All were just nominated — for the first time — to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Seems like if you've been around that long and haven't got in yet, it's better not to be talked about in this connection at all.
By the way, I've seen 2 of those 4 acts in concert.
October 18, 2016
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
72 comments:
I would guess the latter two.
I saw Journey in its youth at the Portland Speedway and Steppenwolf in its dotage at the Oregon State Fair. John Kay's German accent became more pronounced as he grew older.
BTW, Kay was born in the former East Prussia, now the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Not many rock stars born there!
Anyway, both were serviceable, but they certainly do not belong in any Hall of Fame. ELO, yes! and Joan Baez, sure.
Baez did a great Concert. But she was usually there with another singer or acts.
The RRHOF is a joke and it really only involves money and ways to make it. ELO (Jeff Lynne) produced great rock music for many years, not R&B, not rap, not Soul, not folk but Rock n Roll.
Simply a joke and a waste of time
if you've been around that long and haven't got in yet, it's better not to be talked about in this connection at all.
Unless if you're the Moody Blues and your exclusion exposes this event as the crapapalooza it really is.
The loudest noise I've yet heard in my life was a concert by ELO in the old Chicago Stadium, louder than the 500-foot grain elevator explosion I witnessed.
That old barn on West Madison had crazy acoustics - the noise just bounced off the walls in there. I actually had to go outside for a while. It was painful.
What?? Iron Butterfly was overlooked again??
ELO is a fantastic band. They hold up really well. I'm shocked.
If you were born in the 1980s and later, do yourself a favor and listen to Days of Future Past and A Question of Balance on YouTube. Complete your education.
"Iron Butterfly was overlooked again??"
I remember riding up in an elevator around 1977, and it slowly dawning that the easy listening orchestra was playing Inna Gadda Da Vida. It was undeniable that the 60's were gone.
Joan Baez's cousin John is a brilliant mathematical physicist, apparently due to his uncle's—Joan's father's—influence.
No. No. No. No.
I played lute with Joan Baez in a college snack bar once.
As a lifelong metalhead, I've always viewed the RRHoF as a sham organization with zero credibility. I don't need a bunch of closed minded old hippies telling me what artists are significant.
Joan Baez played rock and roll?
None of them are what I think of when I think of rock music......but given that Jethro Tull won the first heavy metal Grammy ever awarded, beating out Metallica, AC/DC, Jane's Addiction and Iggy Pop.......whom am I to say?
Joan Baez neither rocked nor rolled.
There is something special about Joan Baez performing Diamonds & Rust knowing that Visions of Johanna may be running through her head. It seems to run through other people's heads, why not hers too? She did perform a Woodstock, so let's not hear about how she's not Rock 'n Roll.
RRHoF isn't much good as a Hall of Fame (no Carol Kaye, no peace) but it's a pretty good museum. I visited in 1997, the last time the Indians were in the world series. They lost, so I probably shouldn't go back this year. The nomination process wasn't as obviously cynical 20 years ago.
I had a good time looking at the physical exhibits - instruments, wardrobe, album covers, still photos, etc. Well displayed with interesting notes.
The cognitive dissonance of the place gets to you, though. I think there is a constant, subaudible tape loop of Jann Wenner chanting, "I'm not a corporate shill, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not."
They all deserve Nobels.
Isn't it a stretch to consider all of those artists in the same genre? Joan Baez in particular does not say "Rock" to me.
Joan Baez is as much rock as ELO is classical, maybe less.
Baez is not Rock and Roll, but the RRHoF isn't rock and roll any more, so it probably shouldn't matter.
The "Woodstock Defense" of Baez' R&R credentials is ridiculous. Most people forget now, but almost the entire Friday lineup was folk. By that argument, Ravi Shankar is Rock and Roll.
Jeff Lynne should be in the Hall of Fame with ELO cited as a major accomplishment. some bands are as ephemeral as the Alan Parsons Project but some are so rooted to a key player that if they leave there is little left besides a hollow shell. That was ELO without Lynne.
I was fortunate to see ELO twice in Houston, including the Flying Saucer concert. The Flying Saucer was stunning at the time. The music was so fresh and complex.
The Grammy people misfire a lot, it seems. Jethro Tull winning the Heavy Metal Grammy is not as odd as piano playing Bruce Hornsby winning the Bluegrass Grammy.
IIR Baez was folk rock. Several of her hits with accompaniment made it into the top 40. Her voice was strong enough to beat most men at being heard. And she sung alone with her guitar on the classical folk songs.
Journey -- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign circa 1987. A favorite !!
The big problem is that they let in too many acts each year. At the onset it was fine to induct 10 or 12 acts a year as there was a lot of catching up to do. Now they still want 10 acts each year, and they just have lowered the bar to get there.
Last year's Steve Miller shame should teach them a lesson. Be more like the Baseball Hall of Fame and only induct as many individuals each year as it matters to. Journey is/was a great band, but doesn't belong on the nominations list, much less in the actual Hall.
Pearl Jam gets in of course. When is Eminem eligible?
Generally, yes, I would think that getting nominated this late in the game is somewhat of a cross between an insult and a pointless gesture. However, the RRHOF is a bit unusual in that the voting tends to be snobbish. Certain voters will not vote for certain types of music at all, regardless of importance, cultural influence, sales success, and popularity. One of those frowned upon genres is progressive rock, of which ELO is one of the most famous members. This is kinda important as far as pseudo-halls of fame go.
They have nothing on late admission on the Baseball Hall of Fame. George Davis was inducted in 1998. He had been dead for 58 years, hadn't played for almost 90, and he had vanished so completely from the baseball scene no one in baseball knew the details of his death until the 1990s. For the record, he very much should have been elected the Hall of Fame a lot earlier and it was one of the earlier coups of the sabermetrics crowd to get him honored.
I totally endorse the Moody Blues shoutout above. They had top ten hits in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Still touring today, usually with a full symphony orchestra. Great stuff.
--Vance
In order of rockability
Steppenwolf
Journey
ELO
Baez
I saw ELO three times: The Out of the Blue tour in summer of '77 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, with the space ship stage and awesome laser-light show; and the very first and very last shows of their Time tour in December of '81 at the old Boston Garden and then late summer of '82 in Munich. Time was a themed album, told from the perspective of a man who has traveled through time to 2095 and found the world completely changed, and wishes he was "back in 1981." Yeah, don't we all? Also, the Out of the Blue cover art, and the inside cover artwork of the space ship's bridge and controls, was one of the coolest designs I'd ever seen. When they remastered and reissued the deluxe CD of the album, the artwork was included inside of the CD cover, which was the first time I'd seen it in decades.
What David53 just said.
Moody Blues? Not really, although Nights in White Satin ranks as the all time slow dance song at every junior and senior high in the 70's. It was probably the most covered song at school dances other than maybe Stairway to Heaven.
Okay, some errata. That Boston Garden show wasn't the first show, and it was on October 3, 1981. However, I was right that the Munich show was the very last one, and was on March 5, 1982. I had a great time at both concerts.
You haven't lived until you've listened to a Korean 'all-girl' band lip-sync In a Gadda Da Vida, complete with fifteen-minute drum solo, while drinking cheap beer, in the enlisted mens' club in Phu Bai, Vietnam, 1970. I can't stand that song.
Regarding Steppenwolf, I had a nice roommate at college, great guy, from Pomona, California, serious student, very focused, very together, ended up being a very, straight-laced, somewhat uptight, successful banker.
When myself and the other roommates got rowdy and drunk, while he was studying, we would loudly sing at him, "Borrrrrrrrn to be Mild"
Joan Baez has the same relationship to rock as Dylan does to lierature.......Kind of a downer for Joan. Dylan wins the Nobel, and Joan becomes an afterthought entry into the RRHOF. No matter. In my book, she has the official version of many of Dylan's best songs......She's now better looking than many of her peers from that era. She's much getter looking than Bridget Bardot.
The Moody Blues have about six albums that still hold up today. Most rock groups are lucky to have six songs.
RRHoF is a straight-up moneymaking venture, and honors the best rock performers only insomuch as it affects their bottom line.
And the list of notable bands not in the Hall (Moody Blues, Yes, Dick Dale, King Crimson, Brian Eno, Emerson Lake and Palmer, it's more like Hall of Bands we Like (or maybe Bands Willing to Pay the Price?)
Brian Eno should be in twice, as an artist and a producer.
According to Wikileaks, those who have donated to the Clinton Foundation are put on the fast track for entry.
"Being at Woodstock" doesn't make folk music or singer-songwriting pop into rock and roll.
My guess as to who Althouse saw live - Baez (100% certainty) and...maybe...Steppenwolf???
Also, none of those deserve to get in before Blue Oyster Cult.
None. Of. Them.
Proposition: Steppenwolf is better than The Doors. And if John Kaye had died instead of Jim Morrison, they'd be revered more than the Doors.
Discuss.
It is Chuck Berry's 90th birthday today.
He is a rock and roll museum.
Joan Baez? Please don't tell Chuck.
Joan Baez is not my cup of tea. I agree that she doesn't rock but that's just the words on the award, don't mean nothin. But can someone tell me what songs she actually wrote that were big hits? Or is this a perk of being an FoB?
I thought Dick Dale was in the HoF? Wrong if he's not.
BN said...But can someone tell me what songs she actually wrote that were big hits?
She may have, I don't know, but that should not be a requirement.
Fame is generally based on album and ticket sales. She's certainly sold a lot of records, sold a lot of tickets.
As they say it is their corporation with a small board of directors, and they can nominate whoever they want. I'm sure Lawrence Welk will be in there some time soon.
Joan Baez' cover of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is one of my favorites.
Joan Baez murdered "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
Couldn't even get the lyrics right.
Hall of Fame for one great cover?
I can accept that. Nothin' means nothin' any more anyway. (see Dylan's Nobel Lit award). Boomers got no right to rag on Millennials though. Baez aint no Taylor. Participation ribbons for everyone!
We do love our beatnik shit. Still to this day. 'Cause we was so cool, weren't we?
"I walked through the ragged streets at 4 a.m. looking for a fix while the best of my generation whimpered in the dark..."
...or some such shit.
Sorry. Self-loathing boomer issues. I'll stop now.
Jeff Lynne (ELO) was part of the Traveling Wilburys with Nobel Laurette Bob Dylan.
I hope the Cars get in this year.
Baez was a folk singer--a very good one. She was not a rocker.
She and Dylan had a thing, a lustful competitive relationship. He's got a Nobel. She made the R&R Hall of Fame as a walk on.
Advantage Bob.
I never saw Steppenwolf but I think Born to Be Wild is the greatest rock song ever. At least in the top 5. Great beat, funky rhythm guitar and B3 organ, Romantic/nihilistic lyrics. They were the best of the soul-turned-rocker bands in the LA area at the time.
Satisfaction can't come close (the beat is too boring).
I saw ELO and Journey. Jeff Lynne is a genius and really never got his due even though he is responsible for numerous hits and has a very unique sound and wonderful voice. ELO should be a slam dunk.
I guess that should say very distinctive and not very unique. Redunancy and all that ;)
@Fabi, Dick Dale out as of last year according to this page, which lists many others.
I would say though, their case would be stronger if they left out people like Patsy Cline and John Coltrane, who were just not rock musicians. There's also a bunch on that list (Captain Beefheart, Dead Kennedys, Devo, Television) that more properly belong in the Hall of Small but Dedicated Following
@Dave in Tucson
Thanks for that link.
I can't believe The Zombies aren't in.
Also The Five Satins. In the 1970s, radio shows doing the greatest Doo-Wop songs always had "In the Still of the Night" at #1. "Earth Angel" was always #2. After that there was more variability.
"I can't believe The Zombies aren't in."
Well, it's just not that "Time of The Season" yet.
Maybe someday, but that is a great tune.
Most importantly, the ELO citation allows us to consider the greatness of The Move, Roy Wood and Wizzard.
Unless if you're the Moody Blues and your exclusion exposes this event as the crapapalooza it really is.
I hate The Moody Blues, but I agree on this point.
Carol: " I think Born to Be Wild is the greatest rock song ever."
Agree. Tied with "School's Out (Forever)"
I would pay to see/hear Ms. Baez sing either one of those. I really would.
hat more properly belong in the Hall of Small but Dedicated Following
Depends on if you want just popular music, or influential. Television was a short-lived, not popular but very influential band.
Proposition: Steppenwolf is better than The Doors. And if John Kaye had died instead of Jim Morrison, they'd be revered more than the Doors.
I'm inclined to agree. I'll give Manzarek some props, but Morrison's self-indulgent nonsense sucks.
BN: Hall of Fame for one great cover?
Yeah, you do have a point. Joan Baez had 1 Top 10 single and that was "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (#3, 1971). Her next highest charting is a #35 "Diamonds and Rust" which I do not believe I have ever heard. In her defense, she did have 6 gold albums as a folk singer, a genre which was not exactly churning out hits even in its heyday. Bob Dylan only had a dozen Top 40 singles in his career, though his albums sold very well.
I think the sad thing here is my first exposure to Joan Baez was the National Lampoon parody "Pull the Tregors, N*****s" which has to be among the most brutally cruel parodies I have ever heard. It may be the second most cruel on the album it was on given what they did to John Lennon, but ouch.
Who I would consider for the RRHoF
Joy Division
Cheap Trick
Roxy Music
And as much as it pains me to say, Rush.
Goddamn crying shame Little Feat isn't in the Rock N Roll HOF. Almost a joke of a place.
Hells bells, Green Day is a member of the Rock N Roll HOF! Green Day!
I hate "Born to be Wild" with a fierce passion. I also mostly hate The Doors.
I was so happy the day Warren Zevon was inducted. But sad that he couldn't attend the moving ceremony. Long live the RRHOF, the most just arbiter of our musical history.
They're also missing Jethro Tull (or at least Ian Anderson.)
Not a big fan, but also what about Bon Jovi?
And if James Taylor can get in, why not The Carpenters?
Post a Comment