It's that time of year again, fellow Clevelanders. The time when the esteemed board members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announce their annual nominations for induction, causing elderly hippies with gray ponytails to write angry letters to the Plain Dealer's editorial page, complaining about any artist that doesn't fit their definition of what rock and roll is. (Namely: white men with guitars.) This year's noms are a mixed bag as usual. Here are my two cents:
Cyndi Lauper-An obvious shoo-in. She's leading the fan votes, and it's not hard to see why. As both a beloved pop icon and an LGBTQ+ ally, she's got this one in the bag.
Kate Bush- Another sure thing. It doesn't hurt that a certain hit Netflix hit series bumped up her popularity with younger generations. It's not often that a 37-year-old song hits number one on iTunes, but stranger things have happened. (Eh? Eh? See what I did there?) It would take an evil force greater than Vecna (or Jann Wenner) to keep her out.
A Tribe Called Quest- Can the Rock Hall kick it? Yes it can. And it should.
The White Stripes-Jack and Meg are certainly deserving, but are they ready? On the other hand, the Rock Hall has been pretty generous with newer artists getting in their first year of eligibility (see Foo Fighters and Eminem), so it's not unthinkable that they could get in. Also, if you're the type of person who calls Jack White "the goth John Mayer", then you are not allowed to vote.
Willie Nelson-If Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton can get in, why not Willie? The whole "is country rock?"debate is kind of silly, considering that we wouldn't have the latter without the former. The man is going to be 90 this year, so let him in. He's accomplished more while high than most people have while sober, and is possibly the only person to have ever smoked a joint on the roof of the White House. (OK, maybe Bill Clinton too.)
Soundgarden-Chris Cornell has been gone for over five years and what better way to honor his memory than with an induction? No snarky comments here. Just a sincere plea for the Rock Hall to pay tribute to one of rock's greatest voices.
Warren Zevon-Eligible since the '90s and just now being nominated for the first time, which would be a shameful black mark for the hall, if I thought they had any shame. More than worthy of inclusion, he deserves to be remembered as more than just a sample source for a shitty Kid Rock song.
Joy Division/New Order-This is the one nomination that I have an issue with, but not because I feel that either band is undeserving. I'm opposed to this one, because it implies that they are the same band, which is not the case.They are separate bands and as such, should have separate nominations. I guess according to the Rock Hall,'s logic, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave should get in together. And speaking of which...
Rage Against the Machine and Iron Maiden-I think the hall should implement a new rule in which any band that has nominated at least five times and hasn't gotten in automatically gets inducted. RATM and Iron Maiden have both been nominated about a dozen times, which is ridiculous. Just fuckin' let 'em in!
Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, The Spinners-Meh. Don't care about any of these acts. Wouldn't care either way if they got in or if they didn't.
One last rant: what the hell do The B-52's have to do to even get a nomination? Thousands of bands have written songs about love, but only one has written a song about a rock lobster, so why aren't they in?
No comments:
Post a Comment