2019 Rock N Roll HOF Nominees

https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/queen (if FM counts as "openly gay," maybe he doesn't)

Roxy all the way. Never made a bad record; gave us Chic and tonnes of punk / post-punk bands; also counts as a vote for Eno.

Kraftwerk, I love them and they are more objectively influential but they never made anything as heartstoppingly perfect as Mother of Pearl or If There Is Something - in my opinion anyway.

The Cure should have stopped years ago and haven't made a record in ten years the lazy fuckers. What's theur excuse? Robert Smith is at leadt technically alive. The "Bob pissed in his kitchen playing with Cubase on a laptop" affair that was Mixed Up II doesn't count.

Excuse poor spelling i am using a phone and being from the North of England my fingers are not particularly dextrous.

ILX knows what I think of Roxy, but they didn't give us Chic. Chic borrowed presentational concepts.

Lol, your argument for Roxy sealed the deal imo! (also a vote for Chic and Eno).

xp

And one of those presentational concepts (probably more than one tbf) was Roxy Music's

God, I can't believe Zappa's in the HoF. He sort of breaks all the usual induction rules, right? A pure cult figure, not a big unit-mover or stadium-filler. He's not even really a "critical favorite"!

The Cure will never be voted in in my lifetime, they are far to weird. I do give the hall props for actually nominating them after all these years.

First time they have appeared

The little write-ups of each inductee on the RRHOF website are the absolute worst:

NOT EVERYONE BOUGHT THEIR ALBUM, BUT EVERYONE WHO DID STARTED A BAND.

The Velvet Underground was literary but down to earth, schooled in both highbrow culture and the streets. They wrote about life as they saw it — drugs and all — but they saw the beauty in bleakness.

Drugs and all, you guys!

"the streets"

can we discuss those dashes

"I do give the hall props for"

Is "the hall" really deserving of props? Has it done not more bad than good, by simply existing?

^No, b/c it provided the occasion for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-50pwpfmJfA

Lol @ the idea that it is genuinely surprising that the RRHOF, whose founders include Ertegun and Wenner, has not yet inducted the Cure or Depeche Mode.

Ugh, why is their site alphabetized by first name?

Wait until you get to the "The"s!

That Velvets performance is so goddamn poignant. I don't care that it's a dandelion puff of a song. Their grief bound them together.

I tell myself I don't care about the rnrhof but I can't help but pull for some of my favorite bands. None of my favorite bands are nominated this year though, where are Depeche Mode and Sonic Youth?

Anyway, out of these I feel like Def Leppard and rage against the machine should be in mostly because I feel like they both did their specific thing much better that their contemporaries.

oh and Roxy Music which seems like a ridiculous omission (so far) even going by the weird standards of the hof

Not really. They were non-existent as commercial presences in the States.

Tbf Avalon went platinum in the US, and Country Life, Siren, and Manifesto made the top 40. They certainly had a different profile in the States compared to Europe though.

The thing is, it seems when Brits think of Roxy Music it's their first three albums that come to mind, all of which were duds in the US

No, I'm aware of their commercial performances in the States, and the rate at which Avalon got certified adduces the way it gradually sold and sold through the 1980s; but their American airplay during the 1970s consists of hot spots: Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia. They had no national presence at all. Ferry also lacked Bowie's interest in courting hostile American press but getting headlines anyway and Bowie's protean instincts.

i say we should get it over with and induct every musical act in history into the rock and roll hall of fame

You have a lot of faith in the Cleveland hospitality industry to absorb all those visitors for the induction ceremony.

Link Wray still hasn’t been inducted.

While on one hand I agree with La Bateau Ivre re: The Fall, who for a few years in the 80's were the finest RnR band on Earth imho. In my heart of hearts i just want to paraphrase the great Ron House and say "let's burn it down before The Fall gets in". Surely MES himself would've wanted nothing to do with it.

i say we should get it over with and induct every musical act in history into the rock and roll hall of fame
^^

how anyone can take it srsly is beyond me

Tom Morello seems well-connected (played w/ Springsteen) so I’d bet Rage makes it in.

To me the first ten years of the CURE are all time.
Plus I've heard hundreds of singers trying to ape Robert Smith.

how anyone can take it srsly is beyond me

I've made this point many times (in connection to the baseball HOF, too): taking an interest in something and taking it seriously (or actually caring enough to get emotionally wrapped up in it) are not the same thing. I'm interested in the nominations and inductions as a barometer of how different artists are viewed over time, or when looking at a thread like this, where people advocate and dismiss. As to actual emotional investment in the enterprise, less than zero. I mean, it amazes me how worked up people can get over whether or not Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are in the baseball HOF.

The Cure will never be voted in in my lifetime, they are far to weird. I do give the hall props for actually nominating them after all these years.

I suppose they are weird, but they released one of the most gorgeous pop songs of the past 40 years -- not to mention a handful of other standards -- and many groups already in the Hall produced far, far less. I have a hard time imagining the 1980s without the Cure. The fact that they aren't in already and are presumably facing stiff competition from the likes of John Prine and Chaka f-ing Kahn is ridiculous.

These nominations lists are quite successful at enraging me on an annual basis.

The baseball HOF is another beauty. I mean Babe Ruth got 95% of the vote, meaning 5% of writers thought Babe Ruth was undeserving of induction.

Which--not to derail the thread--is why that silly tradition continues today: Ruth didn't get 100% of the vote, so no one can.

The fact that they aren't in already and are presumably facing stiff competition from the likes of John Prine and Chaka f-ing Kahn is ridiculous.

I like the Cure but the Cure never sang "Street Player" or "Ain't Nobody" or fuckin' "I'm Every Woman" or, for the love of God, "Tell Me Something Good." One of the most gorgeous pop songs of the last 40 years? Try dance songs that still drive everybody out to the floor thirty-five years after they charted. Prine's a better songwriter than Robert Smith, too, but that's neither here nor there, the point is that Rufus murders everybody else on the list without breaking a sweat, not for nothing was Bruce Swieden mixing those amazing, perfect albums

Radiohead vs Rundgren

Voted Rundgren since he has been eligible far longer

Morello became part of the nominating committee around 2013-14, and his first act of advocacy was for Kiss. He and Questlove were brought in after Jon Landau et al had done a house cleaning of committee members who were very focused year after year on, say, various doo wop artists who had not been inducted, in favor or younger people: at one time every single younger member was a Rolling Stone staffer. I imagine both are still on the committee, and while his entire public posture is that of an unbending leftist, Morello is a HUGE schmoozer who was and surely still is quite comfortable in the most corporate corners of the music industry. If dave marsh is still on the committee, I'm sure he would advocate for RAtM and would continue to viscerally disdain the likes of the Cure.

I bet Questlove is a big todd stan, as Todd appeared on Fallon a few years ago, and the Roots and Q in particular played the SHIT out of "Couldn't I Just tell you," and so it might be a philly thing. Q played it unmistakably like he had been waiting many years to tear it up with Todd.

Link Wray still hasn’t been inducted.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, October 10, 2018 12:13 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a crime

Which--not to derail the thread--is why that silly tradition continues today: Ruth didn't get 100% of the vote, so no one can.

― clemenza, Wednesday, October 10, 2018 6:47 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

some guys are taking the same approach to the rock hall

Van Halen didn’t go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year they were eligible. Does Pearl Jam need to? If Van Halen had to wait — I think they waited like 10 years! As great as Pearl Jam is and as relevant as Pearl Jam is, really, first time, first ballot? No, not in my book, not when you have countless iconic bands still on the sidelines.

it's very dumb

Link Wray still hasn’t been inducted.

Not to mention Dick Dale!

Stevie Nicks or Roxy, but went with Roxy

That Velvets performance is so goddamn poignant. I don't care that it's a dandelion puff of a song. Their grief bound them together.

that lou smile at mo at 2:59 is everything.

Is there anywhere I could watch that Todd+Roots version of "Couldn't I Just Tell You", because it seems to have vanished from the internet for entirely Jimmy Fallon-related custodial reasons

Was looking for that too

I took a bit of a dive into Rundgren's catalog in the past year and while I do like bits here and there the general impression I got was one of fairly off-putting cynicism. might have been the gross way "Slut" is tagged onto the end of all the scatterbrained genre exercises of "Something/Anything" that cemented that impression for me.

reminds me of Zappa a bit, that combination of bitterness/sarcasm and ego and inclination towards being a show-off

that combination of bitterness/sarcasm and ego and inclination towards being a show-off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSMR9CfDioM

reminds me of Zappa a bit, that combination of bitterness/sarcasm and ego and inclination towards being a show-off

Yes, but by no means all the time - unlike Zappa.