That's the key for me: "once upon a time." Once upon a time, e.g. back in grade 6 in 1973, when Mr. Weedmark brought the School's Out album to music class, Alice Cooper was this really grown-up, scary, endlessly mysterious entity, and "School's Out" itself was a blast. The idea that almost 40 years later, after all the bad music and celebrity foolishness and general Spinal Tap downward spiral, that one moment would be enough to convince me that Alice Cooper belongs in any kind of HOF strikes me as absurd.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I believe you can make that exact same argument for every single act currently in the Hall of Fame.
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Possibly, but at a certain level of achievement--Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, etc.--the downward drift doesn't much matter, any more that it matters that Willie Mays or Steve Carlton or Rickey Henderson hung on too long too. But you can't turn Alice Cooper into Willie Mays; at best he's Mike Cuellar, great for two or three years and then nothing. (And let me say pre-emptively that the Velvet Underground's or Sex Pistols' "two or three" years are a whole different matter.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
being a Rush fan is sort of like homosexualitylol
― tylerw, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:41 (fourteen years ago) link
"And let me say pre-emptively that the Velvet Underground's or Sex Pistols' "two or three" years are a whole different matter."
Bullshit. Why? because that's what you're supposed to think? It sure isnt because they made better music than Alice Cooper.
― Bill Magill, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
But here's the thing, I think being a Rush fan is sort of like homosexuality...some people are just born Rush fans, but it might take you a while to discover that about yourself...
OTM. I discovered this abt myself at age 36, everything just felt so right.
Rush, BOC and Current 93 stand as the biggest new enthusiasms of my thirties (though I still have 4 months to go)
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:43 (fourteen years ago) link
No homo.
i'm not crazy into Rush, but you know, a couple drinks, the right situation ... who knows?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Bill Magill: Yes, yes, I always place great importance on what I'm supposed to think...If you count Alice Cooper's body of work as being the equal of the Velvet Underground's or the Sex Pistols', well, have at it. That's kind of a hard argument to enter into.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
The idea that almost 40 years later, after all the bad music and celebrity foolishness and general Spinal Tap downward spiral, that one moment would be enough to convince me that Alice Cooper belongs in any kind of HOF strikes me as absurd.
you know what strikes me as being absurd? a hall of fame for rock and roll. i mean. . . it's crazy!
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
"That's kind of a hard argument to enter into."
How come? Here, I'll win it easily: I think Alice Cooper made better music than the Sex Pistols and the Velvet Underground. Not such a hard argument. Mike Cuellar, my ass.
― Bill Magill, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Good--we've settled that Alice Cooper were superior to the Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols. Thanks!...I think I half-agree with Mr. Que about the redundancy of the whole enterprise. If you go back to the very first inductees, though, they started off doing a good job--admittedly, it was a lot easier wading through the upper echelon. At some point they lost their way, and now I have no idea what the criteria are.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
in fairness, almost everyone made better music than The Sex Pistols, including pretty much everyone they inspired and musical projects taken up by Pistols members after the band broke up
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
and Yanni
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm 30, been a music-obsessed fan for about 10 years, and I just realized I haven't one single song from Rush. And the only song I heard from Alice Cooper is that "School's Out" song, but that was from a movie (I think). I never listened to classic rock radio growing up, so I blame that on my ignorance.
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:57 (fourteen years ago) link
*for my ignorance* Gah
you never Rush?
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 18:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Is there a minimum placed on who gets elected?
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
great post
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Alice Cooper's greatest songs (there were several) were on the level with Dylan's, the Stones, Neil's, the Pistols' and the Velvets'. And he made great music for more than two years. (Tons of it between 1971 and 1973, right; but at least sporadically back to 1969 and through 1980.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Depeche Mode have sold 25 million more albums than Journey?? Like, in a world that includes North America? Hm, maybe it's cause Journey's hits are mostly on a couple of albums?
― Sundar, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
That number was pretty shocking to me, too!
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:05 (fourteen years ago) link
xp And this is hardly the first time that argument's been made; it's really not that far-fetched. (Rolling Stone Record Guide gave Alice's Greatest Hits LP five stars out of five, way back in 1979. And it's not hard at all to hear his early '70s hits as a direct precursor of punk, except way more young American actually heard them.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
DP have put out like twice as many albums as journey did w/perry, maybe that accounts for something
― hobbes, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
i forgot HI DERE sang for Journey
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:08 (fourteen years ago) link
the best of times, IMO
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I'll check me out some Alice Cooper. Think I'll continue to be ignorant with Teh Rush.
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:10 (fourteen years ago) link
xost
fwiw, arnel pineda's login names have never been as funny as yours
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Aw man, just listen to 'Freewill' one time and come back to us.
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost
"Freewill" is the "just the tip" of Rush songs
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link
I like arguing about the HOF, so I like this thread, but I've got to head out for a while...Alice Cooper's greatest songs were, more or less, "School's Out," "Eighteen," "Elected," "Under My Wheels," "Hello, Hooray," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," maybe a few others. I wouldn't put them in the same universe as the best dozen songs from Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, or the Velvets. (The Sex Pistols comparison is complicated by how small their sample is, so I'd narrow the comparison to a half-dozen songs and make the same claim.) I realize that's kind of a boring, predictable conclusion, but boring and predictable can be true too. As for Alice's great music up to 1980, I think it's fair to say that, for most casual observers, Alice Cooper barely exists after "Only Women Bleed."
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Alice Cooper's greatest songs were, more or less, "School's Out," "Eighteen," "Elected," "Under My Wheels," "Hello, Hooray," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," maybe a few others
see...this is where your post starts to go off the rails. (not that those aren't great songs)
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I wouldn't put them in the same universe as the best dozen songs from Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, or the Velvets.
(and i would)
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Everyone's picking on me, so I'm gathering up my toys and going home! (Would another boring old guy please get on here and help me out?)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:22 (fourteen years ago) link
kind of sad that no one is biting on my "Yanni is better than The Sex Pistols" troll bait
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:22 (fourteen years ago) link
shocked at kiss not being in tbh. growing up they were little more than some scary dudes on lunchboxes but..they were on a lot of lunchboxes iirc.
This is Dave Marsh's doing: "Kiss is not a great band, Kiss was never a great band, Kiss never will be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot."
Can't say I disagree. And I like Kiss.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Aw man, just listen to 'Freewill' one time and come back to us.― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, March 16, 2010 12:13 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, March 16, 2010 12:13 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Done. It's alright. Not really my cup of tea, though. The guitar freakout about 3 minutes in was cool.
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:24 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to "halo of flies" right now, god this is great
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
It set off my "back away from the crazy man and don't make any sounds" instinct.
― Religious Embolism (WmC), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I could just never get over the cognitive dissonance as a kid of collecting Kiss cards, comics and magazines for a year or more and then finally hearing what they actually sounded like. This tepid boogie rock is the sound monsters and demons make?!?!?!
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:28 (fourteen years ago) link
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:22 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
What would an insufferable music snob definitely NOT have in their collection?
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:31 (fourteen years ago) link
ILM in being too concerned about being perceived as "unhip" to respond to trollbait shocker.
FUCK YOU DAN SEXY PISTOLS RUUUUUULES
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I think I speak for every human on the planet when I say we would be unreservedly thrilled to see Yanni inducted into the RnR Hall of Fame.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
yes, while tigers gave him a blow job
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
and F-14's screamed overhead
I prefer to vote for Cheap Trick.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:28 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Yeah, I felt that same let-down. My first KISS record was "Let's Put The X in Sex" too.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Also that weird german pop star (Haino? Heino?)Google gives way more varied hits for "weird german pop star" than I thought there would be.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link