| 9th January 2007 12:45 PM |
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| GotToRollMe |
Not surprising, really, considering it's a sham and a paltry honor, to say the least. Actually, it's kind of an honor not to be honored by the R&RHOF. What a waste, though. They could have made this a place where rock and roll trailblazers are recognized and their legacies preserved for posterity. *sigh*
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/music/16417693.htm
Rock hall will induct five acts - but where's Iggy Pop?
By Malcolm X Abram
Akron Beacon Journal
I simply disagree.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced Monday that Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M., the Ronettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen will be inducted March 12.
It's not that the class of 2007 isn't a fine bunch of popular, and to varying degrees, influential artists. But of the original nine nominees announced in October - which included the Stooges, Chic, the Dave Clark Five and Joe Tex - it's just wrong that the Stooges are left out once again.
After years of ignoring punk rock, the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation appeared to be making amends by finally inducting three legends of the genre - the Ramones, the Clash and the Sex Pistols - in quick succession.
But somehow the Stooges, one of the most influential protopunk and metal bands sonically and attitudinally, aren't good enough to be enshrined in the Cleveland hall?
At this point, it's hard not to suspect an anti-Stooges bias among some of the voting body. Perhaps sometime in the 1970s, Iggy Pop defiled a few of the rock hall voters' daughters/sons/valuables/household pets (he was pretty wild back then).
The band's music does not get a lot of radio airplay but rests in the collections of many, many musicians and rock fans. Perhaps the raw, unpolished nature of the group, coupled with Iggy as the physical embodiment of the id run amok, still leaves a bad taste in some of the more conservative voters' mouths.
But given how important the annual telecast has become to the entire process, having the recently revived Iggy and the Stooges (whose first album in 34 years, "The Weirdness," is due out in March) would be guaranteed good television. It's a wasted opportunity all around.
Frankly, Iggy and the Stooges could have been welcomed before any of this year's inductees:
The Sugarhill Gang and Rapper's Delight may have been the initial shot heard `round the world of rap, but it was Grandmaster Flash who pioneered many of the now-standard DJ techniques, including scratching, and it was the Furious Five who lifted rap up out of the realm of party music with "The Message."
R.E.M of Athens, Ga., was not only one of the most popular bands in the early days of the "indie" and "college rock" scenes of the 1980s, but it was one of the first to cross over and hit it big in the mainstream.
The quartet's jangly, folk-influenced sound and singer Michael Stipe's nasal, mumbling delivery and way with a melody helped the group transform from cool college rock band to hit-making major rock band.
In Van Halen versions 1.0 (with David Lee Roth) and 2.0 (with Sammy Hagar), Eddie Van Halen changed the sound of the hard-rock guitar throughout the 1980s. His signature two-handed, hammer-on technique may have been the most immediately recognizable guitar sound of the decade, despite being copied and expanded on ad nauseum by thousands of other aspiring rock guitar gods.
Van Halen's ascension also spearheaded the era of technically facile guitarists such as Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani.
The advent of grunge and punk's seepage into the mainstream made most fleet-fingered pretenders suddenly corny, but Van Halen's influence is undeniable, and if the Rock Hall Foundation can broker a temporary detente between Van Hagar and Diamond Dave - no, fans of Van Halen version 2.5, Gary Cherone is shockingly not being honored - we'll enjoy some tension-filled TV.
Patti Smith's lone hit, "Because the Night," was originally a Bruce Springsteen song that found no home on "Darkness on the Edge of Town." Smith rewrote some of the lyrics and rearranged the song, and it is her best-known. But radio hits aren't why Smith is being inducted.
During the days when CBGB was the center of the New York rock universe, Smith was an attention-grabbing poet, singer and firebrand. Her critically acclaimed 1975 debut, "Horses," was the first major release from a crowd that included the Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie.
Additionally, though Smith never made her femininity or sexuality a focal point of her image or art, her uncompromising demeanor, which included stretches of musical inactivity, inspired many young women to start/join bands.
OK, I love "Be My Baby," "Walking in the Rain" and "Baby, I Love You" as much as the next music lover, and anyone who survived a marriage to the "eccentric" and emotionally abusive producer/ex-husband Phil Spector deserves some kind of award (besides the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004).
Ronnie Spector's voice is one of the few that could successfully compete with Spector's dense and lush "Wall of Sound" style of production and was unique in comparison with many of the faceless `60s girl groups.
But the Ronettes' induction before so many more influential artists may have more to do with Spector's continued survival and the warm, fuzzy feeling the older voters get from hearing those classic tunes than the group's actual accomplishments.
To be eligible for the rock hall, artists must have issued a first single or album at least 25 years before nomination. The induction ceremony will be held in New York.
Malcolm X Abram: [email protected]
[Edited by GotToRollMe] |
| 9th January 2007 01:18 PM |
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| purrcafe |
As I'm sure you know, I couldn't agree more. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame doesn't deserve Iggy. |
| 9th January 2007 01:21 PM |
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| pdog |
Did he fail the substance abuse policy? |
| 9th January 2007 01:25 PM |
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| monkey_man |
quote:
pdog wrote:
Did he fail the substance abuse policy?
No he failed the "Don't sell your songs to Carnival Cruises" policy! |
| 9th January 2007 01:29 PM |
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| pdog |
quote:
monkey_man wrote:
No he failed the "Don't sell your songs to Carnival Cruises" policy!
it's nteresting you mentionyou that. i always found it funny a song about getting loaded was in a family cruise commercial. I remeber an interview where he was asked if selling the song was to be considered selling out. He basically said, I never made any money when I was young, so if making money off music that was never meant to be commercial happens, then it's cool, it's not cool if your intent is to creat music strictly to sell it and make money!
It was something like that...
Iggy Is R&R! |
| 9th January 2007 01:39 PM |
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| monkey_man |
quote:
pdog wrote:
I remeber an interview where he was asked if selling the song was to be considered selling out. He basically said, I never made any money when I was young, so if making money off music that was never meant to be commercial happens, then it's cool, it's not cool if your intent is to creat music strictly to sell it and make money!
It's only cool if Iggy told the interviewer that he was a turd after giving the quote!! |
| 9th January 2007 01:41 PM |
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| pdog |
quote:
monkey_man wrote:
It's only cool if Iggy told the interviewer that he was a turd after giving the quote!!
It was Curt Loder, it was infered! |
| 9th January 2007 03:36 PM |
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| mojoman |
quote:
pdog wrote:
Did he fail the substance abuse policy?
funny!!! |
| 10th January 2007 01:19 AM |
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| Egbert |
I'm all for the Stooges never getting in and keeping their hard-earned outsider status intact. |
| 10th January 2007 03:40 AM |
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| UGot2Rollme |
I like Ray Davies quote about the RnR Hall of Fame: "so when did Rock and Roll become respectable?" He also said he felt uncomfortable being put in a museum.
That's not where rock and roll belongs.
I'm glad the Sex Pistols told them to bug off.
I'm glad Iggy is Iggy and I don't give a f' that he's not in. (sure he doesn't either). |
| 10th January 2007 08:50 PM |
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| Kilroy |
Without Iggy it's no Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. |
| 10th January 2007 11:38 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
>No he failed the "Don't sell your songs to Carnival Cruises" policy!<
Phew!
Good thing he sold it to Royal Caribbean instead!
"I'm worth a million in prizes!"
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| 11th January 2007 12:11 AM |
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| glencar |
Anyway, I'm glad Patti Smith got in. I think Van Halen should be reconsidered. They really suck. |
| 11th January 2007 05:26 AM |
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| corgi37 |
Speaking of cruises, I'm waiting for Pablo Cruise to be nominated.
[Edited by corgi37] |
| 11th January 2007 05:09 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Is Kiss still out of this circus? |
| 11th January 2007 06:06 PM |
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| Saint Sway |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Anyway, I'm glad Patti Smith got in. I think Van Halen should be reconsidered. They really suck.
Diamond Dave poses with new VH bassist, Wolfgang Van Halen at todays R&R HoF press conference
[Edited by Saint Sway] |
| 12th January 2007 08:59 AM |
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| Factory Girl |
Not Right for Iggy.
Actually, Johhny Winter is not in either--and that is a HUGE mistake for R&R.
Yeah for Patti!
But, R & R is somewhat irrelevant today. I think its only value is historical. |
| 14th January 2007 11:01 AM |
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| mac_daddy |
the stooges should be in the r+r hof. period.
the sex pistols were the grand commercial advertisement in rock - they never deserved to be mentioned as a punk rock BAND, let alone hof material - their public denial of the award last year was manufactured PR, nothing more or less. there isnt a better band to have called their album a "swindle" - the sex pistols are the most OVERRATED poseurs the world has ever seen.
vh 1.0 was OK. but after dlr, their output is utterly unlistenable.
yeah for patti (i thought she got in last year); she deserves it...
but ronnie s. - please.
people always say that the first vu record only sold a few copies, but seemingly every one was bought by someone who listened to it, and started a band as a result... i would put the first two stooges albums in that category, too. absolutely essential to rock - and not just punk rock.
but then again, all these rolling stone critics that are humping iggy and the stooges now, never saw fit to put either of the first two albums (stooges and fun house) on their "top 100 albums of all time" lists. but now it is cool to tout iggy, and say how big a fan you were back in the day. my guess is these critics ignored those seminal albums back then, too - and they are trying to make up for it now.
wasnt it groucho marx that said he never wanted to belong to a club that would see fit to admit him..?
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| 14th January 2007 11:11 AM |
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| lotsajizz |
Hall of Fames are lame, but especially for rock n'roll!
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| 14th January 2007 11:19 AM |
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| mac_daddy |
i tend to agree with you, but if you are gonna do it, do it right for crissakes! |
| 14th January 2007 11:21 AM |
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| lotsajizz |
well yeah..if you're going to have one...Iggy should be a charter member |
