Yankovic wrote:Nonetheless, the hopes, prayers, Karmic vibrations, and psychic investments of the Heck of a Guy Blog are committed to Leonard Cohen, the class act in this group of nominees.
Leonard Cohen - Critics love him. Hardly anyone else listens to him. If you can make zero commercial impact and still make the Hall of Fame, he belongs.
For starters, Leonard Cohen? Not to question the Montreal bard's poetic genius in any way, but even he must be laughing at that one.
2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
While a failure to get in, with the politics and lack of uniform standards and weird voting possibilities, would not be a significant failure, I still think being there is much better for a musician's career. We visited once a few years ago, and it is a fun and entertaining place. I hooked up with Fleetwood Mac again by that visit.
Yank man is just giving us the insane ravings of some of the critics -- and he isn't leaving anything out, which I appreciate. I still have hope, moreover, that the writers so far don't represent the majority of the 500 plus voters.
For all I know, Leonard might elect not to accept even if voted in.... but I would hope before making that decision he might make a quick Cleveland stop when traversing between Montreal and Los Angeles, and spending a half hour or so at the facility.
Surely others here have seen the Hall. If you have, do you think I am off base?
Dick
Yank man is just giving us the insane ravings of some of the critics -- and he isn't leaving anything out, which I appreciate. I still have hope, moreover, that the writers so far don't represent the majority of the 500 plus voters.
For all I know, Leonard might elect not to accept even if voted in.... but I would hope before making that decision he might make a quick Cleveland stop when traversing between Montreal and Los Angeles, and spending a half hour or so at the facility.
Surely others here have seen the Hall. If you have, do you think I am off base?
Dick
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Leonard attended his inductions into both, The Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. I don't see why he would decline to attend his induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, just because he knows he's not Rock & Roll. I hope he attends.
I have not been to the Rock Hall Museum yet, and I won't go until Leonard Cohen, Chicago and Bernie Taupin have all been inducted. However long that takes.
Did you happen to see the Elton John exhibit when you were there? Were there any pictures of Bernie Taupin? I know he is mentioned in the Elton John biography at the Rock Hall, but is Taupin pictured anywhere alongside Elton?
I have not been to the Rock Hall Museum yet, and I won't go until Leonard Cohen, Chicago and Bernie Taupin have all been inducted. However long that takes.
Did you happen to see the Elton John exhibit when you were there? Were there any pictures of Bernie Taupin? I know he is mentioned in the Elton John biography at the Rock Hall, but is Taupin pictured anywhere alongside Elton?
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Sorry, but I just don't recall 
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
This is all SPIN had to say:
http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/ ... n_britpop/
The Music Slut
http://musicslut.blogspot.com/2007/09/l ... nated.html
http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/ ... n_britpop/
The Music Slut
http://musicslut.blogspot.com/2007/09/l ... nated.html
Last edited by Yankovic on Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
The Future Rock Hall
http://www.futurerockhall.com/blog.html ... try-id-112
The Ballots Are In... But Did Anyone Receive Any Votes?
12.01.07 08:28 PM | 2008 Ceremony | Permalink
The 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballots were due in New York on November 26th, and we know that John Mellencamp will be enshrined into the Hall, but this year some outspoken voters have protested the selection of nominees by not voting at all. Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle music critic, decided not to send in his ballot this year for the first time. Jon Bream, another Rock Hall voter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, could only bring himself to vote for Madonna and no one else. What is going on here? There was clearly a growing animosity towards the Rock Hall shortly after the nominees were announced in September, but rock fans have been complaining about the process for years without generating a revolt among the insiders. Selvin, himself a former Nominating Committee member, writes: Over and over again, the elitist committee of 50 record company executives and rock critics who do the nominating come up with a list that reflects their East Coast, intellectual biases, and, year after year, the voting body of FM radio disc jockeys picks the most mainstream possible candidates and votes them in. Hence James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne ... If enough voters send in blank ballots, or don't vote at all, perhaps the Nominating Committee will get the message that placing only nine artists on the ballot for five slots just isn't enough choice. Both Selvin and Bream list artists they would have liked to have had the chance to vote for this year. (Check out Future Rock Hall's list of eligible artists here.) Joel Selvin's list: "Steve Miller, Kiss, Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Joan Jett, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Ben E. King, Yes, Genesis (Peter Gabriel, too), Doobie Brothers, Roxy Music, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Todd Rundgren, Ry Cooder, Albert King, Billy Preston, et cetera, et cetera." Jon Bream's list: "Neil Diamond, Kiss, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, the Doobie Brothers, Genesis, Roxy Music, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Moody Blues, Hall & Oates, Rush and the Replacements, to name a few."
John Mellencamp is a 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee
11.30.07 09:47 AM | 2008 Ceremony | Permalink
Congratulations to John Mellencamp! At an Erie, Pennsylvania show last night, Mellencamp leaked to the crowd that he was among the five inductees for the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "I got a phone call today," he said. "I found out I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." As we learned last year, inductees find out well before the official press conference whether or not they have been voted in, presumably to work out the logistics of attending the ceremony in March. It's not surprising that Mellencamp is among the inductees, as he has led the Future Rock Hall poll for months, showing up on over 80% of voters' ballots. This was the third time that Mellencamp had been nominated for the Rock Hall, missing the final cut in 2004 and 2006. Thanks, David.
http://www.futurerockhall.com/blog.html ... try-id-112
The Ballots Are In... But Did Anyone Receive Any Votes?
12.01.07 08:28 PM | 2008 Ceremony | Permalink
The 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballots were due in New York on November 26th, and we know that John Mellencamp will be enshrined into the Hall, but this year some outspoken voters have protested the selection of nominees by not voting at all. Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle music critic, decided not to send in his ballot this year for the first time. Jon Bream, another Rock Hall voter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, could only bring himself to vote for Madonna and no one else. What is going on here? There was clearly a growing animosity towards the Rock Hall shortly after the nominees were announced in September, but rock fans have been complaining about the process for years without generating a revolt among the insiders. Selvin, himself a former Nominating Committee member, writes: Over and over again, the elitist committee of 50 record company executives and rock critics who do the nominating come up with a list that reflects their East Coast, intellectual biases, and, year after year, the voting body of FM radio disc jockeys picks the most mainstream possible candidates and votes them in. Hence James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne ... If enough voters send in blank ballots, or don't vote at all, perhaps the Nominating Committee will get the message that placing only nine artists on the ballot for five slots just isn't enough choice. Both Selvin and Bream list artists they would have liked to have had the chance to vote for this year. (Check out Future Rock Hall's list of eligible artists here.) Joel Selvin's list: "Steve Miller, Kiss, Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Joan Jett, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Ben E. King, Yes, Genesis (Peter Gabriel, too), Doobie Brothers, Roxy Music, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Todd Rundgren, Ry Cooder, Albert King, Billy Preston, et cetera, et cetera." Jon Bream's list: "Neil Diamond, Kiss, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, the Doobie Brothers, Genesis, Roxy Music, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Moody Blues, Hall & Oates, Rush and the Replacements, to name a few."
John Mellencamp is a 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee
11.30.07 09:47 AM | 2008 Ceremony | Permalink
Congratulations to John Mellencamp! At an Erie, Pennsylvania show last night, Mellencamp leaked to the crowd that he was among the five inductees for the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "I got a phone call today," he said. "I found out I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." As we learned last year, inductees find out well before the official press conference whether or not they have been voted in, presumably to work out the logistics of attending the ceremony in March. It's not surprising that Mellencamp is among the inductees, as he has led the Future Rock Hall poll for months, showing up on over 80% of voters' ballots. This was the third time that Mellencamp had been nominated for the Rock Hall, missing the final cut in 2004 and 2006. Thanks, David.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
A lot of people from the committee didn't even vote! I don't know how much this helps or hurts Leonard Cohen.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
View: Rock and Roll Hall offers lackluster candidates
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
I can't bring my self to vote in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame elections this year. Here's why:
This year's nominees: Afrika Bambaataa, Beastie Boys, Chic, Leonard Cohen, Dave Clark Five, Madonna, John Mellencamp, Donna Summer, the Ventures.
See my problem?
Afrika Bambaataa: Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, maybe.
Beastie Boys: See above.
Chic: A one-hit disco band?
Leonard Cohen: Nobody admires Cohen more than I do, but I don't think of him as having had a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career.
Dave Clark Five: Not really in the same league with the Beatles, Stones, etc.
Madonna: The only nominee who probably deserves the honor, but I have no enthusiasm for her candidacy.
John Mellencamp: He's like a solid shortstop who had a long, productive career without ever winning a batting championship or home run title. Never hit the long ball.
Donna Summer: See Chic.
The Ventures: Uh, no ... not really.
They've already sent me a postcard saying they haven't received my ballot. It would be the first year I didn't vote. As bad as some of the past ballots have been, I've always been able to find two or three names I could bring myself to vote for. Just not this year.
I must confess that I once belonged to the Nominating Committee, but my term unexpectedly expired, a letter informed me last year, because the Hall decided to create a Nominating Committee whose musical education began in the '80s. A labor lawyer who saw the letter thought it would have infringed federal anti-age-discrimination statutes, if the Hall had ever paid me dime one.
News reports surfaced last year that Rolling Stone Publisher Jann Wenner, a huge power behind the scenes at the Hall, actually installed rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five over the Dave Clark Five, who may have received more votes, because he was tired of not having any hip-hop in the Rock and Roll Hall. Whether hip-hop is a parallel universe or a subset of the music encompassed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn't clear, but Wenner is said to have usurped control of the board after the death of Ahmet Ertegun, the only other backstage power equivalent to Wenner.
I don't know about that, but I do know that the members of the Nominating Committee the year before, when I still belonged, were all very impressed with a telegram urging the induction of Miles Davis - Miles Davis in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? - signed by Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and other African American heavy hitters. Nominated and duly elected, Miles Davis is now a member, an honor he no doubt would have found profanely funny.
The list of musicians not inducted into the Hall of Fame is a roll call of honor: Steve Miller, Kiss, Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Joan Jett, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Ben E. King, Yes, Genesis (Peter Gabriel, too), Doobie Brothers, Roxy Music, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Todd Rundgren, Ry Cooder, Albert King, Billy Preston, et cetera, et cetera.
Meanwhile Paul Simon belongs twice and Eric Clapton three times. Let's not get into the many dubious inductees who managed to navigate the complex nominating and election procedure into a berth at the Hall. As complicated as the process may be, there is no way as yet to vote anybody out of the Hall.
Over and over again, the elitist committee of 50 record company executives and rock critics who do the nominating come up with a list that reflects their East Coat, intellectual biases, and, year after year, the voting body of FM radio disc jockeys picks the most mainstream possible candidates and votes them in. Hence James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne ...
After they read this, the Hall may stop hounding me for my ballot, which is due Nov. 26. Heck, after they read this, they may strike me from the voter rolls for good.
E-mail Joel Selvin at jselvin@sfchronicle.com
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
I can't bring my self to vote in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame elections this year. Here's why:
This year's nominees: Afrika Bambaataa, Beastie Boys, Chic, Leonard Cohen, Dave Clark Five, Madonna, John Mellencamp, Donna Summer, the Ventures.
See my problem?
Afrika Bambaataa: Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, maybe.
Beastie Boys: See above.
Chic: A one-hit disco band?
Leonard Cohen: Nobody admires Cohen more than I do, but I don't think of him as having had a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career.
Dave Clark Five: Not really in the same league with the Beatles, Stones, etc.
Madonna: The only nominee who probably deserves the honor, but I have no enthusiasm for her candidacy.
John Mellencamp: He's like a solid shortstop who had a long, productive career without ever winning a batting championship or home run title. Never hit the long ball.
Donna Summer: See Chic.
The Ventures: Uh, no ... not really.
They've already sent me a postcard saying they haven't received my ballot. It would be the first year I didn't vote. As bad as some of the past ballots have been, I've always been able to find two or three names I could bring myself to vote for. Just not this year.
I must confess that I once belonged to the Nominating Committee, but my term unexpectedly expired, a letter informed me last year, because the Hall decided to create a Nominating Committee whose musical education began in the '80s. A labor lawyer who saw the letter thought it would have infringed federal anti-age-discrimination statutes, if the Hall had ever paid me dime one.
News reports surfaced last year that Rolling Stone Publisher Jann Wenner, a huge power behind the scenes at the Hall, actually installed rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five over the Dave Clark Five, who may have received more votes, because he was tired of not having any hip-hop in the Rock and Roll Hall. Whether hip-hop is a parallel universe or a subset of the music encompassed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn't clear, but Wenner is said to have usurped control of the board after the death of Ahmet Ertegun, the only other backstage power equivalent to Wenner.
I don't know about that, but I do know that the members of the Nominating Committee the year before, when I still belonged, were all very impressed with a telegram urging the induction of Miles Davis - Miles Davis in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? - signed by Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and other African American heavy hitters. Nominated and duly elected, Miles Davis is now a member, an honor he no doubt would have found profanely funny.
The list of musicians not inducted into the Hall of Fame is a roll call of honor: Steve Miller, Kiss, Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Joan Jett, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Ben E. King, Yes, Genesis (Peter Gabriel, too), Doobie Brothers, Roxy Music, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Todd Rundgren, Ry Cooder, Albert King, Billy Preston, et cetera, et cetera.
Meanwhile Paul Simon belongs twice and Eric Clapton three times. Let's not get into the many dubious inductees who managed to navigate the complex nominating and election procedure into a berth at the Hall. As complicated as the process may be, there is no way as yet to vote anybody out of the Hall.
Over and over again, the elitist committee of 50 record company executives and rock critics who do the nominating come up with a list that reflects their East Coat, intellectual biases, and, year after year, the voting body of FM radio disc jockeys picks the most mainstream possible candidates and votes them in. Hence James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne ...
After they read this, the Hall may stop hounding me for my ballot, which is due Nov. 26. Heck, after they read this, they may strike me from the voter rolls for good.
E-mail Joel Selvin at jselvin@sfchronicle.com
Last edited by Yankovic on Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Comments about the previous post:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/c ... ITBMBD.DTL
9 Pages
TheWalrus wrote:
The Ventures and Leonard Cohen deserve it. The Ventures revolutionized surf rock. Without them, no Beach Boys, no Jan and Dean... if one takes the Beach Boys - Beatles competition as a given, no Beach Boys mean a potentially less creative Lennon / McCartney duo. The Ventures deserve it because of their landmark status as an early trail blazing group. Cohen deserves it simply because of his lyrics. No, he isn't as stereotypically rock and roll as a lot of honorees, but his lyrical mastery was on par with Dylan's and Neil Young's - even if the quantity of work wasn't as immense. He's a musical master - the number of covers his works have received is testiment to his lasting, and substantial impact.
ItzJustMee wrote:
One of the most glaring omissions: Leon Russell. (Who? you might say. . . Google him and find out.) One of the biggest contributers on ALL levels (writing, performing - from studio to soloing superstar - producing, arranging) to rock music over the past 50 (!!) years. Of course, those of us who dearly love Leonard and his music would, in a way, rather NOT have his good name sullied by being in the company of some of these jokers that inhabit the RRHOF.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/c ... ITBMBD.DTL
9 Pages
TheWalrus wrote:
The Ventures and Leonard Cohen deserve it. The Ventures revolutionized surf rock. Without them, no Beach Boys, no Jan and Dean... if one takes the Beach Boys - Beatles competition as a given, no Beach Boys mean a potentially less creative Lennon / McCartney duo. The Ventures deserve it because of their landmark status as an early trail blazing group. Cohen deserves it simply because of his lyrics. No, he isn't as stereotypically rock and roll as a lot of honorees, but his lyrical mastery was on par with Dylan's and Neil Young's - even if the quantity of work wasn't as immense. He's a musical master - the number of covers his works have received is testiment to his lasting, and substantial impact.
ItzJustMee wrote:
One of the most glaring omissions: Leon Russell. (Who? you might say. . . Google him and find out.) One of the biggest contributers on ALL levels (writing, performing - from studio to soloing superstar - producing, arranging) to rock music over the past 50 (!!) years. Of course, those of us who dearly love Leonard and his music would, in a way, rather NOT have his good name sullied by being in the company of some of these jokers that inhabit the RRHOF.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
http://idolator.com/tunes/disco-inferno ... 323131.php
Afrika Bambaataa: Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, maybe.
Beastie Boys: See above.
Chic: A one-hit disco band?
Leonard Cohen: Nobody admires Cohen more than I do, but I don't think of him as having had a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career.
Dave Clark Five: Not really in the same league with the Beatles, Stones, etc.
Madonna: The only nominee who probably deserves the honor, but I have no enthusiasm for her candidacy.
John Mellencamp: He's like a solid shortstop who had a long, productive career without ever winning a batting championship or home run title. Never hit the long ball.
Donna Summer: See Chic.
The Ventures: Uh, no ... not really.
Afrika Bambaataa: Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, maybe.
Beastie Boys: See above.
Chic: A one-hit disco band?
Leonard Cohen: Nobody admires Cohen more than I do, but I don't think of him as having had a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career.
Dave Clark Five: Not really in the same league with the Beatles, Stones, etc.
Madonna: The only nominee who probably deserves the honor, but I have no enthusiasm for her candidacy.
John Mellencamp: He's like a solid shortstop who had a long, productive career without ever winning a batting championship or home run title. Never hit the long ball.
Donna Summer: See Chic.
The Ventures: Uh, no ... not really.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
An astonishing turnabout. If he is voted in, who in the audience does he thank?
What I would like to see is for the voters to list their reasons. It would be most meaningful to see why the people voted as they did. If it was just "intellectual" bias, Leonard would have been in long ago, particularly over some of those already there.
< * back to the reasons I've never liked lists * >
~ Lizzy
What I would like to see is for the voters to list their reasons. It would be most meaningful to see why the people voted as they did. If it was just "intellectual" bias, Leonard would have been in long ago, particularly over some of those already there.
< * back to the reasons I've never liked lists * >
~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
~ Oscar Wilde
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
This hall of Fame business sounds like a right travesty.
Now you've got the gist of what my lettuce meant.
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
SONY, Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, Anthony DeCurtis, Paul Shaffer, Robbie Robertson...lizzytysh wrote:An astonishing turnabout. If he is voted in, who in the audience does he thank?
When Leonard gets inducted, I'm guessing he will get up and give a speech about how he doesn't know how he got here.
"I'm not Rock & Roll"
Make the audience laugh! I don't know whether he should do this before or after his thank you's!I don't understand why some people find it okay for Bob Dylan to be in the Rock Hall but not Leonard Cohen.
I guess Bob Dylan isn't 100% FOLK and Leonard Cohen is?
Last edited by Yankovic on Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Haha. Perfect. All the way around.When Leonard gets inducted, I'm guessing he will get up and give a speech about how he doesn't know how he got here.
Yes, Leonard will always manage to make the audience laugh, no matter what.
~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
~ Oscar Wilde
Re: 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
JON BREAM at Star Tribune: ''Madonna deserves to be in the Rock Hall of Fame''!
JON BREAM at Star Tribune:
Casting a ballot, holding my nose.
I waited and waited before submitting my ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. The choices for the 23rd annual election were difficult to get excited about, but did I want to waste my vote, knowing that five of the nine finalists will be inducted? How could I protest? There has never been a write-in slot.
The nominating committee is dominated by the industry’s East Coast elite, especially Rolling Stone publisher/editor Jann Wenner. It’s been slimmed down, too. Longtime San Francisco critic Joel Selvin says his term unexpectedly expired as Hall officials sought "to create a committee whose musical education began in the ’80s."
Cynicism and agism aside, I voted for only one candidate -- the first time I’ve been so reluctant. (The 600 or so voters are asked to rank, numerically, their top five choices.) In frustration, I wrote on my ballot: "How ’bout a write-in slot?"
Madonna deserves to be in the Rock Hall of Fame. No debate necessary.
Surf instrumentalists the Ventures and pioneering rapper Afrika Bambaataa were influential, but their careers didn’t have enough depth or breadth to merit the Hall of Fame. Leonard Cohen is an important artist and significant songwriter, but he’s not Hall caliber, either.
Donna Summer, John Mellencamp and the Dave Clark Five have more distinguished credentials than, say, Hall member and one-hit wonder Percy Sledge, but they are second-tier artists. I struggled with the Beastie Boys, who probably merit induction at some point but not before Run D.M.C., which isn’t eligible until next year.
As for Chic, the disco group shouldn’t have even been nominated. Many worthier names have never even appeared on the ballot: Neil Diamond, Kiss, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, the Doobie Brothers, Genesis, Roxy Music, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Moody Blues, Hall & Oates, Rush and the Replacements, to name a few.
Maybe next year.
JON BREAM
JON BREAM at Star Tribune:
Casting a ballot, holding my nose.
I waited and waited before submitting my ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. The choices for the 23rd annual election were difficult to get excited about, but did I want to waste my vote, knowing that five of the nine finalists will be inducted? How could I protest? There has never been a write-in slot.
The nominating committee is dominated by the industry’s East Coast elite, especially Rolling Stone publisher/editor Jann Wenner. It’s been slimmed down, too. Longtime San Francisco critic Joel Selvin says his term unexpectedly expired as Hall officials sought "to create a committee whose musical education began in the ’80s."
Cynicism and agism aside, I voted for only one candidate -- the first time I’ve been so reluctant. (The 600 or so voters are asked to rank, numerically, their top five choices.) In frustration, I wrote on my ballot: "How ’bout a write-in slot?"
Madonna deserves to be in the Rock Hall of Fame. No debate necessary.
Surf instrumentalists the Ventures and pioneering rapper Afrika Bambaataa were influential, but their careers didn’t have enough depth or breadth to merit the Hall of Fame. Leonard Cohen is an important artist and significant songwriter, but he’s not Hall caliber, either.
Donna Summer, John Mellencamp and the Dave Clark Five have more distinguished credentials than, say, Hall member and one-hit wonder Percy Sledge, but they are second-tier artists. I struggled with the Beastie Boys, who probably merit induction at some point but not before Run D.M.C., which isn’t eligible until next year.
As for Chic, the disco group shouldn’t have even been nominated. Many worthier names have never even appeared on the ballot: Neil Diamond, Kiss, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, the Doobie Brothers, Genesis, Roxy Music, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Moody Blues, Hall & Oates, Rush and the Replacements, to name a few.
Maybe next year.
JON BREAM
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom