O/T The Music Thread

Absolutely no politics. This was simple financial discussion… 🤓😂😂😂

Agree with this 100%. While the inductees may have made a huge impact on music, many never performed/recorded/produced a single note of rock music.

Not only have they put non-rock, non-elite people in, they have put them in before the likes of Jim Croce, ELP, Warren Zevon, Bad Company, 3 Dog Night, and The Guess Who. 

First of all, I love that you have Rocky Colavito as a Yankee for your avatar.  I was a fan of The Rock even when he was with Cleveland (where he belonged) and Detroit.  Just about the strongest (although perhaps not most accurate) RF arm who ever played.

Like other Halls of Fame, the R&R version can have some head-scratchers.  It does differentiate between performers and influencers -- people like Hank Williams and Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Rodgers and Lead Belly and Nat King Cole.  In essence, they're saying "here's some great musicians you should know about."  I do like the educational function of this.  Somebody whose entire musical reference is rock and roll might see it and listen to something by Bessie Smith or Bill Monroe, and that's all for the good.  I thought I was fairly up to speed on music history, but I admit that there was an early influencer inductee who I had actually never even heard of, boogie woogie pianist Jimmy Yancy.  But I gave him a shot, liked him, and filed him away in the memory banks.

My larger argument is against some of those inducted as performers, which is where the real interest lies and what I think most people care about.  In looking over the list, I was amazed to see that ABBA was in the HOF -- I know they sold a lot of records and people born in the early 60s grew up hearing their catchy, inconsequential fluff -- I think that without the stage hit "Mama Mia" they never would have had a chance.  They were a cartoon act, and not as good at it as The Monkees.  Whitney Houston is in as a performer.  Under no stretch of the imagination was she a rock and roller.  She was an Adult Contemporary hit machine, like Celine Dion or Mariah Carey, and belongs in any HOF about as much as they do, which is not at all.  Acts like Bon Jovi and Sheryl Crow campaigned shamelessly to get in, even though they produced nothing of lasting value.  IMO, of course, and I know a lot of people love them, but I don't see it.

The Dave Clark Five, much as I loved their records as a kid, have justifiably been called "The Greatest Lip Synch Band Of All Time."  Try finding live performances of those guys from the 60s.  There's a reason all of their records have a hard ending -- fade-outs don't work so well in concert.  And I love them, I love a lot of junk from the 60s because it's when I was in my teens and so I can still listen with great pleasure to Gary Lewis and the Playboys and Paul Revere and the Raiders, and they all sold millions of records but they don't belong in the R&R HOF.

I could ramble on for hours on this topic, but it's getting close to lunch time, so I will spare you all.  

Anyone here have a favorite one hit wonder? My favorite is Jenny by Tommy Tutone.

The performers I listed were just a few that I think are more deserving than many already in the R&RHoF. Just like with the baseball HoF, I don't necessarily think someone like 3 Dog Night is HoF material, but IMO certainly as deserving as some, such as Depeche Mode or Sheryl Crow.

I almost mentioned Depeche Mode. They were much bigger in the UK than here, where I think most people would be hard-pressed to name anything they did. Bill Withers is also in the HOF. He had a few nice pleasant hits in the 70s, but no more than say Dobie Gray a little earlier. I don't get that one at all.