police’s work. But if you read Sting’s memoir Broken Music, you know he was an easy listening guy prior to the Police, and that Stewart and Andy got him to think punk/world beat for their new project. The minute he had his own power, he went back to his easy listening ways. And he is a pompous ass in how he presents himself.
I listen to The Police and think of them separately…