The New York Times:
Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Jane’s Addiction and Depeche Mode lead the latest crop of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, raising the possibility of a sweep of 1980s and ’90s nostalgia for an institution that has been criticized for its devotion to the baby boomer generation.
Of the 19 nominees announced by the Rock Hall on Tuesday, nine were getting their first nods, including Pearl Jam and Mr. Shakur in their first year of eligibility.
I love these stories if only for the arguments they generate. I think Pearl Jam and Tupac should be in the Hall but would disagree that Journey, the J. Geils Band, and Joe Tex deserve entry. What about you? Who do you think, out of the 19 nominees this round, deserves to be in or not?
First off Pearl Jam sucks and second no Joe Tex? Journey is just off the charts wrong but didn’t Heart get in? They are really scraping the bottom of the barrel and exposing the problem with this type of hall of fame. Rock & Rolls grand productive years were too short and greatness to rare for a hall to make sense. Just descending into a popularity contest. The whole (Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Lover Boy, Heart) period of corporate rock is grotesque.
Has NRBQ gotten in yet?
There’s no one left.
but at least we won’t be around to care when Brittney Spears or Taylor Swift or any other manufactured pop concoction makes its way to the nomination table.
NRBQ? Sorry, no. They were and still are a talented band. So, that means they’re out.
I think that Neil Young will be nominated for Pono.
Journey belongs there on the strength of their three pre-Steve Perry albums (Journey, Look Into the Future, and Next). After that, meh. If you haven’t heard them, look them up. They weren’t available for very long in the CD era but they’re available now as downloads. They are great rock albums.
Pearl Jam definitely belongs. They’re the best band to come out of the whole grunge scene (yes, better than Nirvana) and have stood the test of time, so if grunge qualifies as Rock and Roll, they should be in.
Tupac? No. I understand why people like his music, but definitely not rock and roll.
You’re saying Pearl Jam sucks and you nominate two bands that nobody has ever heard of?Joe Tex and NRBQ? Who?
I don’t consider the Hall of Fame an adequate judge of anything other than its own publicity.
See that’s the problem they have to appeal to knuckleheads like you that don’t know anything about great popular music in the rock & roll era.
Early Journey was worse than Steve Perry Journey and Steve Perry Journey is sentimental codswallop. As Robert California said about Black Eyed Peas “It’s rock and roll for people who don’t like rock and roll; it’s rap for people who don’t like rap; it’s pop for people who don’t like pop”. Fusion is for people who don’t like rock and roll or Jazz but have desperate need to feel superior..
You’re confusing knowing what you like with knowing what you’re talking about. Pearl Jam is dreadful crap.
spot on
Kraftwerk.
Don’t like Pearl Ham but hard to argue. Bad Brains and ELO would have my vote. If the Hall considers Kraftwerk rock, then them too.
2pac? Hell no, and NWA’s spot should be retroactively revoked.
Nina Simone (!), Whitney Houston, Big Star, The Cure, Robert Moog, Eric B & Rakim, Wolfman Jack, Jan & Dean, Harry Nilsson, Brian Eno (as a producer), Russell Simmons, Kool and the Gang, Devo, Afrika Bambaata, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, New Order, King Crimson, Mariah Carey, Tribe Called Quest, Tommy James & The Shondells, Iron Maiden, Rick James, Captain Beefheart, and maybe Lester Bangs are all more worthy than most of the noms.
I assume there’s some agreement with Nashville to limit country noms. Cash and Hank are sole presence. There are a half dozen easy choices who should be in.
To my mind anything created during the “Rock” era (post 1950 or so) deserves consideration: black, white, yellow, brown, whatever. Stuff like Sinatra produced post-1950 is an obvious no, someone like Petula Clark could be considered because it’s not Jazz based pop it’s modern pop from the Rock era.
Rock ‘n’ Roll is music clearly derived from bluesR&B like Rockabilly, Rock & Roll, Soul, Reggae. Things like most Pink Floyd and a lot of post-psychedelic music is “Rock” because it has a much more tenuous connection to bluesR&B and doesn’t really “roll” or swing in a r&b sense and is made to sit and listen to and not really dance to.
I doubt they have an agreement with the Country hall of fame. Cash started out in Memphis in Rockabilly and like many rockabilly guys switched to country as rockabilly lost popularity. Hank Williams, Fat’s Waller and those guy’s are in because they had a huge influence on rock and roll music.
20 years of sold out shows say otherwise, my friend.
Out of curiosity, I put on NRBQ. I’m now on my way to the emergency room after stabbing myself in the ears. Just awful.
Pat Boone was popular for a long time too as were a lot of other musical abominations.
But hey, if you want it to be about a popularity contest for suburban white guy’s favorite “important, serious” bands the RnR hall of Fame is for you. This is the time of knowledge free opinions and scale for it’s own sake.
What’s your criteria? A band nobody has heard of that you still listen to on vinyl?
Popularity isn’t a factor just quality.
Which is exactly why PJ will get in this year. They’ve recorded some of the best and most influential music of my generation. Of course you don’t have to like them, but your opinion of their quality doesn’t align to the reality of their 27-year run. Many people, including myself, appreciate the quality of their music.
Heart was a rock band led by two women. The sheer uniqueness of that situation likely gave them an influence among young female musicians that extends beyond their creative output, and awarding influential acts should be the roll of a museum.