I’ve been listening to Rock ‘n Roll since the 60’s. I’ve heard it all; The Beatles, The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, Rush, Grand Funk Railroad, Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd. The list goes on and on. Yet, as good of an idea the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame was, it has failed to live up to it’s promise miserably. Specifically, the people who are in charge of determining who gets nominated for entry into the Hall seem to make choices based upon their own personal tastes rather than the importance to the music form.

Before going any further, please read this article by Roger Friedman. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

This single article sheds more light on the problems with the Hall than anything else I’ve ever read. The first time I knew that something bad was happening was when I learned that the monkeys at Rolling Stone Magazine were heavily involved in the selection process for nominees. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t read anything from that magazine in over 20 years. Even in it’s heyday during the 60’s and 70’s, I rarely ever saw that the writers published in Rolling Stone had anything worthwhile to say. These days, the writers in Rolling Stone seem to care more about liberal politics than music, so the fact that they have a say over who gets nominated to the Hall irks me no end.

Let’s take a look at this years crop of nominees:

• Madonna: This is the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, right? When has Madonna ever put out released a Rock ‘n Roll record or CD? Answer: Never.
• Donna Summer: Are you kidding? Her biggest hit was a total massacre of Jim Webb’s MacArthur Park.
• Beastie Boys: Wannabe gang bangers who like to pretend they’re black. Crap like this shouldn’t even be allowed to visit the Hall, let alone be inducted into it.
• Afrika Bambaataa: Isn’t this a noise caused by indigestion?
• John Mellencamp: He’s had a couple of good songs, and is probably the only one in this line up for whom a case could be made.

All jokes aside, none of these acts is what you’d call serious Rock ‘n Roll. Madonna and Mellencamp should really be inducted into some type of “Pop Music” Hall of Fame, Summer into the “Disco” Hall of Fame, with the rest just going away.

Here’s a way to put this in perspective: These acts are being considered for induction, while the following acts have been snubbed for years: Rush, KISS, Chicago, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, and Three Dog Night. Each one of these bands has more claim to Rock ‘n Roll roots than all of this years group combined. This should be all you need to know.

I agree with Roger; if you currently read Rolling Stone, stop. Cancel your subscription and tell them why you are canceling. Encourage anyone you know who reads Rolling Stone to stop reading it and to cancel their subscription, if they have one. The only way these yuppies who don’t know anything about Rock ‘n Roll will ever change is if they are hit in the pocketbook.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 5:39 pm by Nick, and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.