2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees POLL

This thread is the Rock Hall's greatest claim to fame.

If it's your own collection, just file them where you'd immediately think they'll be - you shouldn't have to think it over, it's for your own convenience. I guess I file them 'correctly,' but I was already used to the correct filing from libraries, stores, etc.

the reason I compared Foo Fighters to Jack Morris upthread, flawed as it was, as it seems like they're getting it purely on longevity, for being a 'decent enough' band that managed to last 25+ years.

which is kind of mind blowing to me, as I never expected them to have that kinda career arc when I first listened to them in the 90s. I don't think anybody was convinced they'd really be an ongoing thing until Colour came out and blew up.

fwiw it’s not just that they’ve been around, it’s that they’ve been around and been popular the whole time. foo fighters have 14 mil spotify monthly listeners, which i think is the most of any post-grunge group from their era.

It's not just that they've been around and been popular the whole time, it's that they've embraced this role of torchbearers of the Rock'N'Roll™ brand.

Build it a museum and establish guitar camps to teach it to kids

They defined the sound of modern rock radio, to the degree that you know all their hit songs but have no idea who sings them. Because they're so bland it could be anyone.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Adoration of the Mogwai (Deflatormouse) at 6:26 20 Feb 21

They defined the sound of modern rock radio, to the degree that you know all their hit songs but have no idea who sings them. Because they're so bland it could be anyone.


I actually think Foo Fighters are very identifiable, I instantly know it's them when I hear a new song

Everybody can complain about the Foo Fighters, but it's inevitable - first the grunge bands go in, the britpop bands are next, then the nu-metal bands go in (RATM as the first), and then brace yourself for all the emo bands. Paramore and Coheed & Cambria will be on that stage whether us old farts like it or not.

Ten years ago, I wrote something to the effect that eventually everyone will be inducted except for England Dan & John Ford Coley. Or at least not both of them.

Gary Glitter seems unlikely

“Rock and Roll (Veto)”

I don't know if the Britpop bands get in except maybe Oasis

I don't really think of Fela as rock n roll, but I voted for him anyway

he didn't make rock, but he was still fairly influential in the world of rock music

Recognizing influencers is but one of the things the HoF appears to be trying to do; as I wrote upthread

every rrhof year appears to be trying to do some mixture of the following things

1. Belatedly make up for its history of snubbing genres (rap, metal)

2. Belatedly make up for its history of snubbing whole categories of humans (POCs, women)

3. Belatedly make up for its history of snubbing influencers (vintage blues and soul and R&B)

4. Belatedly make up for its history of snubbing contributors (producers, engineers, session people)

5. Honor acts that were extremely famous and sold lots of records and filled arenas

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm still operating on 1987 time or something: Devo getting twice as many votes as the New York Dolls is puzzling (insofar as they're vaguely connected: comparing Kate Bush's vote count to the New York Dolls' would be meaningless).

Devo have at least a handful of hit songs that I would imagine have a healthy afterlife on Spotify. NY Dolls don't really have any hits.

I was thinking more of a board like this, where my guess is most people are familiar with the music of both and historical context. Maybe some people vote more as a prediction, I don't know.

And then again, maybe Devo is just better liked.

I think bands that were more about the historical moment, live show, etc. like the Dolls will always have a harder time translating appeal to new generations. I guess both Devo and the Dolls had interesting sartorial choices.

the band that formed after dodging bullets at the kent state massacre not exactly lacking for 'historical context'?

Devo definitely feels more modern than the Dolls in many ways and their early herky jerky stuff echoes throughout U.S. underground rock to this day

I know of the New York Dolls by reputation, but I couldn't tell you any of their songs.

I really love the Dolls but I remember hearing them at first and being really disappointed, I thought they were supposed to be this wild punk band and it kinda sounded like...Aerosmith if they couldn't play for shit?

their appeal is very subtle, but now i love them

I was really too young to understand the historical context of either of these bands. I do remember Devo's "Whip It" fitting seamlessly into a radio landscape of other catchy New Wave pop-rock like "Centerfold", "Another One Bites the Dust", "Super Freak", "Funkytown", and "Don't Put Another Dime in the Jukebox" in the early '80s though.

the band that formed after dodging bullets at the kent state massacre not exactly lacking for 'historical context'?

I meant musically, of course.

I thought they were supposed to be this wild punk band and it kinda sounded like...Aerosmith if they couldn't play for shit?

Exactly, plus Steven Tyler was a better lyricist.

Maybe there's also the feeling, after both the Sex Pistols and Poison have been throughly digested, that the Dolls' time of influence has come and gone? Whereas Devo still stand as a unique phenomenon?

the Hardcore Devo comps of the early stuff I think changed the band's profile

I also wonder if the Dolls reunion albums and shows, which were at least politely received at the time, took some of the mythical aura away.

I think there's probably some truth to that.

Buster Poindexter didn't help, either.

definitely did not

I'm not a Buster fan, but I think, in a way, the distance of that act from the Dolls underscored the myth - like Johansen had to devise a complete different persona in the 80s because there was no point in trying to redo what the band had done.

His solo work (post-Dolls / pre-Buster) holds a reasonably fond place in my memory. Let's Just Dance etc. Drunk oldies covers.

i strive to forget buster poindexter, but its funny how it seemed like a distancing act at the time (at least to me), but in hindsight it makes sense as a progression of the dolls idea, certain aspects of the dolls taken to the next logical extreme

Taking Sides: Buster Poindexter vs the Swiffer

I kind of like "Everything is Awesome" but at least it doesn't seem to have hurt Devo's image.

I don't understand the animus toward the whole Buster Poindexter thing. The first two albums are perfectly fine, amusing Louis Prima-esque schtick. The songs are decent and reasonably uncommon; he's not singing things you've heard a million times before, and he had a good band full of NYC session pros.

I thought "Hot Hot Hot" was decently catchy and amusing when I heard it. It would be many years later till I found out he had been in some band called the NY Dolls.

it's not animus for Buster Poindexter, but if you're looking for things that made it harder for the NY Dolls to maintain their reputation and importance in subsequent generations of rock nerds, that's part of it

Buster Poindexter was part of the Dolls, too, especially a couple of the covers on the second album, and honestly, I didn't much care for it then, either.

the beginning of the Hot, Hot, Hot video is this weird moment where an out of character "Poindexter" explains he used to be in the New York Dolls and this is his new act or some ish

here’s where I interrupt the proceedings for a PA by a Calypso and Soca Hall of Fame inductee:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkGgdIBX1to

I had forgotten all about the intro to the Poindexter video. It is kind of strange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhZba-P7R18

Watching that led me to this Tonight Show clip, which is something:

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

I enjoyed both the Hot Hot intro and the Carson clip.

There was a sketch on the comedy show Bizarre with the same extended joke, although I don't think Goulet was the punchline. I assume they're both borrowing some old vaudeville routine.