The next batch of inductees will come from the following nine acts. Which five would you choose? (Listed alphabetically). My thoughts below.
1. Chic
2. Dave Clark Five
3. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
4. Joe Tex
5. R.E.M.
6. The Ronettes
7. Patti Smith
8. The Stooges
9. Van Halen
MY PICKS
1. *Chic -- indispensable dance act. Put 'em in.
2. Dave Clark Five -- nope.
3. *Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five -- Absolutely essential rap act. Must.
4. Joe Tex -- don't think so.
5. *R.E.M. -- another first round lock.
6. The Ronettes -- Phil Spector is already in. Do they need to be too?
7. Patti Smith -- basically for one album. I wouldn't but they will.
8. *The Stooges -- definitely.
9. *Van Halen -- definitely. Though needn't be first year of eligibility
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Chic? Grandmaster flash? excuse me, but what part of rock and roll don't you understand? when mindless dance music and rap get thier own hall they can have at it, but that ain't rock and roll.
stooges. that's the epitome of rock and roll and should be a measuring stick for all others.
The shortlist is not my pick -- it's the shortlist chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. And the Hall has always embraced all areas of pop music, from soul music to blues to country and folk and rock and pop. The Stooges are great, but it would be a much smaller Hall -- and not representative of popular music of the last 50 years -- if only groups like them and the Ramones were included. Is it the name? Would you be more welcoming if it were called The Pop Hall Of Fame? The very first group of inductees included James Brown and Ray Charles, among others. Ray Charles has nothing to do with "rock" as a specific genre. Other inductees include Etta James, the Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, the Supremes, La Vern Baker, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Cash (rock in spirit but country through and through musically), Ruth Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, etc. Besides, looking towards the future, the Hall would look ridiculous if it didn't include rap artists like Run DMC, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and so on. It would be like the Grammys refusing to recognize rock and sticking with Patti Page, Frank Sinatra, et al. On the other hand, Barbra Streisand has been eligible but still isn't in, so maybe you can take a little comfort in that.
Post a Comment