2022 Rock & Roll HOF induction nominee screechfest

Weird Al seems like a really nice, talented guy.

Weird Al has made a career out of taking other people's songs and changing the words so he's singing about food, or Star Wars, or whatever.

If that's your thing, great. Enjoy it. But he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame any more than Frank Caliendo belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

When's Hole getting in?

 

I get that, but he’s also a gifted lyricist and a pretty damn good and versatile musician.

And he has sustained cultural relevance for close to 40 years.

 

Hole’s chance disappeared when their songwriter killed himself.

 

Gah, thank you for the correction.

I was in the moment.

 

That's awesome that they can still pull crowds on the main stage at Corn Shuckin' Daze. Good for them.

From the 2009 Wisconsin Cow Chip and Throw Festival:

https://www.wiscowchip.com/gallery/photos-2009/

 

Probably because I'm an old fucker I say rock on to any act that wants to be out there.

Even DDY.

 

Back when they used to tour together, would have liked to see Styx crank out “Mr. Roboto,” get to the end, and have it be REO Speedwagon’s lead singer behind the mask.

I’m KEVIN! CRONIN!

 

I really don't think it would be terrible if the Rock Hall announced they were cutting inductions down to three or four a year. Clearly they are running out of candidates when they are stretching their criteria as much as they are. Maybe add a "veterans committee" - and we can bash on some bands who may be not have the "respect" of the Hall voters, but there is something to be said for a band that can still make a living playing their music live for 50 plus years.

 

I'm pretty much with you on that, with one caveat:

If Dennis DeYoung wants to keep playing, more power to him. But if (for example) Dennis DeYoung were to tour with a band of schmoes but he bills it as Styx, that annoys me.

The English Beat is one of my all-time favorite bands and it pisses me off to no end that Dave Wakeling tours with a bunch of dudes he picked up in a Home Depot parking lot and bills it as The English Beat.

Colin Hay has had a really nice career as a solo singer-songwriter over the past 30 years. He still frequently bills himself as Men At Work.

I believe there are two touring bands calling themselves Bow Wow Wow.

I realize there is a major commercial difference between "The English Beat" and "Dave Wakeling." But if half your band is dead and the other half isn't speaking to you, maybe bill yourself as "Dave Wakeling."

 

I think one of the hall's main problems is they let in far too many acts each year and now are starting to see the results of that: Namely, that they are running out of sure-fire inductees, and questionable classes like this year's are what we're going to see moving forward. Another issue is that a sizable number of previous inductees probably belong in the hall's singles category, which was introduced a few years ago to honor legacy acts with one massive, influential hit ("Wild Thing," "Louie Louie," "Born to Be Wild" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" are among the honorees). As someone pointed out a few pages ago, Richie Valens probably wrote only one notable song, but he had a biopic made of his life and that song became big again in the 1980s, so he got in. Same with Brenda Lee, whose only even remote contribution to rock and roll is "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Del Shannon has "Runaway" and what else? Do most people know any Mamas and the Papas songs beyond the two hits?

As for the Styx/Foreigner/Pat Benatar conundrum, I think that if you're gonna put Journey and Heart and Pat Benatar in the hall, you probably need to include Foreigner and Styx and REO Speedwagon, too, because I see those acts as pretty much interchangeable. Either put none of them in or all of them in. Putting some but not others in suggests either intellectual inconsistency or -- more probably -- good PR work (on behalf of those who got in).

The biggest HOF omissions, in my eyes:

Iron Maiden (metal is a hard HOF sell, but they're more creative and influential than most people realize and still putting out passably good original stuff; they also have had unkind things to say about the hall, so this will be an even harder sell; they're also far more deserving that Judas Priest, which got in this year)
The Replacements
The Smiths
Pixies
Willie Nelson (I bet he gets in next year after Dolly this year)
Smashing Pumpkins (I know Billy Corgan can be grating, and their latter-era stuff has been forgettable, but the three-album run from Gish to Mellon Collie -- with a quite-good odds 'n sods album thrown in there as well -- is unimpeachable)
Jethro Tull (hasn't put out anything remotely relevant in, oh, 45 years, but has more indelible songs from its early 70s run than a whole lot of other inductees)

 

He looks like David Byrne in that photo and David Byrne at the Wisconsin Cow Chip and Throw Festival Presented by Culver’s would be 1) hilarious and 2) a great sequel to True Stories.