This morning the announcement came of the nominees for the class of 2006 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
From today's New York Times: "Rap is knocking at the door of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The rap pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are on the ballot for the 21st annual election by musicians, industry professionals and journalists, The Associated Press reported. Other nominees are John Mellencamp, Miles Davis, Blondie, Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, the Dave Clark Five, the J. Geils Band, Chic, Joe Tex and the Sir Douglas Quintet. The results are expected in December."
Something is terrible wrong in the world ... and I am not only talking about Donald Trump's singing on the Emmys Sunday night (Megan Mullaly, we love you but how did you agree to that!)
Is the R&R hall slipping down the slope of banality that has made most other awards shows irrelevant. The R&R hall was supposed to be where artists, who have made indelible and undeniable contributions to their art form, are honored for their life's work. Lilltle Richard, Aretha, the Rolling Stones, the Staples Singers, Solomon Burke have all been so honored not because they had a few hit records but because their work is part of the fabric of our music. They took what was given to them by others (in jazz, blues, gospel, etc) advanced it and laid a new groundwork for those that came after them.
Miles Davis - there is no finer example of an artist bringing jazz and rock together, adding a virtuosic element to 4 chord/4 square guitar tunes. Blondie...sure. She and others at CBGB's brought New York's underground scene to a mainstream audience. I'll give them Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd even though I don't fully appreciate their vast contributions to the artform.
But Cat Stevens? I wore out every record of his in the 70s and continue to follow his career as he raises awareness and money for his causes, but I am pretty sure he never thought of himself as a Rock and Roll'er. The Dave Clark Five? As far as I remember their career lasted about as long as Freddy Mitchell's stint with the Iggles. When FredEx makes it to Canton, I'll revise my opinion of the DC5. The last time I saw the J.Geils Band they opened for Nazareth at the Montreal Forum... nuff said! Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash lived in my building in NYC. He once acknowleged my existence in the elevator, I can still rap The Message in its entirety after a few beers but the Rock Hall of Fame? and somebody please tell me where Chic falls in the pantheon of American music.
Having all of the nominees on hand will make for good a good TV show (which is, perhaps and sadly, the whole point) but let's get some integrity into the process.
I might have to disagree with you here. While perhaps not Rock & Roll artists, I think that artists like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five made a mark on the musical landscape of that time. They had influence on all areas of music, not just in the Rap world.
Musical styles feed each other and I think that is why Rap is important to the Rock & Roll world. Think about it, we wouldn't have Rock & Roll without Jazz!!
Give Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five a chance! Certianly you wouldn't have been able to present the Roots earlier this week without them.
you miss the point. I love Grand Master Flash but I wonder how much they themselves influenced the rock scene. Certainly rock and rap are feeding off eachother in a big way and The Roots are perhaps the best example of that today. GMF helped bring rap onto the radio and into the mainstream but Run DMC and their collaboration with Aerosmith or NWA have done more to deserve a R&R Hall of Fame nod.
No I think your very right. There are tons of blues/jazz/early rock artists who contributed greatly to Rock and Roll, but who are not very well known and thus would never make it to the rock and roll hall of fame.
You look at the baseball hall of fame, and while there are the greats, there are also many many uknowns to all but those who love baseball but who contributed greatly to the early days of the sport. This isnt the case with the Rock and Roll hall of fame where almost everyone in there is known and extreamly famous, yet many of their influences who really SHOULD be in there, arnt.
And honestly I really dont think Rap should be included in the rock and roll hall of fame at this point. Its just too soon, and like I said many of the people who created rock and roll arnt even in there yet.
Its obviously a way to get ratings. In all honesty Experience, in Seattle does a much better job of honoring rock and rolls greats than the hall of fame has done.
naw.
I put it to you that "Fear of A Black Planet" is one of the greatest Rock albums ever made. And it still sounds fresh and relevant.
If we're going to argue over what's Rock & Roll and what's not, let's just remember that Rock & Roll was originally just Black rhythm & blues Wonder Breaded for a white suburban teenage audience.
The only difference now is the kids get their s**t direct & uncut. In fact, the more stereotypically "BLACK" the better. 98% of what you're hearing out there isn't Hip Hop at all, it's a god damn minstrel show.. cash cash money money girls in thongs etc etc. And who is the audience this stuff is created for? The same audience that turned R&B into R&R. White kids wanna be thugs AND have their trust funds at the same time.
But these kids don't REALLY want to identify with the Black experience. They want to be voyeurs into a stereotyped, cartoonish and flashy "lifestyle" without all the messy class issues that go along with it. Everyone wants to be hard and wear the bling, but it's a whole different story for the kids dealing on the streets b/c the only option is the military or flipping burgers.
It many ways, it's the 50's again. The white kids are spoiled and bored, Hip Hop IS rock n'roll.
peter wolf does belong in the hall of fame. just sayin'.
Vote for your favorite deserving but overlooked artists and bands into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at:
http://www.rateitall.com/topic.aspx?OrderBy=&gender=B&Age=0&TopicID=2529&show=all
or here's a shorter URL:
http://supergroup.netfirms.com/rockrollhallfame.htm
The top 20 vote-getters at this point are:
1. Van Halen
2. Rush
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd
4. Blondie
5. Dire Straits
6. Doobie Brothers
7. Peter Gabriel (solo)
8. Chicago
9. Pete Townshend (solo)
10. Black Sabbath
11. Pat Benatar
12. Ben E. King
13. Alice Cooper
14. Deep Purple
15. The Cars
16. Heart
17. Yes
18. Joe Cocker
19. Genesis
20. Moody Blues
Until the Stooges are in the Hall, no-one who ever stepped foot in CBGB's should ever accept an invitation. They might as well have left out Little Richard. SHAME SHAME SHAME
DEEP PURPLE
MOODY BLUES
YES
All three should have been in already, but the whole thing is dumb anyway. Notice there isn't a jazz or classical "hall of fame." This whole thing was made up by a bunch of yuppies who want to pick their favorite artists.