Frodo’s musical ignorance is showing, he doesn’t know enough about the other bands to choose.
(Also for some reason he seems to have started to talk about himself in the third person)
There was a great documentary of rock and roll on PBS from 1995. The final episode was named “The Perfect Beat” and it tied together rock, hip hop, and electronica. It showed how each influenced the others and how they were all just variations on the same theme. It’s a great watch and has fun interviews with artists from back in the day (the Beasties look and sound like they’re 15).
So yeah, I think hip hop definitely deserves to be in the rock hall. On the one hand, I can label a song rock or hip hop when I hear it. But I can’t come up with any workable definition of the difference. I mean, what is the definition of rock that doesn’t include “Fight the Power” or “911 Is a Joke”?
As @Thing.Fish said, they broke new ground in sampling. They were also leaders in bringing more traditional rock influences like electric guitar into rap. For rap and hip hop aficionados, they are typically in the top tier.
I’ll vote for a band that had great influence even if they aren’t my thing, but I won’t vote for a band I hate either. So no judgment here.
The Beastie Boys are the epitome of one of my favorite maxims: Just because something is objectively good, doesn’t mean you have to like it. I absolutely detest every song I’ve ever heard by the Beasties, but I can’t deny that they changed music in the same way that Elvis and Little Richard did. They absolutely belong in the HOF, but I’ll never vote for them. Same goes for the seminal Hip Hop artists like Public Enemy and NWA.
I did, too, until I went to a concert at Giants Stadium (NY metro) around 2003. Radiohead headlined, and Beck was scheduled as well - but he dropped out like two days before the show (claiming a leg injury, I think it was). The Beasties filled in for him, and they were terrific.
(Radiohead was great, too, but the fondest memory is of Elliott Smith playing in the parking lot.)
ETA: I see the show was called a “fiasco.” Didn’t feel that way to me.
Finally we will induct a hip hop act, as the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy have gone to a runoff vote!
I think this week we have one of the strongest ballots we’ve seen in a while, welcoming the 2015 inductees. Buddy Guy has finally fallen off the ballot, but John Lee Hooker returns from the 1990 ballot to carry the banner for The Blues. Vote for three.
I love the Beasties, but the only thing more unbearably white than having no hip hop acts in the Hall would be to have them be the first one. Otherwise, Neil Diamond and Linda Ronstadt are really the only acts here I wouldn’t particularly want to see in the Hall. (checks preview…um, no offense, Author_Balk!)
Both Public Enemy and the Beasties deserve to be in, but I figured the Beasties would run away with it so voted for PE. I’m shocked to see it’s 4-0 for PE so far. Still early and all that.
Of the current ballot, there are a bunch of artists that I think should clearly be in, but aren’t really my thing. Green Day is the only one I listen to with any regularity. I voted for Lou Reed and Stevie Ray Vaughn, but I suspect neither of them will have any trouble getting in so I might change my vote strategically.
Public Enemy over the Beastie Boys, but I’d vote for both given the option.
Lou Reed should 100% be in any rock and roll hall. He’s just too hugely influential not to be.
John Lee Hooker is a sentimental favorite as a blues pick. For me Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, and Muddy Waters are the top three in about that order (Johnson’s not a personal favorite, but is cited as an influence by every guitar hero there is). JLH is probably #4, but blues is soooo foundational to rock I think he deserves the nod.
Linda Ronstadt is the only “interpreter” I think I’d vote for (i.e. exclusively re-worked the songs of others). I think it’s fair to include at least one and I think she is the best.
Big fan of Paul Butterfield, but no. Have voted for The Temptations, but can’t on this ballot - if I had four votes, they’d have gotten the last. Like Bill Withers a lot, but probably not. Like the Ventures and almost want to vote for them as the kings of a niche, but it’s a very narrow niche - a strong maybe. Like Green Day, but no. Like Neil Diamond and another strong maybe. Dislike KISS (even ignoring the fact that Gene Simmons is a human pustule) though I grant their massive popularity and commercial theatricality, but no. Like Joan Jett a bit, but no.
Love Stevie Vaughn, but…ehhhh…I don’t think so. He’s great and all, but he’s just derivative enough that in a narrow hall being one of the very best at what he did doesn’t quite cut it for me. As you start going down the line of guitar heroes at some point you have to have a cut line. Clapton, yes. Hendrix, yes. Jeff Beck, yes. SRV, borderline.
I’m surprised to see John Lee Hooker doing so well after Buddy Guy struggled and Albert King barely made a dent.
In a Blues hall of fame, Hooker is a no-brainer, but in a Rock and Roll hall of fame his case isn’t as strong. I think he was less influential than Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters & Buddy Guy, Howling Wolf, the Three Kings, Albert Collins, and of course Bo Diddley.
Not that I’m arguing for people to change their votes; it’s an observation on the dynamics of a RnR HoF that only allows 3 votes a year.
I struggled with this comment last week. Both of those songs were early entries into my favorites playlist, but I would never consider them Rock and Roll.
But thinking about them more, I could easily lump them in with Punk and, to me, Punk is part of Rock so in the end I agree with your statement.
Willie Dixon, agreed. Muddy Waters, agreed. Bo Diddley, agreed. Howlin’ Wolf…maybe. But Hooker was foundational (Buddy Guy grew up trying to emulate him) and I guess it just depends how much you value foundational over more direct influence.
Hooker to me is more important than Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Albert King, B.B. King (confession time - I find B.B. King’s playing boringly repetitive) or Freddie King. I think your argument is pretty reasonable - catch me next month, I might agree. But like I said, JLH is a bit of a sentimental pick for me