What About Us? Ten (plus one) Artists Due For Consideration For The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame
Submitted by Macheath on Fri, 03/26/2004 - 02:48
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- Link Wray - Link invented distortion, after all. The godfather of ROCK! guitar.
- The Hollies - A handful of great singles, some great harmonies, and when they got ambitious, they put out one of the best songs of 1967 in King Midas In Reverse.
- Randy Newman - Crazy-great songwriter, biting wit, and at times crossed the border into satirical genius. In the words of Fat Tony, "it's funny because it's true."
- Iggy Pop - Man, he deserves enshrinement simply by still being alive.
- Black Sabbath - Though Ozzy will likely protest against induction until he draws his last breath (and gobbless 'im for doing so), Sabbath's sound is probably responsible (directly or indirectly) for everything heavy in rock music since 1970.
- The Sonics - The greatest of all garage rock and northwest rock bands, period.
- Wanda Jackson - I would say Janis Martin here, but for one reason or another her career didn't have the longevity of Wanda's. And Wanda's vocal delivery was every bit as important to the rockabilly style as Carl Perkins' guitar.
- Rufus Thomas - The world's oldest teenager, the link between r&b, rock and roll, Memphis blues, and early funk.
- Kraftwerk - Where would electronica be today without Kraftwerk? Would there be electronica today? Would there be hip hop without Trans-Europe Express?
- Badfinger - Maybe the Beatles connection hurt them, but their singles and albums were very solid and they were a huge influence on the power pop sound of the 70s and 80s. And their original version of Without You was better than Nilsson's cover.
- T. Rex - Two classic albums, a handful of great singles, one of the great charismatic front men, a big influence in glam and early punk...if the HoF wasn't so Americentric T. Rex would have been in years ago.
Author Comments:
As I was watching the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this week, I was hit once again with thoughts of, "why _____________ when _______________ hasn't been inducted yet??" So I thought of eleven I'd like to see in ASAP.
(And yeah, I know, rock doesn't belong in a museum, in the words of Ray Davies, "rock and roll has become respectable....what a drag." It's still a good time-waster and I at least looked busy at my desk for the last 30-40 minutes.)
Rock N' Roll HOF is almost as boring as the Grammys...almost. However I agree with all the people you mention.
Sometimes it's scarier who they include than who they exclude.
Tim Buckley might be another shunted artist.