As is usual around this time of the year, I have received my ballot form for nominating those from a list of names that I wish to see inducted into America’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This is not a particularly onerous chore but it becomes trickier for me each year because more and more names on the list seem to me to be less deserving of the honour as each year passes.
This, as I have noted before, is due largely to the R&RHoF’s insistence on inducting five acts every year, year in, year out, in order to perpetuate interest in the institution itself and satisfy the commercial interests that regard the induction ceremony as a nice little earner, this due to the exorbitant cost of tickets. The downside, as I have also noted, is that this philosophy brings the eligibility of many of more recent inductees into question.
But enough carping and on with the show. This year we have no fewer than 17 nominees, many more than usual. They are Beck, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Devo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Dolly Parton, Rage Against The Machine, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, A Tribe Called Quest and Dionne Warwick.
Several of the artists (Benatar, Bush, Devo, Kuti, Dolls, MC5, Rage, Warwick among them), have been nominated before but not inducted. It is unusually varied in terms of their music, but to my mind it brings into question the definition of Rock & Roll.
Without casting any aspersions on the quality of their art, I would question the inclusion of Kate Bush, Fela Kuti, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, A Tribe Called Quest and Dionne Warwick on the grounds that they are not Rock & Roll. Dolly, for example, is a great performer who brought the house down (or up) at Glastonbury in 2014 but she’s Country with a capital C, and was no doubt inducted into the Country & Western Hall of Fame eons ago. So, if she’s eligible for the R&RHoF, then The Who should be eligible for the C&WHoF – but they aren’t, of course, and neither ought they to be. Ditto Tribe Called Quest into a RAPHoF, if there is one. Similarly, I find myself wondering where the line should be drawn between Popular Music and Rock, and this is why I question the inclusion of Kate Bush, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon. Surely, if Kate Bush can be nominated then why not Tomes Jones, who although not to my taste is far rock’n’roll than her and Carly Simon? With this in mind I will therefore eliminate these seven acts, not on the grounds that they’re undeserving of recognition somewhere or other but that they don’t belong here.
Which leaves me with Beck, Benatar, Devo, Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Judas P, MC5, the Dolls, and Rage, so it now comes down to personal choice. I was never of a Heavy Metal fan so I’ll rule out Judas P, and Devo always seemed a bit too artsy-clever for me; Duran too, and a bit too clothes-horsey as well, if you get my drift, and I was never convinced by Pat Benatar. So I’m now down to Beck, Eminem, Eurythmics, MC5, the Dolls and Rage. Eminem is Rap, so my final five are the others.
To a certain extent I’m voting for the Dolls and MC5 (both of whom I've voted for before) on political grounds insofar as they held true to the spirit of Rock as being something rebellious, old fashioned and clichéd as that may sound in 2002. I’m voting for Eurythmics because I liked them, saw them twice and still play their music (even though Annie Lennox once tried to sue Omnibus Press on questionable grounds, but that’s another story). Tom Morello seems like a good guy and he’s a pal of Bruce, which makes him OK in my book. I’ve got a couple of Beck CDs and liked them, although I haven’t listened to them in ages.
As ever, I’m willing to be swayed if any Just Backdated readers can direct me to a truer path. And, by the way, when I do send in my nomination I will yet again make a plea for Richard Thompson and Slade to be on the list next year, and the next, and the next.
15 comments:
Rightly thoughtful, Chris. I agree on the generic anomalies - highlighted by the Who/C&WHofF example. I'm always bemused when people on online forums get annually vexed that this or that act is in while this or that act isn't. It's as if people need external validation of their favourite artists when, clearly, this Hall of Fame is just a giant commercial operation acting a self-appointed arbiter of quality. From where I sit, I find it very easy to just ignore it. :-)
Thanks Colin. I've been doing this for over 20 years now, longer than I can remember. Once upon a time it was obvious who to vote for but it no longer is.
While there are artists in the Rock Hall that I don't care for, I can understand why they’re there, on two counts: First, the Hall’s stated criteria has been tweaked over time to respect an artist’s commerciality as much as their influence and creativity. Also, the Hall needs the HBO show and the attachment to chart-topping musicians to make bank. It’s as simple as an ice cream store offering lots of flavors, to keep the doors open. So, I whine more about who’s not there (Shangri-Las, Larry Williams, Little Feat) than who is.
But who gets in and why they’re nominated are different things. I see hip-hop in rock music as much as I see Brian Eno in it, though most of his catalog is ambient music. As once put, Eno’s “tones” are not rock and roll, but they are made with a rock sensibility and marketed to a rock audience. It’s the market that is the definer here. Without the rock listener, Eno wouldn’t have had the chance to make Music For Airports, whether Pistols or Dave Edmunds or T. Rex fans want anything to do with it or not.
Elvis Presley didn’t invent rock and roll. But he did, I believe, create the rock marketplace. If the artist goes through the door Elvis opened and cannot go through another, they fit the Rock Hall. When people crowed that Madonna didn’t count as rock, I think my perspective helped qualify her. Without Elvis putting sex on the shelf of the store, she might not have gotten past burlesque. She needed rock and roll to succeed. And if the artist helps widen the market, as Miles did (inducted as much because he brought jazz fans to Sly Stone as the other way around), then they go through the door because they made room for themselves.
When Whitney Houston got in, it was the first time the Hall really got it wrong. There was no cultural algebra that supported her case. I’m not a Whitney fan, though I understand that she brought joy to millions. But I don’t think she needed to go through the Presley Portal to become successful. She worked in the pure pop category of Nat King Cole or Doris Day or whoever you’d choose that existed as long as phonograph records have. I don’t see her as a rock artist, nor as one that made rock better. She was a superstar who got in because she shared MTV and the radio with guitar players (and Clive Davis put his thumb on the scale). And because her induction puts the Rock Hall in front of millions of her fans. She was shoe-horned in, and, frankly, used in absentia.
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All that brings me to your side on narrowing this year’s hopefuls. Lionel Richie was in a dynamite band that should have been inducted by now. But his solo doesn’t add to rock’s palette or depend on it. Dolly is surely more of an influencer, but no more than other country artists. If her songwriting and style add to a slot of modern rock music (where we find Sheryl Crow or Lucinda Williams), then surely Emmylou Harris holds more sway. Which brings back the “who’s not” problem, a game of leap-frog that muddies the water.
I love Kate Bush, but does her popularity (quite low in the US) mean more to the Hall than righting the wrongs of un-inducted women like Carla Thomas or The Crystals? Or is she, like Whitney, being used? In this case, propped up year after year as a balancing weight against the most mainstream acts.
The Hall is in an impossible position. Clearly, the nominations are pushed toward populism, but without that slant, there may be no Rock Hall at all. That means no place for those like Sister Rosetta, whose legacies deserve, and have benefited from their almost academic inclusion.
If I voted, I wouldn’t for Dolly or Lionel. Certainly not Dionne Warwick, who is just one step upstream from Whitney, and even less needful of the rock and roll market. If jazz’s Nancy Wilson wanted to be a pop star, all she would had to have done was call Burt Bacharach before Dionne did.
But without the rising tide of madly popular singers from other fleets, smaller boats would still be tied to the dock. It still doesn’t mean you have to play their records.
Thanks for your blog, columns, and books, and for letting me indulge.
PS - Wow, Dolly must be Just Backdated reader, too:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/entertainment/dolly-parton-withdraws-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-cec/index.html
Hey Chris, just wondering where you come down on the question of whether Jethro Tull belong in the RnRHOF? They would have to be thought of as one of the biggest bands of the 70's, with big record sales and were an even bigger concert draw, with a catalogue that includes blues (the early years), rock, folk and (the dreaded) prog.
I agree on Richard Thompson and the early Fairport.
Don't think Slade were big enough in the US, but I'm a fan, so it's OK by me
Thanks for that Glenn. I have long despaired of some of the R&RHoF's decisions but I keep going because if I didn't I wouldn't even have a vote, less alone be able to influence them.
Terry - I believe JT ought to be in, even though they are not really to my taste. I think Kiss ripped off Slade, and not only because they deliberately misspelt words in their song titles. Noddy Holder was a great showman (who might just have influenced Springsteen) and Jim Lea a great songwriter.
Has this Hall really 'benefited' anyone, Glenn, other than a short-term publicity boost in the US for whoever is nominated? And it is in no way academic - no more so than a blue heritage plaque being put on a building in the UK to say Gerry Marsden or Vince Taylor or Noddy Holder (etc.) once lived here. I assume that it operates in a manner similar to awards ceremonies like, say, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards or the Prog Magazine whereby if Heritage Artist X can commit to performing at the event, they'll get some vaguely titled award relating to long service, inspiration, 'legendariness' or the like. Likewise, if Artist X can't be bothered, it'll go to someone else.
Colin:
Not sure if Chris welcomes or dissuades tet a tets 'twixt readers, but I noticed your post, so I'll offer the courtesy of response.
I surmise that you are in the UK, yes? I live in Ohio, the same US state where the Rock Hall is located (in Cleveland), and I was a founding member. Don't be impressed, I think I gave them $100. So, I've been in the Hall a dozen or more times over the years, I guess.
You say, "it is in no way academic." That isn’t true. Besides the physical hall itself and the museum (built in 1995), there is a 22,000 square foot rock and roll library located nearby, and you need an academic reason to even get in the door. The Hall is a key platform for Steve Van Zandt's 'rock in the classroom' initiative, I believe. And an event this evening (March 16) is called "Recovering Early Asian American Voices in American Popular Music: Two Girl Groups." A more thesis-like title I can't imagine.
But another soon-to-be public event is "Eagles Fan Day." The contrast of those two titles should give you an idea of the Hall's symbiosis: There is a mission to explore, celebrate, and archive the music’s history. But that effort needs cash flow. That's generated by the most populist activities, whether it's a Gene Simmons look-a-like contest (I made that up, but it wouldn't surprise me) or the annual HBO TV show and selection process, which clearly tilts the field toward the big hit acts, since they naturally want a large viewership.
I'd argue most privately funded museums work the same way. Giant projections of animated Van Gogh paintings keep doors open for studies of obscure modern art movements.
It's easy to criticize the Hall, and it often deserves it. I can nit-pick a lot of things, both in regard to inductee selection and the exhibits. But ultimately, I think it generally fulfills its promises and serves the community about as well as can be expected.
Next time you're in Cleveland (okay, 'if ever'), stop by. And if you do, it's the little things that do it for me. Jimmy Page's clothes don't mean jack next to the letter from Jim Morrison's old man trying to persuade teenage Jim's angry school headmaster that Jimbo is "really a good boy."
Best to you, Colin, and thanks again to Chris for the space.
Hello Glenn, I don't mind at all. Indeed, am grateful for your comments which more or less back up a separate email I sent to Colin myself. Best regards, Chris C
A very full and courteous reply, Glenn - you put me to shame! I will happily stand corrected about the academic connections you mention. As I've told Chris off-page, for some reason I know not, and I'm generally a mild-mannered chap, I seem to have an irrational blind spot for this Hall of Fame - somehow, seeing posts from various far too earnest grown-ups on the Steve Hoffman Forums asking the world 'WHY ISN'T [INSERT NAME] IN THE HALL OF FAME?' gets under my skin. I can't understand - in a world in which there are far more important things to worry about and discuss - why it bothers people so much that their favourite act of yore isn't 'in' it. It somehow annoys me that other people get annoyed become X, Y or Z doesn't get a namecheck from a building in Ohio - as if that artist's entire life and work has been in vain otherwise. I should really stop being annoyed about other people being annoyed! :-)
To me, rock'n'roll's hall of fame is in the memories of those who care about the 'rock era'. And if one is passionate about this or that artist, there are many, many ways to share that passion - writing books, writing content online, sharing recordings/clips on social media, forums, etc.
I have an archivist bent myself, and if this Hall has a kind of library or archive-ish holdings, then good luck - and hats off. I live in Ireland and after years of periodically having to fly to London and stay with friends while putting long hours in at the British Library, I've built up a substantial personal archive of vintage music papers - because there is no institution in Ireland with such resources. I wish there was / had been.
Thanks for filling in the blanks, Colin.
I line up right behind you in the "shut up, you guys!" camp when people chirp about their faves not getting in. I never knew Uriah Heep had so many hardcore fans. But when you ask those folks why their band should get in, and whether or not their advocate has ever read the stated criteria for who should be nominated (and correct us, Chris, if that has not changed at least twice over the years), they tend to clam up quick. Most often, I find these people end their declarations with a pouty blurt of "Well... It's still not fair."
Yes, life's not fair - we can probably all agree on that! :-D
Chris, what are your thoughts on Warren Zevon not being in the HOF?
Another unexplained omission Tom.
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