Oct 162013
Please list this year’s nominees for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the order in which you think they should be included. If you don’t have the patience or interest in listing them all, please just list the top 5.
And the nominees are…
Nirvana, Kiss, the Replacements, Hall and Oates, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, LL Cool J, N.W.A., Link Wray, the Meters, Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens, Yes, and the Zombies.
Boy, do I hate this yearly event, but it is fun to complain about it. Here’s how I rank the nominees with some comments added, as necessary.
1. KISS: I can’t stand the band, but let’s stop the nonsense and put those fuckers in already! They defined Barnum & Bailey Rock of the ’70s. LET THEM IN!
2. Yes: Another genre-defining band that has been kept out for far too long while lesser contemporaries get in. Who’s put out more double- and triple-album sets than Yes? For that alone they belong in the Hall of Fame!
3. Linda Rondstadt: She was little more than a pleasant lightweight, but man was she a titan in terms of ’70s-era teenage boy fantasies. She always seemed like a good egg. She walked away from fame and did her thing at a young age, indicating a high degree of integrity for a rock musician. Now she’s very sick and will one day too soon be too sick to enjoy the moment. Let Linda enjoy this moment. Her eventual display case better include the roller skates, the Cub Scout uniform, etc.
4. Nirvana: If they had released more than 2 albums that were in the public eye, I would rank them higher. Plus, their ranking is hurt by my sympathy ranking for Rondstadt. Live fast, die young. Cobain is the slightly overrated Jim Morrison of this era. In retrospect, there was no denying the impact of The Doors, as there will be no denying the impact of Nirvana.
5. Hall and Oates: These guys were quality, blue-eyed soul hitmakers, a step above the likes of Boz Scaggs, the Doobie Brothers, et al. Their hooks were so strong that they managed to transfer their original ’70s sound into the ’80s without it completely sucking.
6. Peter Gabriel: The Man Who Can Do No Wrong will probably finish in the top 3 of the selection committee, his induction speech presented by a wry and sexy Sting. Statesman, prophet, scientist, multimedia pioneer, Gabriel will lead a stage full of bald or closely cropped, slightly eccentric British women musicians, including Kate Bush, Sinead O’Connor, Annie Lennox, and a newly shorn Adele through an All-Star Jam of American soul classics.
7. The Replacements: As many of you know, I’m not a big Replacements fan, but I’d enjoy seeing them inducted as representatives of The Little People of Rock ‘n Roll. I don’t think they are as deserving as KISS and Yes, but if I were a betting man I would say they will take Yes’ spot and give middle-aged record executives a chance to stand up, clap, and remember when they were nothing more but true rock ‘n roll fans.
8. N.W.A.: These guys should make it simply for their edgy name (I believe their full name was Niggas With Attitude – or is it spelled Niggers or Niggaz?) and the fact that they spawned so many top-notch solo artists in the fields of hip-hop and family television and movie entertainment.
9. The Meters: I’m not a giant fan of New Orleans rock ‘n roll past the early ’60s, but these guys managed to make great New Orleans music well past that time. I always want to have a problem with The Meters, but I can’t succeed in finding fault.
10. The Zombies: This is probably my favorite band of the nominees by far, but I consider them 2-album lightweights in terms of the Hall of Fame. I love them the way I love the scrappy Phillies shortstop of my youth, Larry Bowa. Bowa’s long career culminated in pretty good numbers for a shortstop. And that qualification was thrown out there long before shortstops started hitting like third basemen.
11. Chic: I think the producer guys, Nile Rodgers and the other one, whose name I’m forgetting, belong, but Chic the band is about as important as ABBA. One ABBA, albeit a lilywhite, Swedish one, is enough.
12. Deep Purple: These guys should finish just high enough to bum out their real fans. The rest of us shouldn’t notice they were ever nominated.
13. Cat Stevens: I liked Cat Stevens’ Greatest Hits as much as the next 12-year-old kid, but why is he even in the conversation if not for yet another reason to stir up the incredibly interesting story of him taking up a shitty, fairly hateful fundamentalist religion that we would heap nothing but scorn on him for having done had it been a fundamentalist Christian religion or had he not once been kind of sensitive and sexy and had a cool, pre-fame mini-hit included in the soundtrack to a Wes Anderson movie?
14. LL Cool J: Nice pecs, dude.
15. Link Wray: The Hall should stick his lone instrumental song that anyone knows in a display case, like the glove Don Larsen wore when he threw the only perfect game in World Series history. There can be a tape loop of Pete Townshend blabbering about how he owes his entire guitar sound to Link Wray’s “Rumble.” The Edge can chime in too, if he’d like.
16. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Don’t Jan Wenner and his colleagues get enough opportunities to smoke a bone in the presence of people who were on the periphery of the Woodstock era?
Just say no to Yes. And Kiss represents everything that went horribly wrong with rock in the 70, so I vote never.
Of course I’m going to vote for the Meters. Peter Gabriel has made more good albums than most people in the Hall, so yes. Nirvana and the Zombies only made two, so no. I think the Replacements are over-rated by a certain demo, but I’m ok with them going in. I’ll use my other two votes on Chic and Link Wray.
The Replacements — still to early for them.
I think Yes trumps Gabriel — we only need one prog-rock representation per year. Gabriel will have to wait.
I think Cat Stevens is in, no problemo. It’ll be way Rock’s way of saying it don’t give a shit about politics.
I’m pretty much in agreement with Mr. Mod’s other assessments.
1. Link Wray — an innovator way ahead of his time. Yes, he had one sound, like a lot of artists do, and he stuck with it. But I think pretty much inventing power chords and distortion is “important”. (Of course, his 70s albums were completely different — pretty conventional country rock and pretty good too).
2. For me there is no number 2. Not a big fan of the Zombies or Meters but I know they are held in high regard, so I won’t complain. Same with Peter Gabriel I guess. LL Cool J and Kiss had a couple of good singles each, but that’s not enough. I like a few Nirvana songs, but I don’t really care about them one way or the other. I just heard the Replacements get played on the radio because of this news, and I still don’t get them. My loss I guess.
My list is going to be based on a comparison between the nominees and the inductees already in the Hall. If we need to have a R&R Hall Of Fame then I think we should keep some consistency.
1. KISS -like Alice Cooper, for their influence and popularity for good or ill
2. Nirvana – like The Stooges, for shaking up the system.
3. LL Cool J – like RUN-DMC, for bringing it to the masses.
4. Yes – (it pains me to admit this) like Rush and Genesis, 70’s prog is not represented sufficiently in the Hall
5. Linda Ronstadt – because Brenda Lee is a weaker choice
6. Hall and Oates – ’cause they have better songs than Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
7. Chic – like Donna Summer, late 70’s soul/dance is not represented
8. Peter Gabriel – See Yes and add 80’s popularity
9. The Replacements – 80’s american underground is not represented, not that it matters anyways
10. The Meters – If you’re gonna include P-FUNK and Sly…
11. The Zombies – if you’re going to induct the Blue Caps, the Crickets and The Comets, why not induct an actual group with hits and critical praise.
12. Link Wray – should have been a little higher in my list but he’s always forgotten anyways despite his influence.
13. Paul Butterfield – yeah, but what are you gonna do about it.
14. N.W.A. – more shock than substance. Ice T and De La Soul are better choices from the genre.
15. Cat Stevens – really!!!!
Nirvana – I don’t own anything by these guys and I think they are overrated musically, but they definitely had something, and they changed popular culture (whether or not they just happened to be in the right place at the right time is a whole other topic).
Kiss – My first concert so I’ll always have a soft spot for them even though I recognize how crass and ridiculous they are. They really upped the level of bombastic showmanship, influenced a lot of people, and sold a ton of records (and condoms and caskets and whatnot).
the Replacements – I love the beauty in imperfection. Also, most of their career was spent giving the record industry the middle finger in an honest and deep rooted, if somewhat misguided, attempt at retaining their integrity. Oh, and their songs were great too.
Hall and Oates – I prefer their 70’s blue-eyed soul to their faux-new-wave but I admire them for reinventing themselves even though they were quite successful with the first go-around.
Chic – Still relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEQDtk63H4
Yes – I don’t really like Yes but they were a genre defining band so they should be in.
I could probably make a case for most of the others except for the Butterfield Blues Band.
Nirvana
Linda Ronstadt
Link Wray
Chic
Yes
N.W.A.
The Replacements
Deep Purple
The Zombies
The Meters
Cat Stevens
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Kiss
Hall and Oates
LL Cool J
Peter Gabriel
I guess that’s how I think it should be. It’s certainly not in the order of people I like to people I don’t, but I know only five get in, and I think those five should probably get it. I’d like The Replacements to be in, but as much as I like them, I don’t know that influencing countless bands that no one knows really counts. Link Wray and Chic should be in there already. I want Linda Ronstadt in there because I just do.
Kiss, LL Cool J and Hall and Oates just don’t belong.
How do they define rock and roll?
Just noticed I omitted Deep Purple. I think I would slot them Between The Meters and The Zombies. They had a big role in the birth of Metal and Prog. Jon Lord was an absolute beast on keyboard. Come to think of it I would induct Lord before the band.
Seeing these nominations brings back some a few weird memories. Here’s my list:
Replacements — I am in the tank for them. More albums of better stuff than many of these other nominees.
Linda Ronstadt – if she’s not in, why have a RNR HOF?
Nirvana — for cultural impact and I do like “In Utero”
Chic — liked their take then and now.
Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water, man.
Hall and Oates — liked them as a teenybobber. Reviewed “Along The Red Ledge” in my high school newspaper. What a loser.
Yes — “Going for the One” played in high school on 8-track repeat.
Kiss — RNR as a commodity. Yuck.
Cat Stevens — several girls in junior high loved “Tea for the Tillerman” and would draw the album cover designs on their notebooks.
Peter Gabriel — Saw the “Shock the Monkey” video at First Avenue in Mpls. for the first time before a Jim Carroll (!) show. It kind of freaked out the girl I was with. And then she got to hear Jim sing “People Who Died” — twice — not a great night for her.
The rest — none of these should get in before the Mats.
N.W.A
The Zombies
Link Wray
LL Cool J
The Meters
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
I think they only let 4 or 5 in per year so, so here goes:
1. Nirvana – I don’t listen to them much either (they’ve got 2 modes: aggressive & despondent and I’m too familiar with their influences) but that kind of all-at-once cultural impact only happens once or twice in a lifetime. Plus, they will bring in some younger folks who might get exposed to something useful pre-1980’s. A shoo-in.
2. Kiss – Funkola said “RnR as a commodity. Yuck.” He’s right. I hate them. They deserve to be in.
3. The Meters – Great stuff, exactly what the Nirvana crowd should see. And this kind of Americana funk will be great fun onstage during the induction ceremony.
4. Hall & Oates – Aren’t they the best selling duo, like, ever? It’s pop but done at a level that rock snobs can get behind without too much wallowing in nostalgia.
5. Linda Ronstadt – Any other year she’d probably get aced out of the pop window by H&O but they won’t be able to resist getting her up on stage one last time. Can’t complain about that.
Thoughts on the others:
If not for Linda Ronstadt, I’d bet on Peter Gabriel. He’s in there for Genesis but he had 4 fairly groundbreaking solo records that critical types who vote cream themselves over.
Link Wray & Deep Purple – A single display case for each playing “Rumble” and “Smoke on the Water” would suffice.
The Replacements can (hardly) wait. I’d hope they wouldn’t show up.
Cat Stevens – No, The Zombies – No, Butterfield – No, NWA – No (save it for Dr Dre’s solo work).