Phil,
I summon you to log onto Rock Town Hall and come air your beefs about The Ronettes’ induction to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame with a potentially sympathetic audience. I’m sure Mr. Mod supports this invitation.
“My first objection to The Ronettes is that they did not record! Of all the recordings they made, only the lead singer appeared. The group behind her, as you no doubt know, consisted of any number of hundreds of singers I used for that purpose.
“Secondly, I do not think they made the contribution required of some to be in the HALL OF FAME, nor do they have the body of work that would qualify them for induction.”
Way to go, Phil! Create the Frankenstein of Girl Groups and then try to tear it down when your creation gets the credit. He’s probably right in his criticisms of their selection, you know. God bless the little bastard!
That is nuts! Is that a real quote? I wanna read this article!! RTH, rock entertainment at it’s finest – where do you find this stuff Mr. Mod?!
Oooh – I just realized this was a KingEd post, still interested in the article 🙂
I think Ed grabbed it from his other home on the Web, Phawker.com. Amazing stuff, no? I’d love to see the actual letter he sent in 1994. Wonder if it’s going to show up on the The Smoking Gun?
And Ed, yes, I second the invitation for Mr. Spector to enter our Halls. Anyone have any connections, know a warden in a correctional institute?
By the way, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is soon to be broadcaste on VH1 Classic, if I’m not mistaken, on Monday, March 12. Stay tuned for some possible HOT LIVE BLOGGING action!
Oooh – hot live blogging! Awesome!
Crazy, just read the article on Phawker. Thanks MM. This reminds me of something I read about Badfinger that happened with their 1995 ASCAP awards. They mistakenly gave out the awards/credited 5 people for an award for “Without You” instead of just Pete Ham & Tom Evans. Another reason why I just get disgusted hearing Joey Molland’s name most times. I guess they fixed the creditation afterwards, but right before the show happened, they refused to fix it because it was going to be filmed and they said it was too late. Sorry, I’m all Badfinger’ed out right now…;) Phil Spector does seem like an evil guy, and was it someone on here who wrote that his hair was protection like a sonic wall of sound? HIlarious;) He always reminds me of a flipped out Gene Wilder!
uhh…in the interests of getting this back on track (not that i didn’t enjoy your badfinger rant, ms cinnamon)…
halls of fame are tricky, aren’t they? joe namath is in, but ken stabler isn’t. both won one super bowl, but the latter had much better numbers than the former (as well as many qb’s who are in).
the ronettes are in, but like namath, it’s hard to make a case for them unless we include more subjective factors, right? “broadway joe” basically legitmized the super bowl, and brought some sex appeal to the nfl. it’s not a stat, but i guess the guys who vote value that stuff.
what did the ronettes bring? an image, a voice, some girl power. all valuable to the people who decide.
keep in mind, too, that phil masterminded LOTS of groups, but the ronettes were the most effective vehicle for his vision. so it can’t all be his doing.
and can you imagine the verbal abuse and mind games roni had to put up with just to get a vocal take right?
that’s a hall of fame effort in and of itself.
i say, let ’em in.
Great points, Art, regarding the Ronettes. I tend to undervalue Phil Spector’s achievements in general, but Ronnie Spector had a certain IT more than most if not any other girl group singer attempting to have IT. To me, Phil Spector’s Hall of Fame credentials are like those of a turn of the century ballplayer with a tiny glove, a thick bat spraying singles, and no players of color for competition. Influential, yes, but how good were they really? Is there any way to judge?
I’ll second on the great points. And yeah, I’m totally down with letting The Ronnettes in. As long as it wasn’t a skipping record behind curtain #1 and they sang the songs, so gimme a break…
yes, this might be a generational thing. the people in the age bracket just above us (now pushing 50 – 55), have this misty eyed reverence for ronnie.
so does rock’s glory generation, beginning with the beach boys on through to the last wave of british invasion boogie bands.
i’m sure that upon hearing of the ronette’s induction they were all saying “it’s about time”, rather than questioning it as we are.
plus, i think that the subtext of the ronette’s induction NOW (when all of his priggishness is finally coming to roost on his head) i wouldn’t be surprised if this was something of a “statement” induction…even at an intuitive level. at the very least, its timing begs the question.
it looks like a tacit acknowledgement by the “family” of the music biz that inducting Phil doesn’t give any credit to the artists who gave a voice to his vision.
not that i subscribe to such reasoning, but if such reasoning is applied, ronnie is most deserving, moreso than any of the other artists he shepherded up the charts.
art