Hail! Hail! rock ‘n’ roll
Soundgarden, The Dave Matthews Band, Styx, Paul Rodgers (or Bad Company), Joe Cocker, Judas Priest, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Pat Benatar, Meat Loaf, Peter Frampton.
It sounds like some great music to download for your next work-out. It would also be a great list of inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately, none have yet to get the call to receive what’s unofficially the greatest accolade a rock musician will receive.
In their place we have The Doobie Brothers, T-Rex, Depeche Mode and the Nine Inch Nails. (All are fine picks, except maybe the Doobies, who are a little on the soft side.)
Rounding out the list of inductees, announced Tuesday in New York: Whitney Houston and the Notorious B.I.G.
Houston, without a doubt was a great pop singer. Her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl was one for the ages.
She wasn’t rock-and-roll. Nor was Biggie Smalls, whose life was cut short at the age of 24 when he was killed in a stillunsolved drive-by shooting. He was clearly a pioneer in the rap and hiphop movement. But, he too wasn’t rock-and-roll.
The Hall, dreamed up some 30 years ago by Rolling Stone magazine and now the No. 1 tourist attraction in Cleveland, was a great idea, but continues to suffer an identity crisis.
Is it designed to recognize true rock artists or the top 40?
If that’s the case, where’s Patsy Cline or Dolly Parton to represent country (which had its own Hall of Fame long before the rock hall)?
For pop music, if Whitney’s there, George Michael, who wrote his own material, also belongs there. So does Barbra Streisand, who shines on Broadway songs, pop, classical and even rock (homework assignment: rewatch “A Star Is Born.”)
Not that it matters, but Parton wrote Whitney’s biggest hit, “I Will Always Love You.”
Previous inductees include Blondie and Michael Jackson, the latter as both a solo artist and member of the Jackson Five.
We can live with those. Blondie had “One Way or Another” and Michael’s songs such as “Beat It” and “Black and White” were clearly influenced by rock music (and included Eddie Van Halen and Slash.)
But ABBA’s also there as well as the Bee Gees. Again, brilliant pop music that’s not rock. Does Rolling Stone not remember the “Disco Sucks” backlash? It was rock and roll fans leading the chant.
With any Hall of Fame, whether for sports or the arts, comes controversy. Whenever inclusion is subjective, it’s open for debate.
Unlike Pete Rose, forever banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame for betting on baseball (never mind some of the old-time players were racists), the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame doesn’t seem to deter against bad behaviour.
But, if they’re going to do this, they still have a responsibility to do it correctly.