2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Yellfest

You're not saying BB King doesn't belong are you?

 

No, I'm saying the only logical argument against Stevie Ray Vaughan is that he was more blues than rock and roll, but B.B. King was more blues than Vaughan.

 

I choose Pantera.

Kiss sucks and does not play heavy metal.

 

SRV has crossover.

I love BB King, as well as Albert King, Howling' Wolf, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. They shouldn't be in the HoF. It's an attempt to glom onto a lot of great musicians and lump them into rock and roll.
Hank Williams shouldn't be in the HoF. Nor should Herb Alpert, Louis Armstrong, Woody Guthrie or Billie Holiday.
Pete Seeger? Nat King Cole? It's ridiculous.

 

I saw BB King perform 15 times. I love him.
I don't think he belongs in the rock and roll HoF.
He is, deservedly, in the blues HoF.

 

I had this poster when I was a kid:

 

A couple of random thoughts:

To those who asked who the Paul Butterfield Blues Band were, they were one of the groundbreaking blues-rock bands of the mid-60s, kind of an American version of the Bluesbreakers. They had a killer guitarist in Mike Bloomfield, and their sound has held up surprisingly well over the years. Their problem was they weren't radio-friendly and thus were unable to crossover into the mainstream the way Canned Heat did, even though they could play rings around the Heat.

The Meters are a very influential New Orleans group that has continued to perform with many various personnel lineups over the years. If you've listened to the Neville Brothers at all, you're familiar with their music, as they were founding members of the Meters, and still play many of their classics. Great band, but I think the N.O. sound is such a niche genre that the Meters really don't belong in the RRHOF, although they're probably better than at least half of the acts that are in there.

The classic Deep Purple lineup -- with Ian Gillen, Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord -- were as good as any rock band ever, but that grouping probably didn't stay together long enough to really deserve inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

I love Mott the Hoople, and One Of The Boys is one of the 10 best rock songs ever recorded IMO, but they probably didn't have enough staying power to really be a factor for the HOF. Little Feat, on the other hand, definitely deserves serious consideration. Their show that I saw in June, 1978, when Lowell George was still alive, remains the single best concert I've ever seen.

Finally, anyone who thinks Journey belongs in the HOF before Stevie Ray needs to have their rock-and-roll listening privileges revoked. Journey = Old Indian word for really bad rock-and-roll.

 

B.B. King was a massive influence on guys like Clapton, Page, Beck, Hendrix and countless others. The other blues guys you mentioned also had considerable influence on rock music.

Much tougher to make the case for Alpert (aside form owning A&M), Armstrong (probably the single most important jazz figure of all time, unlike Miles Davis, had little to no connection or influence on rock), Billie Holiday (aside from the nasty drug problems), Nat King Cole and Pete Seeger. Could make a case for Guthrie, especially given his influence on Dylan and others.

 

I have never considered Journey a HOF band. Some decent singles but no career-defining album(s) or the influence of a band like Cheap Trick. To me Journey is nothing more than a west coast version of .38 Special.

And while I don't think Heart has the catalogue or influence of a band like Motorhead (seriously, what Heart song can compete with "Ace of Spades", "Stone Dead Forever", "Killed by Death" or "Orgasmatron", to name just a few) they did put out at least one album cover better than anything my man Lemmy has ever done:

 

If you were to ask some of those 1980s Hair bands about their influences, I'm sure KISS using theatrics to overcome their lack of talent provided much inspiration.

But asking actual heavy metal bands about KISS' influence?

The Knights In Satan's Service would be below Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, maybe Rush, etc. Even Def Leppard's first two albums were more heavy metal than anything KISS ever did.

 

There is something to be said for that, but saying someone doesn't belong in the HoF is not the same as saying that band sucks.

I love Pepper Johnson, but he doesn't belong in Canton.
And that's the football HoF. Everybody gets into that.

As for influences, I don't dispute that Leadbelly and BB King and Woody Guthrie were big influences upon many of the musicians who became giants of rock and roll.
My point is that 'influences' as a category for inductees is a sham. It's simply an attempt to glom onto great performers from other genres and add prestige to the HoF.

 

Very nice pull. I stand by my second point, that KISS is not metal. Can't control that dude listens to garbage like Peter Frampton and Kiss.