Prince, Price, Queen - Should they be members of the Rock Hall?

Prince induction into the rock hall of fame is well deserved. Prince and the Revolution had received plenty of MTV rotation of 1999, and Little Red Corvette from 1999. But, still, he took the rock world by surprise with his guitar blistering solo on Let’s Go Crazy and the title track from Purple Rain, and the fact that all the songs were great with the exception of the novelty tune Darling Nikki. People of all races enjoyed the movie too and tried to emulate his majestic performance as he played the bad guy who really wasn’t bad and many guys were reported to have their teeth knocked out for copying Prince’s slapping (of his girlfriend in the movie) on their significant others. Best to leave stuff like that in the movies. Prince was rumored to be in line to play Hendrix although it never happened. He was good enough to have been convincing in the role. Prince continued to razzle-dazzle the rock world with the psychedelic leanings of Around the World in a Day that included Raspberry Parade, Pop Life, and the guitar heavy, Temptation. His next album Parade was a transitional album with Prince lessening his rock prominence and easing into more of a funk direction with Kiss. The mixed bag of rock and funk continued until Lovesexy, which was infuriating to many due to all the tracks on the album not being individually numbered, but subsets of the number 1. Unless a person had a higher priced CD player, they would have to play or scan the entire CD until they heard the song they wanted. Prince’s next serious album was Diamonds and Pearls with a new band, the New Power Generation. The album was quite good, but more of a dance album (with Gett Off, Cream, and the ballad Diamonds and Pearls) than a rock album. Prince’s disdain of the record companies caused him to release music independently and change his name to a symbol, and it cost him his popularity and probably millions of dollars. Prince returned to using his name and signed with a major label and released Musicology, a decent album(but a bit retro to be among his best) by 2004 standards that was more funky than rock. However, Prince reminded the world of his guitar prowess when he soloed on While My Guitar Gently Weeps at his and George Harrison’s induction into the rock hall. I hope he gives us a rock album that doesn’t try mimic today’s rock. Why mimic others when they should try to mimic you?

Lloyd Price is at best an uneasy fit for the rock hall. He would be better suited in an R & B hall. His Personality has been immortalized in many ad campaigns. Lawdy Miss Clawdy was covered by Elvis. If there is any justification for Lloyd to be in with the rockers it would be for his gangster epic Stagger Lee that became one of the first songs to be censored. The shooting and blood were too much for his teen TV audience. Lloyd had no choice -- he had to go back into the studio, and record a whole new, cleaned-up version of the story with -- believe it or not -- a happy ending! Stagger Lee and Billy actually make up and become friends again. More on Stagger Lee. The censored version has been restored and is often played on oldies radio and at reunions. It seems odd that many would dance gleefully to this song of death, but that is part of its charm. Then again, Lloyd would fit just as well as a rap inspiration.

Queen made rock fun again. One never knew where Freddy Mercury’s operatic voice combined with Brian May’s Zeppelin and Hendrix inspired guitar would go. It went everywhere from the Seven Seas of Rye to Bohemian Rhapsody. They defined glitter rock and conquered the world. Liar, We Will Rock You, Shear Heart Attack and Another One Bites the Dust were scorching. They gave us the folksy ’39, mined Presley on Crazy Little Thing Called Love, a few pop ditties like You’re My Best Friend, the campy Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, and of course God Save the Queen . They should have their own court in the hall of fame. For those of us who knew the band’s material, it is a sacrilege to hear critics cite Maroon 5 as a new Queen (Perhaps Leo Sayer would better fit for Maroon 5). There are no comparisons. The world lost a giant when Mercury succumbed to aids. Hopefully a cure for this dreadful disease will come before we lose others.