Def Leppard were the biggest rock band in the world for ~3 years. I think that merits inclusion in and of itself. I don’t think you could say that about Styx for any period.
I definitely enjoy it and, honestly, have only had for a week or so—listened to it maybe five times. It generally takes me a while to get my teeth into any album, let alone a prog album.
Fun fact: Def Leppard is among a total of five acts to put out two 10 million selling albums consecutively. I read that on a placemat once. Seriously.
(For the record: Pyromania & Hysteria)
It’s quite a feat. Michael Jackson never did it. U2 either.
I gotta dig out the mp3s. I haven’t listened to any of these albums in about five years. It’s about time to check them out again.
My point is, why should a band that sounds good count for so little? Isn’t sounding good what music is all about? Styx managed to strike the perfect balance between all the elements that make good rock music–guitars, vocal harmonies, keyboard, lyrical concepts…
But no, rock has to be edgy and rebellious.
As for Def Leppard, they sound pretty good too, but they can’t hold a candle to Rush, Yes, or Styx. And yet I’m willing to wager that they get into the RRHoF before the others.
I’m discovering that Peter Gabriel is just a lawmower. I can by the way he walks.
Well, you can account for taste sqweels, so we’ll just have to disagree on Styx. Always felt fluffy and borderline bogus to me, though there are of course legions who’ll disagree with me on that. I do have an affinity for “The Grand Illusion” though.
That said, rock did start out as “edgy and rebellious.” It isn’t anymore—in fact, the simple existence of the RRHOF speaks to that—but upthread someone mentioned there seems to be a premium placed on innovation. Indeed, if it’s a hall of fame, it should be reserved for innovators and the absolute best of the best. It’s why I wouldn’t have put Mellencamp or Aerosmith in there—they’re popular, certainly, but they didn’t advance rock musically or do much of anything that, to me, deserves some sort of canonization. I know we’re arguing about the inclusion of acts in an institution that I’ve professed to not really give a shit about, but still: in our own, hypothetical pantheon of Rock Deities, I’d not include Styx for those reasons stated above.
It just occurred to me that The Moody Blues are perhaps one of the main instigators for the whole Prog Rock sound, combining rock guitars with classical orchestras, harmonicas, and wonderful vocals. If any prog rock group deserves to be inducted then The Moody Blues must certainly be at the top of the list: no?
There was a very well-written article about Rush in Rolling Stone a few months ago. I never really paid much attention to Rush, despite growing up during their heyday, and counting other prog-rock bands among my favorites (and, just being a big geek in general, as my handle here probably attests to).
In reading the RS article, I said to myself, “man, by all accounts, I really should be a Rush fan!”
I’m surprised nobody mentioned this, but Metallica’s James Hetfield, in his speech during the induction ceremony last Saturday named several bands that he thought needed to be inducted into the RRHoF as well. Among those bands he named was, of course, Rush.
Styx is an interesting example, because there are significant parts of their catalog that veer towards the pretentious / theatrical / prog (typically written by Dennis DeYoung), while they’ve also got a number of straight-ahead rock songs (such as “Fooling Yourself” and “Renegade”), which were usually written by Tommy Shaw or James Young.
I have to disagree with this. I’m not a huge Yngwie fan but the man can play. I’ve watched *A LOT *of videos of him and he really doesn’t do that much sweep picking.
Fair enough. I was using “sweep-picking” as a sort of shorthand for the style of hyper-complicated guitar favored by Yngwie and his contemporaries. I see him as more of a hyper-talented virtioso type but not one who really has a case for being in the RRHOF. If someone’s got an argument though, by all means, I’d like to hear it.
If you’re going the solo guitarist, I’d say Satriani is probably a better choice—highly skilled, more successful, more melodic (to my ears, at least). Leo Koetke would be great too, but he’s outside the RRHOF’s definition of rock, which apparently includes bubble gum pop and rap.
Yeah, I agree about Malmsteen. He has a lot of technical prowess but he doesn’t play with soul. I don’t think he should make the HOF. Satch should but probably won’t, either.