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Another Semi-Disappointment in RRHOF Inductees

The list of new inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame was announced, among them Tina Turner, Carole King, Foo Fighters, and the Go-go's . . . yeah, I had to do a double take on that too.

Tina is way past due to be inducted; she doesn't need induction to validate her talent, that's for sure. Carole King, sure . . . great song writer and talent. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters--he's already been inducted once with Nirvana--the man is cool as can be and talented without question, therefore deserving in my opinion.

The Go-Go's? Seriously? I'm not saying they don't have talent--you can't top the charts and have the success they had without talent, so that's not the question. They will be inducted as the first three females in their category/class. Again, not that their not talented, but given who have been left off . . .

Rush was only recently inducted, a long-term oversight (or snub) which has finally been corrected. Heart took a long time to be inducted as well, two of the greatest rocking ladies on the planet, Ann and Nancy Wilson. There is a band still around, many of whose members have been session players for countless artists; that band is Toto. Say what you want about Toto, but their musicianship is widely respected. They backed up Boz Scaggs back in the day; Steve Lukather (along with Eddie Van Halen) played on Micheal Jackson's Beat It--Lukather did a number of other tracks on Thriller as well. Among others are Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, Alice Cooper, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, the Eagles, Paul McCartney, Earth, Wind, and Fire . . . and so many others.

This kind of talent doesn't deserve to be in the RRHOF?

Chuck Berry belongs there (is there), Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Aretha Franklin . . . all are in and all are deserving of the honor for their contributions and influence.

ABBA is in there . . . and I like some ABBA, and I would argue they have been influential. Electric Light Orchestra is in there . . . they were my boys growing up, but I'm not entirely certain of their overall influence on rock--Jeff Lynne, absolutely.

Every year I find it harder to wrap my head around how such an incredible group of musicians is kept an outlier by the very institution they helped grow.
 
He's in there. Rock n' Roll, as we know it, isn't a pure art form, it's a glorious amalgamation of different styles and forms: blues, jazz, folk, cajun, even country. Louis fits in there, so I applaud his induction.
 
So if I’m reading this correctly, of the artists you have mentioned only Toto have been left out of the HOF? Even though I prefer the GoGo’s to Toto this does seem like an oversight.
 
Of those I've mentioned, yes . . . all are in the HOF. I know musical tastes are incredibly subjective, just like all our hardware and software. To be clear, I am a Toto fan, but my fandom isn't the reason for my disappointment. I've never been a huge Rush fan, but what that trio could do was beyond impressive--they undoubtedly deserve to be in the HOF. Many may not care for Toto, but what many of those guys have contributed is worth recognition in the HOF.

But just because they're not in sure as hell isn't going to keep me from enjoying their music.
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
The Go-Go's were the first all-female band to chart an album that they wrote themselves, so broke new ground in that way. Inducting them is very much in the current zeitgeist.

Tina Turner and Carol King aren't already in? I'm surprised. Glad they made it. I believe they both also got elevated in the latest edition of Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Albums". Its kind of ironic that rock and roll is typically considered the more progressive-leaning musical scene, but has not been very welcoming to women. Who was the first female rock star? Janis Joplin maybe? And she didn't hit until the late 60's. Country, on the other hand, is stereotyped as stodgy and conservative, but has had big female stars going way back - Patsy Cline, June Carter, Loretta Lynn, Dolly, Emmylou, Reba, on and on.

The Foo Fighters have been like the de facto house band for every awards show for the past 20 years. Dave Grohl even jokes about it. "We need a rock band to play. How 'bout those Foo Fighter guys?" Its good they're getting in. Its kind of like when Grohl was inducted with Nirvana, that was recognizing his drumming. Inducting FF is like recognizing his songwriting and guitar playing. He deserves that just for Everlong alone. Pat Smear definitely deserves to be there. Pretty sure he wasn't inducted with Nirvana and I kind of doubt The Germs will ever be inducted. The rest of the band is pretty good too.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Bah. Humbug, all of it. Awards shows and the RRHOF.

The RRHOF is a big bunch of humbug and has been pretty much from its beginning. What they do or do is not worth my time or bandwidth, so I just don't care about it any longer. If it sounds fun, I might watch the induction show. Should I find myself in Cleveland, I might pay it a visit. Other than that, I've just said about all I'll ever say about their actions.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I visited the RRHoF in 2008. Nothing really memorable about it. It isn't like the baseball Hall where you see the uniform, cap, and even the bat and ball involved in a record breaking event. Rather, there are dozens of Les Pauls donated by musicians who each owned dozens of Les Pauls. Apart from things like Elvis' stupid white jumpsuit most of what's in there holds little immediate meaning. Like where are the ashes from the guitar Hendrix burned? Where are the shirts that Joe Cocker or Van Morrison vomited on in the middle of a show? Where is the last empty Southern Comfort bottle Janis drained before she died? I wasn't all that impressed.
 
At first I was reading along thinking “boy this guy’s a grump” but then I realized I totally agree with you!
Bah. Humbug, all of it. Awards shows and the RRHOF.

The RRHOF is a big bunch of humbug and has been pretty much from its beginning. What they do or do is not worth my time or bandwidth, so I just don't care about it any longer. If it sounds fun, I might watch the induction show. Should I find myself in Cleveland, I might pay it a visit. Other than that, I've just said about all I'll ever say about their actions.
 
This type of conversation happens every year when they announce inductees. It speaks to the foolishness of having a Hall of Fame for an art form.

That being said, Warren Zevon absolutely deserves to be in.
 

never-stop-learning

Demoted To Moderator
Staff member
Bah. Humbug, all of it. Awards shows and the RRHOF.

The RRHOF is a big bunch of humbug and has been pretty much from its beginning. What they do or do is not worth my time or bandwidth, so I just don't care about it any longer. If it sounds fun, I might watch the induction show. Should I find myself in Cleveland, I might pay it a visit. Other than that, I've just said about all I'll ever say about their actions.

+1 definitely agree. 👍

The delays recognizing Rush, Yes and Prog Rock in general eliminated the RRHOF from my "give a c**p" list.

I just flat don't care about the RRHOF - at all.

Other than that, I'm sure they are very nice people. ;) 🤣
 
What you said mate. When you look at the inductees and think what are they thinking, you know something's wrong. ABBA?? Actually if you look at the list on Wiki it's utterly random, it must be made by a bunch of people off their faces on cheap sherry.
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
Imagine what it’s going to look like in 10 years. 20 years.

Eventually they will have to simply stop inducting members or it’s going to be a complete joke of a HOF.

Yeah, bands today suck.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
This type of conversation happens every year when they announce inductees. It speaks to the foolishness of having a Hall of Fame for an art form.

That being said, Warren Zevon absolutely deserves to be in.
Perhaps the greatest thing Letterman did (and classic NBC Letterman did a lot of great things) was introduce me to Warren Zevon
 
Perhaps the greatest thing Letterman did (and classic NBC Letterman did a lot of great things) was introduce me to Warren Zevon

I may have told my introduction to Warren Zevon story before, but here goes: In the late 80s Steve Winwood was making his career comeback with "Higher Love", "Back in the High Life Again", and the rest of that album. He came to play the minor league baseball stadium in my hometown. Me and a buddy got tickets. Someone was supposed to open for him - Joe Cocker maybe? - but was unable to for some reason. So Winwood pulls Zevon from a tiny club tour nearby to open the show. The only song of his I knew was "Werewolves". So Zevon comes out and plays 30-45 minutes, pretty stripped down. Just him, a piano, and a couple of Winwood's backing guys for a few songs. After that set, I was ready to go. Didn't even care about Winwood's set. Went out the next day and bought a copy of the only Zevon album I could find at the time - "Excitable Boy". Been a fan ever since.

Here's Zevon doing an amazing cover of Winwood's "Back in the High Life Again":
 
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