Wow, What A Strange Class Trip

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2011 Inductees has been leaked across the internet before the scheduled announcement on Wednesday December 15th and I have to say this...it"s not a bad class. It"s a strange class...but not a bad one.

Welcome to the Hall Of Fame.....Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Tom Waits and Darlene Love.

Hard to believe isn"t it. Bear saying the inductees are not that bad. Don"t rush to judgment here, it could have been better, much much better but the voters could only vote for who the nominating committee sent over.

Did they miss the boat on not putting J. Geils in...Absolutely

Did they get it right by not voting in L.L. Cool J, Chic and Donna Summer...Hell yea

Look I actually like the five inductees. Alice Cooper was a no brainer, he should have been in when he was first eligible in 1995. I'm not so sure if Darlene Love is Hall worthy but I have always liked her and she is more worthy than Donna Summer. People will whine about Neil Diamond but before he went cheesy with Barbara Streisand he was considered rock in the 60’s and you would be hard pressed to find a more prolific songwriter of the past 50 years. Dr. John and Tom Waits I can put together as two artists I thought I would never see inducted, love them both but they are both so different from the mainstream I never thought they would see the inside of the hall except with a ticket. A happy surprise for sure.

Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Tom Waits and Darlene Love. Wow what a strange class...Can't wait to hear the jam at the end of the night. Wonder what Tom Waits song will they do?

Hopefully this version of rock's wikileaks is true.

Nuff said, least till next time
Happy holidays to everyone
Peace Out
Bear

The Wizard Of Oz And The Rock Hall Nominees

I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while
my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.

I can’t get this tune out of my head this week. It started when I first saw the list of nominees for the 2011 Rock Hall Inductions.

Seriously, doesn’t it seem we go thru this every year now?

Who on this distinguished board of music experts nominates Chic....LL Cool J….Donna Summer?

Who stands up in that room and advocates for them?

Bigger question, who voted for them to get them to the final ballot?

I listened all week to spokespeople from the Rock Hall try to justify the selections, telling us that the nominees are based not on sales, popularity, etc but on their influence on music and other artists, their body of work, the length and depth of their career and my favorite “unquestionable musical excellence.”

Really…..

Can the person that nominated Chic tell me who they influenced, how their long and storied body of work demands them being in the Rock Hall? Please tell me about the depth of their career and the innovations to music they exhibited or better yet who on the nominating committee can tell me why they voted them onto the final ballot! Again! I know if I was on the committee and in that room and when Chic was brought up my first response would have been “Are you f___ing kidding me! That’s the best you could come up with!”

Really……

Look there are people on the nomination committee I really respect, some I know personally. People like Jim Henke, David Fricke, Lauren Onkey, Steve Van Zandt and Dave Marsh, I really respect their musical opinions. I don’t know who they nominated or voted for but I would find it hard to believe one of them stood up and said “This year I think Donna Summer should be inducted.”

But others on the committee, ah no……

Look, LL Cool J is the new Abba for the Rock Hall. Abba was eligible for 11 years before all of a sudden a hit movie comes out and magically they are Rock Hall worthy. LL has a hit television show and you know what…. Bam, this year’s Abba.

LL Cool J has been eligible for two years and has made the final ballot both times. Do you really think he was a bigger influence and has a better body of work than say Stevie Ray Vaughan who has never even sniffed the final ballot or Leon Russell or Peter Gabriel or …….. I could go on and on but it falls on deaf ears, which is really a strange concept since we are talking about music.

Based on the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation’s own criteria for nomination, I said it last year (click here) and I’ll say it again, Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson and Barbara Streisand all should be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (I can’t believe I am advocating Babs to be in the Rock Hall, look what they have done to me) Tell me where I am wrong.

Let’s look at these three artists:

They have said in the past that it isn’t restricted to just “Rock” acts….okay check.

Their body of work…. check.

Influence on music and other artists…. check.

Depth of their career and unquestionable musical excellence….duh check.

Under the criteria we are told over and over when they try to justify their nominees to us, Are they qualified to be in the Hall Of Fame….Absolutely

Should they be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame…..? No

You know what the smart move would have been for the committee this year. Give the public a final ballot of just rock acts. If they would have given us a ballot of let’s say, Alice Cooper, J. Geils Band, Rush, Steve Ray Vaughan, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Electric Light Orchestra, Jethro Tull, Lou Reed, Steve Winwood, Todd Rundgren, Yes, Moody Blues and to stop the emails to me, Kiss they would have shut up the very vocal public and then next year they could have gone back to their convoluted, mysterious ways.

That’s all they had to do…..

Do you really think someone would have thought that out after the past years of controversy? Hmmm……Let me reference my opening lines of this story, you can sing along if you want.

Look folks, LL Cool J is going to be shoved down our throats each and every year until he is inducted. Period. That’s just the way it is. That is the thinking of this committee.

Our only hope is the voters. The supposedly largest block of voters is the past inductees of the hall. Hopefully the Ozzy’s of the Rock Hall have more votes than the Madonna’s of the Hall.

Do we really need the proclaimed “Queen Of Disco” in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?

As Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee David Gilmour once said “If you liked Disco, then you really didn’t like Rock And Roll.”

That says it all……

Nuff said, least till next time
Peace Out
Bear

The Votes Are In. The Readers Vote On The Hall Of Fame

The results are in, and you spoke loud and clear.

I can say one thing. The readers of clevelandrockandroll.com are passionate for their favorites and especially who they don't like.

The race for "Who Should Be In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame But Isn't" was close to the end, but a last minute surge this past week gave us our winner.

RUSH.....with 22% of the vote. The readers have voted Rush into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!!! Okay we know the Rock Hall is not going to put them in based on your votes but maybe some of the real voters will listen to you, the music fans, next year.
Now for the results and some of your comments.

1st Place.....Rush (346 votes)
.....Until reading this, I thought they were already in the Hall Of Fame. How can they not be - (Russ from Canton)
.....Best band to ever come out of Canada! Really how many great bands come out of Canada! - (Bob from Toronto)
.....Geddy Lee's voice alone should have this great band in the hall. - (Sue from Buffalo)

2nd Place.....Stevie Ray Vaughn (321 votes)
.....Stevie Ray is considered one of the greatest guitar players ever. Wake up voters - (Tom from Cleveland)
.....Top 3 if not the #1 guitarist ever. This is a no brainer. - (Steve from Atlanta)
.....Better than Hendrix, better than Clapton, better than everyone. Why is he overlooked? - (Tim from Akron)

3rd Place.....Kiss (234 votes)
.....Kiss not in? I didn't even know that. The biggest band in the 70's and they are not in? - (Tom from Euclid)
.....Gene Simmons is hated by the music world for how he marketed Kiss. That can be the only reason they are not in. - (Marcy from Columbus)
.....The biggest, baddest, rocking band of my generation! KISS. (Mark from Parma)

4th Place.....Genesis (176 votes)
.....Come on, they could be put in twice for the Peter Gabriel era and then the Phil Collins era. Two totally different bands but both great. - (Ron from Cleveland)
.....I can see why they don't put them in for the music they made with "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance" but the work they did when Peter was in the band was magic.- (Ray from Hinckley)
.....In their early years they were one of the top prog groups on the scene. They have to be in. - (Thomas from New York)

5th Place.....Alice Cooper (149 votes)
.....Alice was theatric rock at it's best. - (Bill from Las Vegas)
.....Are you sure Alice Cooper is not in? - (Kathy from Solon)
.....Schools Out, an anthem for a generation. That alone should be enough. - (Sam from Cleveland)

6th Place.....Doobie Brothers (92 votes)
.....One of the biggest bands of the 70's. Come on voters! - (Bill from Lakewood)
.....Great vocals, great musicians, what more do these voters need? - (Tom from Toledo)

7th Place.....Heart (87 votes)
.....Ann and Nancy taught everyone what a hard rockin female band should sound like. - (Bridgett from Cleveland)
.....They changed my idea what a rock band should look and sound like. - (Bob from Eastlake)

8th Place.....Electric Light Orchestra (85 votes)
.....They made a whole new sound in rock.- (Nancy from Avon Lake)
.....The ultimate rock orchestra. (Jeff from Marrietta)

9th Place.....Jethro Tull (81 votes)
.....Who would have thought a band with a frontman with a flute would be rock legends. I do. (Dave from Houston)
.....I was shocked to look it up and see they were not in. How is this possible. - (Carol from Willoughby)

10th Place.....Cheap Trick (76 votes)
....."At Budokan" defined what a live band should sound like. - (Marcus from Cleveland)
.....Unique, no one was like them. - (Jim from Cleveland)

On the flip side "Who Should Be Thrown Out Of The Hall Of Fame" had a runaway winner!

MADONNA with 72% of the vote (692 votes)
.....The hall lost all credibility with putting her in. - (Karen from Parma)
.....It made me sick. - (Alan from Cleveland)
.....What's next Brittany Spears? - (Tim from Lorain)
.....A JOKE!!!! - (Randy from Chicago)
.....They took a great thing like the ROCK HALL and made it a joke. - (Brett from Cleveland)

2nd Place.....Michael Jackson (183 votes)
.....The self proclaimed King Of Pop has become a world wide joke. - (Sarah from Cleveland)
.....When he was voted in, I stopped caring. - (Ryan from Canton)

3rd Place.....Earth Wind And Fire (73 votes)
.....No rock at all here. - (Mike from Medina)
.....Disco? Disco? Did the voters in 2000 think they were running out of great rock bands to vote for? - (Brian from Boston)

4th Place.....Run DMC (61 votes)
.....I didn't even know who they were except for one song. Should that put you in the Hall Of Fame. That's like putting a baseball player in the Hall of Fame for hitting one home run in his career. - (Jim from Akron)
.....One song with Aerosmith does not make a career. - (Mike from Tremont)

5th Place.....Grandmaster Flash (38 votes)
.....Why voters, why. No good rock bands left? - (Bob from Hudson)
.....Another example of record company hacks voting for what they think is cool instead of what's good. - (Mike from Independence)

You spoke readers, maybe they will listen to you next year.

Nuff said, At least until next week
Peace Out
Bear