2022 Rock & Roll HOF induction nominee screechfest

Beck (I think he gets in)
Pat Benatar (meh, hall of very good, made some good records although she was awful when I saw her live early in her career)
Kate Bush (no)
DEVO (no)
Duran Duran (no)
Eminem (rap isn't my thing but he'll get in)
Eurythmics (I was a fan but I don't think so)
Judas Priest (not before Iron Maiden and especially Motorhead)
Fela Kuti (no)
MC5 (as noted upthread, very influential, they get in)
New York Dolls (if the MC5 doesn't get in, the Dolls get that spot)
Dolly Parton (yes)
Rage Against the Machine (yes)
Lionel Richie (no)
Carly Simon (yes, this year's Jann Wenner special)
A Tribe Called Quest (no)
Dionne Warwick (no)

 

I hope the MC5 makes it. A few years ago, I bought a movie on the history of Detroit's Grande Ballroom, "Louder Than Love," which was fascinating, and I started going deeper into the MC5's catalog. I bought everything I could find on iTunes and "A True Testimonial," a movie on the band's history.

While the band wasn't around that long, and it's record sales weren't great, it was hugely influential, as noted in previous posts. That alone should get the MC5 in.

Hopefully they'll get in before everyone's gone. The only surviving members are Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson. Rob Tyner, Fred Smith and Michael Davis are dead.

Speaking of "Louder Than Love," I met Grande owner Russ Gibb (he's since died) and Leni Sinclair, and heard John Sinclair speak to a college class. I also saw Wayne Kramer perform at a benefit concert in Detroit. It was amazing how many huge acts played in the late '60s and early '70s at the Grande, which is in a crappy neighborhood - The Who, Cream, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Alice Cooper, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull and so many more. MC5 and the Stooges were the house bands. The building is still there and is in really rough shape.

Not long before Russ died, when The Who (OK, Roger and Pete) were in Detroit for a tour stop, they visited with Russ. I saw a picture on social media. It's really neat that they took the time to remember someone who helped boost them during their trajectory. If memory serves, the Grande is the first place in North America where The Who played the entire "Tommy" album.

 

I’m still pissed the Pixies aren’t in.

 

I have no problem with people like John Lee Hooker and Hank Williams being recognized as progenitors of rock. And I totally agree that there's a spirit of rock n roll that transcends the music. It's a musical insurgency, and maybe for that reason I'm a bit uneasy about the very concept of a Rock n Roll HOF in the first place. It is too easy for an institution like that to fall into form as a chamber of commerce country club. Granted, popular music is a business, and it's easy to equate success with sales. But sales don't always equate with quality. Cheese sells more often than not.

If the voters don't know who Nick Lowe is, maybe they aren't qualified to vote.

 

Thinking about it a bit, I might have been a little harsh questioning the validity of the RnR HOF. It's kind of the pot calling the kettle black, a journalist (semi-retired) complaining about a circle-jerk exercise in another medium. We've always been fond of plaques and statuettes ourselves.

 

I love me some Nick Lowe. This is an old favorite, one of his best. I chose this version over the Rockpile cut partly because I think the bare bones arrangement shows off the songwriting, and partly because it pleases me to see old guys still getting it done. One of my big musical regrets is missing Rockpile the one shot that I ever had at seeing them. They played a tiny club in Houston and I heard about it too late to be able to get in. OTOH, I *did* get to see J.J. Cale in the same little postage stamp sized club, so maybe that evens it out a bit.

 

Little Feat is not in, and that's a goddamn travesty. They were one of the best live American bands of the 70's, period.

 

Great. Absolutely great.

 

That song was getting a lot of play on KOPN when I started grad school at Mizzou. Later on, his album "Impossible Bird" threw me for a loop since it wasn't straight-ahead pub rock, but man, it grew on me. Then my wife appropriated the CD for her car, where it stayed for a couple years.

This is one of my "mature Nick" favorites.

 

When I first met my wife there were a few signs that I knew she was just going to be great. She drove a stick. She loved Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmonds. And she could me tolerate in large doses.

 

I was a huge Rockpile/Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds fan back in the day. I can't say that I'm extremely familiar with his late work, but I've heard and enjoyed some of it. I need to dig into those records. More on the list, sigh.

I first heard Nick Lowe in 1978 in a bar and grill in a shopping mall. They were playing the whole album, and when I asked the bartender what the record was, he kinda sneered and said "Pure Pop for Now People" in a British accent with an extremely supercilious tone. Stuck with me all these years, it was such a classic insider moment.

 

Still no Benatar.
Iz sad.