Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame


A quick reminder ... 

In addition to compiling the list of your all-time favorite garage bands, we're also tabulating your votes for our "Deserving And Denied" List of Artists who belong in The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame ... ALL of whom enriched our lives with OUTSTANDING music over the years ... yet most of whom have never even so much as made the ballot.

You'll find a few of your most recent comments below ... along with our list of suggestions from our previous post on this topic.
We'll continue to tabulate your votes on this topic, too, through June 1st ... and then compile and updated list of The Top 40 Most Deserving And Denied Artists ... so let your voice be heard now in Forgotten Hits.  (Lord knows they won't listen to it over at the actual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ... where only THEY have a say as to who gets inducted!) 

 
re:  THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME:
Kent ...
I thought your readers might want to hear from the Crickets.
Frank B.
 
Too bad they had to miss the ceremony ... but kinda cool that they all chose to stick together in an "all for one" attitude.  (Guess they figured they'd already waited this long, what did it matter at this point?!?!?)  kk  

Kent,
My personal opinion is that it's a bunch of crap how they continue to ignore Harry Chapin and they induct the likes of The Beastie Boys (good but not R&RHOF Caliber).
Sev 

The Problem with the choices made for induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ... and most other Hall of Fames ... comes down to one simple thing ... Criteria. 
They don't have one.
Thought of this today while on The Forgotton Hits WebSite and reading ... once again ... all the gripes about who isn't inducted.
Let's see if we can come up with Criteria for PERFORMERS:
1) Career Dates: The earlier you began your success, the more points you achieve.  Making Rock and Roll Records in The '50s when many churches were burning them and many radio stations were breaking them ... did not appear to be a long term career option.
5 points for Pre-1955 (true pioneer)
4 points for 1956-1959 (Elvis takes it Mainstream)
3 points for 1960-1963 (post payola.)
2 points for 1964-1975 (contributing to The Beatle Wave or succeeding in spit of it)
1 point       1975-Present (being inspired by Everyone)
2) Number of Top 40 Chart Records (Billboard) One point for each record.
3) You ALSO wrote / co-wrote (one point for each Top 40 record)
4) You ALSO Produced (one point for each Top 40 record )
5) You ALSO played a Musical Instrument (one point for each Top 40 record)
We would have to establish a different Criteria for nominees who were exclusively writers, producers, etc.
Notice I haven't suggested how many "points" required ... but I'd suggest at least 10 and perhaps as high as 20.  Of course you could also make it more difficult by requiring that they be Top 10 records.
What do you think Kent? 
Cheers
Warren Cosford
Co-producer The Story of The Beatles (12 hours 1970)
Production Manager The Elvis Presley Story ( 12 hours 1975)
Production Manager The Evolution of Rock (64 hours 1977)
I know we've talked about this before ... and even run your point system before ... but the fact of the matter is The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame doesn't have a criteria by design ... it's completely arbitrary ... with any and all decisions being dictated by them ... and, most often, without any means of explanation.  They say the number of hit records doesn't count ... neither does popularity ... they're saluting the artists who most changed rock and roll music and influenced other artists and trends.  That's why you've got landmark acts like Leonard Cohen, Bonnie Raitt and Percy Sledge in there ... the impact of whom is immeasurable, right?!?!?  That's why revolutionary, legendary acts like Afrika Bambaataa and Eric B. and Rakim get nominated and "nobody" artists like Chicago, The Moody Blues and The Doobie Brothers are continually ignored.
Yeah, we've beaten it to death over the years ... but it doesn't get any easier watching more and more of these great artists pass away without ever seeing due process done. (kk)   

First time I have ever seen The Moody Blues in concert.  My introduction to them was my freshman year in college when one of my room-mates gave me a dissertation on how "behind" the U.S. was in their music.  She had spent time in Germany and relayed how The Moody Blues were "IT" and all other British Invasion bands were "old hat".  I have never bought her theory on the idea that you have to "pass through" or "give up" music faves as you go through life.  For me, if I like it, it stays.  I do not feel a need to be hip, current, or fashionable.  Do not misunderstand and think I did not / do not like The Moody Blues ... I just added them to my list of artists that I like!
Meanwhile, back at the concert:  The audience could not have been a better fit if they had been paid.  For them, the band could have done no wrong.  Up on their feet from the introduction, they appreciated each note.  There was a fog machine somewhere hiccupping clouds onto the stage and a kaleidoscope background that could have bothered some.  Were they necessary?  Definitely not needed to enhance the sound, but to help us experience the FLAVOR of that musical time, yes.  And then I heard it ... the unmistakable sound of the Justin Hayward guitar.  I would know it in my sleep.  Is it the same guitar as then?  Don't know, don't care; but definitely still there.
Shelley
Although I have always liked the obvious hits by The Moody Blues, I never liked them enough to go out and buy a ticket to see them in concert.  Meanwhile, I had SO many friends that had seen them DOZENS of times ... every time they came to Chicago, they were at the show ... constantly telling me that I didn't know what I was missing.
Then, a few years ago, The Drive had The Moody Blues perform at their Annual Birthday Party Concert and we won free tickets ... and we were blown away.  Some 40-years-on, they STILL sounded fantastic in concert and put on a letter-perfect show.  (We had the same experience with Joe Cocker the year he was The Drive's Birthday Concert Guest ... always liked his music but would never have thought to go see him live in concert ... then he put on this incredible show and won me over ... in fact, we went to see him again a year later!)
This year The Drive is bringing us The Doobie Brothers with special guest Dave Mason.  I saw The Doobie Brothers exactly once before ... and it was during the Michael McDonald years.  They were performing up at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin and I remember hiking nearly a mile from the parking lot to our seats, over all kinds of hills and valleys!  The opening act that year was Carl Wilson, who had left The Beach Boys over creative differences ... he wanted to do NEW music ... and Mike Love wanted to just keep churning out the same car and surf tunes.  Couldn't have asked for a better double bill ... in fact the ONLY Beach Boys song Carl sang all night was "God Only Knows".
My all-time favorite Doobie Brothers song is "Takin' It To The Streets" ... so when they opened their show with that one, I figured it would be all down hill from here!  (lol)  Truth is, while I like Michael McDonald ... and I like the music he created with the band ... to me the REAL Doobie Brothers sound is the one created by Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons ... and that's what I want to hear at The Drive's 2012 Birthday Bash!
While we've gotten WAY off topic, the point to be made here is that The Moody Blues ... AND Joe Cocker ... AND The Doobie Brothers, too, for that matter, are all FAR more deserving of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame status than so many of the artists who have previously been inducted.  (kk)  

KK -
>>>Deserving And Denied Artists:  Chicago ... The Guess Who ... 
The Moody Blues ... Hall and Oates ... Chubby Checker ... The Monkees ... Heart ... Electric Light Orchestra ... Linda Ronstadt ... Genesis ... Three Dog Night ... Yes ... Paul Revere and the Raiders ... The Zombies ... Pat Benatar ... The Doobie Brothers ... Tommy James and the Shondells ... The Turtles ... Jan and Dean ... Herman's Hermits ... 
Glen Campbell ... Todd Rundgren ... Johnny Rivers ...As big as each and every one of these artists were, NONE of them have ever been inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  Maybe it's time to rectify THAT oversight, too ... with a mass-induction ceremony righting the wrong.  (In which case you can add Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Neil Sedaka and Paul Anka to this list, too!)  kk
Maybe FH could stage a protest at next year's induction ceremony with signs with these names on them ...
(:>)
Phil / Pray For Surf
If I thought it would do even a bit of good, I'd print them tomorrow ... but the fact of the matter is that even petitions with in excess of ten thousand signatures on them have been routinely ignored and cast aside.  They clearly have their own agenda ... on only their opinion matters ... and they seem to be very proud of this fact.  Instead of finally recognizing so much great talent over the years, they seem more focused on coming up with at least one name each year that'll shock us ... or leave us scratching our heads asking, "WHO?!?!?  Never even HEARD of them!!!"  That being the case, how on earth could they have been an artist worthy of such an honor?  That being the case, what everlasting, world-changing impact did they have on the genre of rock and roll music?  I just don't get it ... and neither do most of the REAL music fans out there ... so this is your chance to vent!!!
Let your voice be heard and cast your votes for The Top 40 Most Deserving And Denied Artists Who Belong In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!!!  (kk)