2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees POLL

tapestry was released 50 years ago today, so points for symmetry

i'm not gonna hate on any of these acts, but new york dolls/go-go's/ratm didn't really put out that much music. and as jaymc pointed out elsewhere, where are pj harvey/björk/tori?

Surprised the New York Dolls aren't in...well, not that surprised, since the MC5 also aren't in. But the Dolls and Fela easily, along with Chaka, Tina Turner, Carole King, and Dionne Warwick.

They should have just started with everybody in, and then every year they vote someone out.

I like that! This year's ballot: Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods, Matt Bianco, Rupert Holmes, Doctor & the Medics, the Foo Fighters.

Ratt gets snubbed again

The day Björk gets nominated for the R&R Hall of Fame, I'll start listening to Iron Maiden.

In 2018, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden criticized the Hall of Fame by calling it "an utter and complete load of bollocks ... run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock 'n' roll if it hit them in the face."[69] Dickinson has also expressed an overall distaste for the Hall of Fame entity, arguing that "if you put [music] in a museum, then it's dead."

Wonder how he feels now.

Putting on Number of the Beast. What a dazzlingly tight band.

I also am incredulous that Tori Amos wasn't admitted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in her first five years of eligibility btw.

But Maiden are incredible live.

no kidding. an Iron Maiden concert feels like a HOLIDAY to me when I have tickets. I usually take the next day off (well that's due to getting drunk but).

the only one I didn't enjoy was the first one, because I road a Greyhound to get there, didn't sleep the night before, was sunburnt and heat-exhausted and about to pass out before it started.

The Flight 666 documentary was eye-opening, especially for the amazing crowds they get in South and Central America.

Go-Gos shouldn't be in if the Bangles ain't in

I voted based on which one I would keep if I could only keep one in my collection: Fela.

"Hallowed Be Thy Name" is so beautiful and flows so well.

Kathy Valentine says she's gonna give a vote to Devo

Otoh:

Retweeting in honor of Fela Kuti’s inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees. https://t.co/h5eDq2v28x

— Ted Gioia (@tedgioia) February 10, 2021

I voted based on which one I would keep if I could only keep one in my collection: Fela.

tbf if I was voting and using this reasoning, I would land on Fela, too. Wouldn't think twice.

Conceding the American bias of this thing, I'd personally put Bananarama on a plane with the Go-Gos and the Bangles. I like Bananarama better than the other two, but I'm not sure any of really warrant induction.

Go-Go's: First All-Female Rock band to Hit #1; wrote and played all their own material; quality catalogue.

xpost

A vocal trio assembled by their producer (a perfectly viable artistic method, ftr) vs. two self-assembled bands. Show your work.

I don't really give points for that stuff, to be honest. Tom Parker project Elvis Presley didn't write his own material, did he? Bananarama fits very neatly into the history of girl groups.

The comparison surprised me too. Also, the Bangles rocked. xp

I just like Bananarama's best songs better, that's all. "Cruel Summer," "Rough Justice," "Robert De Niro's Waiting," and (especially) "What a Shambles," I love them all.

i know this convo has been had a million times so i'll hide this. you know what it's going to be

why can't they just rename the rock and roll hall of fame to the music hall of fame

Just realized two Germs are nominated: Belinda Carlisle & Pat Smear.

I'd just as soon compare the Bangles to REM or the Dream Syndicate.xps

Jack Morris is a good analogy (the Foo Fighters: winningest band of the '90s), except they don't even have a Game 7 on their resume. Harold Baines, maybe, except I like Harold Baines. I don't know if there's such a blatant long-term mediocrity that works as an analogy.

― clemenza,

this is not a good example, but for baseball/music HOF comparisons, i'm going with danny ainge for foo fighters: famous for multiple career paths, but obviously way better at one than the other

ok, that's a stretch. what i'm saying is, danny ainge was good at baseball, but especially good at basketball. grohl is a very nice man who plays guitar, but he was a very good drummer

Just one more Bananarama post, that's it (they weren't on my mind when I woke up today)...A vocal trio assembled by their producer--is that true? I looked up their Wikipedia entry, and if that's accurate, their story seems pretty comparable to the Go-Go's; fans and friends who decided to start a band.

Bananarama formed in September 1979 when teenagers and childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward moved from Bristol and met Siobhan Fahey. Dallin and Fahey were studying journalism at the London College of Fashion (University of Arts) and Woodward was working at the BBC in Portland Place. Dallin and Woodward were living at the YWCA and were about to be made homeless until Paul Cook, with whom they had become fast friends after meeting at a club, offered them a place to live above the former Sex Pistols rehearsal room in Denmark Street, Charing Cross.

Tapestry's the only album my mom owned on LP, 8-track, tape, and CD.

Gotta be honest, Foo Fighters might be the only band on the list actually excited about being nominated.

Can’t believe they’re eligible already (time passing, how does it work?)

am reading steven hayden's classic rock book "twilight of the gods" and he makes a good point that dave grohl, due to continued commercial success, general amiability and willingness to do things, and connection to maybe the last iconic rock star, has come to be a stand-in for the concept "rock music" when they are doing big celebrity things w/other pop and hip hop stars

Very much so. (Did he inherit that from Tom Petty?)

Is that Hyden book any good? He's never struck me as a particularly insightful thinker, so I'm wary.

voted devo

xpost
well...i got it on sale for $2 on Kindle

if you are inclined to not like him, i would say it's not going to change your mind

he's got that glib kinda chuck klosterman tone and isn't as you say a deep thinker or anything

for me, like klosterman, he grew up in a specific upper midwest milieu that is very similar to my own upbringing and how i got into music so certain things resonate w/me that probably wouldn't others

parts are good, esp defining "classic rock" (the concept) vers. classic rock bands (say, velvet underground etc) and how bands like reo speedwagon are more important to classic rock than the beatles etc

it's breezy for sure, i'm having trouble with more serious reading lately

dave grohl, due to continued commercial success, general amiability and willingness to do things, and connection to maybe the last iconic rock star, has come to be a stand-in for the concept "rock music"

I thought this was just sort of a universally acknowledged fact!

its hard for me to look at that list and not see it as "fela + a bunch of other acts". the body of work is so towering, it looks wildly out of place to see him on a list alongside the ny dolls and todd rundgren

Depending how you feel about punk, the New York Dolls are pretty towering.

xpost
he's got that glib kinda chuck klosterman tone and isn't as you say a deep thinker or anything

for me, like klosterman, he grew up in a specific upper midwest milieu that is very similar to my own upbringing and how i got into music so certain things resonate w/me that probably wouldn't others

parts are good, esp defining "classic rock" (the concept) vers. classic rock bands (say, velvet underground etc) and how bands like reo speedwagon are more important to classic rock than the beatles etc

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, February 10, 2021 12:35 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://media.tenor.com/images/7e326950fbca615db95b721f83d523c3/tenor.gif

Depending how you feel about "add 9" chords, Todd Rundgren is pretty towering. I'll vote for him as personal favourite without really having a stake in whether he gets in or not.

Devo.

Depending how you feel about punk, the New York Dolls are pretty towering.

― clemenza, Wednesday, February 10, 2021 12:44 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sure, they definitely were in their way, but...well, put it this way: over a million people attended Fela's funeral. I doubt the Dolls have sold one million records (or played to a total of one million people). And that's not even getting into Fela's absolutely massive worldwide influence across wide swaths of musicians and composers, and the entire generations of musicians and activists that cite him as a key influence and inspiration.

You could use that as an argument that the Dolls, not Fela, need the attention.

parts are good, esp defining "classic rock" (the concept) vers. classic rock bands (say, velvet underground etc) and how bands like reo speedwagon are more important to classic rock than the beatles etc

Yeah, see, I would absolutely read a serious, well-argued book on these subjects, but I doubt Hyden is capable of writing one.

rock n' roll wouldn't make it into the fela kuti hall of fame

You could use that as an argument that the Dolls, not Fela, need the attention.

Tbf, it's a hall of fame. Rundgren towers for me as well, though.

I didn't mean that as a comparison of the relative toweringness (?) of the New York Dolls and Fela Kuti--as I posted earlier, I just don't know Fela Kuti's music. (This thread did inspire me to get a compilation.) Just that I don't think you can brush aside the Dolls. In the space of two albums, they did alter the course of history--not alone, but they're right alongside the Stooges and the Velvet Underground in shaping punk.

Is he the first African nominated?

Ben Sisario pointed out that Trevor Rabin of Yes was the first (and remains the only) African person in the R&RHOF, which is kind of like how Charlize Theron was the only African actor to win an Oscar before Lupita Nyong'o came along'o.

Marcus included Legendary Masters in his Stranded discography, but I agree, he does stick out. Bill Haley does too, and I'd even extend that to Eddie Cochran.

Looking at that list of "early influence" inductions, it makes sense why no one would object at the time. Those inductions involved music created before rock n' roll crystalized into something everyone would recognize. As a result, "early influences" is a lot more defined - there's no question it refers to important work pre-dating that of the main inductees.

Ricky Nelson's work is at least a cut below what Chuck Berry et al from the first wave made to define rock n' roll, but his best work is still great. He still cut some really lame shit - specifically the type of harmless teen pop that was big before the Beatles came along - but he made sure to get the stuff he really liked on tape, and compilations like Legendary Masters generally do a great job focusing on that. He put together a great band (James Burton was still a little-known teenager to most and this was his most visible work), and guys like John Fogerty later cited those records as being a major influence and leaving a big impression before they tried making music themselves.

the Terence Trent D'Arby conundrum

^ my favorite Robert Ludlum novel btw

Anyway when we talk about producers and engineers, why not just keep going and include acousticians? The person who decided that the Record Plant in Sausalito should have tan shag carpet on the walls made a huge contribution to the sound of Rumours.

Why stop there; someone probably brought a tray of tea into Abbey Road at just the right time to perk up the Beatles.

(Lest I sound too flippant, I should say that the arts are collaborative by design, as they should be, and I've never thought of artists as being in competition with one another, so top-x lists and ranking and awards and halls of whatever have never appealed to me, but I understand that one can be mildly interested in the conversation while not endorsing the whole institution.)

Looking at that list of "early influence" inductions, it makes sense why no one would object at the time. Those inductions involved music created before rock n' roll crystalized into something everyone would recognize. As a result, "early influences" is a lot more defined - there's no question it refers to important work pre-dating that of the main inductees.

i completely agree. but inasmuch as it included figures like louis armstrong, charlie christian and hank williams, it also shows that jazz, country, folk and other branches of the american musical tree were built in to the dna of the rock hall of fame from the beginning, and any complaints that only people whose musical licenses include the word "rock" with a capital R should be considered for a place on its walls have always been, and continue to be, foolish.

I think I mentioned this earlier with Ornette Coleman, but during a big tribute concert in his honor (possibly the Brooklyn concert that was also his final public appearance - one of my BIGGEST regrets as I planned to go but had to skip it due to work), someone pointed out that many of the participants weren't usually known as jazz musicians - yet Coleman's influence on their work was very much apparent and they certainly belonged there. It brought up the argument that the most fruitful results of his innovations were now being found in experimental and avant-garde music more closely associated with rock rather than jazz. Who would've predicted that in 1962, a year after Free Jazz was released and with Coltrane's freer masterworks just around the corner? It's another reason why I don't like it when so much emphasis is put on categories because who knows how the music is going to evolve? (Again, "Voter Two"'s great defense of the Fela Kuti nomination speaks to this.)

Indeed, most of what I know about Coleman and "harmolodics" is via Royal Trux.