Annual Rock & Roll Hall Nominee debate

With the Pretenders and Blondie in and Rush out, it already has, Am.

 

I took disco-dancing lessons, too, with a bunch of 50-year-old. Needless to say, I'm glad they didn't teach the bump.

 

His lyrics matter to a limited, self-appointed audience of rock snobs. And yes, he is utterly unlistenable. Comparing him to Dylan is a direct kick in Dylan's goods.

 

Brenton Wood is still touring after 41 years. Should he be in the Hall? Longevity can be considered, but behind a lot of other factors. As for Def...pretty much playing only for bucks since Adrenalized bombed. And Hysteria was produced within an inch of its life. So...no.

 

Def Leppard were one of the mainstays of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which gained popularity in the late 1970s. With Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, they helped further develop metal, though they were more poppy and lowbrow than the other two. Their first three albums were solid stuff, especially High 'n' Dry.

Yes, I also think Maiden and Priest should get consideration. Maybe not get in, but . . . they're Rock and Roll, dammit. I don't get how the Pretenders are in, but these metal acts never get consdered. Well, I do, but I disagree with it.

Def Leppard's late period has been dismal ever since the drummer lost his arm. But they haven't always been a teenybopper band.

 

Uggh, not the "rock snob" argument. Shall we leave the hall to Billboard so we don't deal with elitist stuff like "artistic merit"? Boot out anyone a critic likes... let's leave room for Ashley Simpson!

 

There's nothing to get, Piotr. They belong in as much as I do.

Fucking joke.

 

Haha, very true

 

I like the Pretenders... but honestly, I've never quite gotten the level of praise thrown their way. Good band, but I don't know if they're Hall of Fame level.

But again, it's pretty much becoming the Hall of I May Not Change The Station If It Comes On The Radio. Some lame-o stuff getting in. They put in 5 acts each year. There is no way you will find 5 deserving acts each year from now on. Hell, 1 or 2 may be too many.

 

Adrenalize didn't bomb. Didn't sell 10 million, granted, but a multi-platinum album is never a bomb, esp. when you're the last band of your genre standing in the face of grunge. It sucked donkey balls, just wasn't a bomb. Now Slang . . . that bombed.

 

Yeah, cos that's what I was saying, that Ashlee Simpson should be in.


: The point is, it's the Rock Hall of Fame, not the Kenneth Clark Memorial Hall of High Culture. And since when does inaccesibility and poor singing equal "artistic merit." And maybe Leonard Cohen is a poet of Spencerian chops, for all I care, but rock is a multidisciplinary endeavor.

 

Madonna - in.
Chic - Probably in for producer's chops as their own output.
Mellencamp - in. Started out as the poor man's Indiana Springsteen, and went on to earn it on his own merits.
Beasties - in. You gotta fight for the right to party.
Afrika - No. Too brief a burst of significant material, and most of it was only very remotely related to rock.
Cohen - No. The junior-varsity crossbreed version of Blonde on Blonde-era Dylan and Lou Reed.
Dave Clark Five: Close. Forty years on, a lot of it's been forgotten, but they had a LOT of hits from 1964-67. Supposedly they got enough votes to be elected last year, and were vetoed by Jann Wenner, who wanted to personally install Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (see comments on Afrikaa Bambataa above).
The Ventures: Another borderline case from the mid-60s -- their case isn't quite as strong as the DC5's.
Donna Summer: Yes. Although she started out exclusively in disco, she did make some attempts to cross over to rock.

As in all HOF arguments, as time goes on and on, I get less fired up about these raging arguments that "we have to keep XXXXX out, or it will cheapen the hall of fame." Will the baseball HOF go up in flames if Jim Rice or Alan Trammell are put in? Will the basketball HOF collapse in ruins if Chris Mullin makes it? Will the R&R HOF be disgraced forever if Rush or KISS get in?