The Big Lady (No One Should Care About) Sings: Rock Hall Inductees Announced
Today's post is from our friend HIM.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just announced this year’s inductees. There are two obvious first year choices: Cheap Trick and Steve Miller. There is one obvious choice that had been overlooked for years: Deep Purple. There is the peripheral choice in Chicago (formerly a Transit Authority, now just a city without Cetera). There is the expected non-rock induction of N.W.A. (hey, the hagiography—I mean, movie—had to help, right?).
There are also, of course, the other bands filling the sappy salad bowl of rejection: Chic (ten years in a row), Janet Jackson (“Rhythm Nation” sorta’ rocked), The Cars, Los Lobos, and Yes.
The nods and the no-nods would matter if the RaRHoF mattered. Why leave out Yes, given their output and influence, not to mention the fact that Chris Squire so recently passed? How can Chicago get in but the Cars get left out? “Let’s Go” smashes to bits any chance that I want to “Stay the Night.” N.W.A. certainly belong in the Rap Hall of Fame, but you would suspect that Easy-E would squash this noise with a pair of Beats headphones that Dre lent him for the ceremony. Chic? While Nile Rodgers can certainly tear it up, I am not sure that "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" ever threatened to overtake Zeppelin or the Beatles.
But the RaRHoF doesn’t matter. While I realize that rock is an elastic thing, and that the roots and branches and offshoots are many and varied, that only plays into the type of discussion that in some way legitimates this sorry excuse for a "process." 800 votes do not a decision make, especially one so wedded to corporate interests and the whims of the management. While it might be heartening to some fans, and a nice nod for some bands, the Hall of Fame—as an entity—is really only worthwhile as a museum: curated, tended and tame . . . all the things that rock is not.
It took the snarling mess of a punk band in decline, and looking for some “filthy lucre,” to say “bollocks” to the whole thing.
Letters of Note: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a piss stain
A reverse peace sign/archery fingers salute seems like the appropriate gesture this or any year. Then again, you could listen to no less of an authority on rock than Ian Gillan:
Leave it to Gillan to strike the right tone: succinct, bemused, polite, and ultimately unaware. Others should follow his lead.
Meet the #RockHall2016 Inductees!: Cheap Trick, Chicago, Deep Purple, #SteveMiller and N.W.A Music
Posted by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum on Wednesday, December 16, 2015