Rock Hall of Fame Critique - Rick Nelson to Wilson Pickett

Ricky Nelson became famous between 1949 and 1966 as the son of Ozzie and Harriett Nelson on their radio and TV show. Of his 35 hits, 31 preceded the Beatles during a time much like today and the early 70’s when most of the popular singers were teen idols. While not all the songs are great, Poor Little Fool, Hello Mary Lou, Travelin’ Man, and Young World are gems. Rick’s fewer hits like Garden Party (One of the few songs he wrote) with the Stone Canyon Band are more respected by critics, but he probably already deserved his hall pass. Rick died after performing at a Huntsville club owned by former Spiral Starecase singer Pat Upton. His plane crashed on its way to Dallas on New Year’s Eve 1985.

Long before Freddy Mercury of Queen, Roy Orbison touched our souls with his impassioned, operatic voice on Only the Lonely, Runnin’ Scared, Cryin, and Frank Booth of Blue Velvet’s favorite, In Dreams. Roy had previously rocked for Sun Records with Ooby Dooby, covered later by CCR, and other rocking tunes. Roy never forgot his rocking roots and gave us Mean Woman Blues, Candy Man, and Oh, Pretty Woman. Just before his December 1988 death of a heart attack, Roy became a Traveling Wilbury and gave us a beautiful gem, Not Alone Any More. Roy had his best solo album in many years, Mystery Girl as a swan song. Roy died happy.

Parliament-Funkadelic are more a dance band than a rock band. Many of their songs including Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk) and Flash Light have been sampled on rap recordings. They certainly have rock personas and looks, but their membership is an uneasy fit at best.

Carl Perkins owes a lot to the Beatles for his membership in the hall. Many people assume that Carl’s Blue Suede Shoes was Elvis. Elvis covered the song, but his version was a live recording that does not receive as much play as Carl’s. Carl and the boys headed up to New York for the first time to appear on The Perry Como Show and perform his huge hit. While en route their car rammed the back of a poultry truck, putting Carl and his brother Jay in the hospital with a cracked skull and broken neck, respectively. Since Carl could not sing the huge hit live, Elvis did, and Carl’s career nearly ended as soon as it had begun. The Beatles’ covers of Honey Don’t, Matchbox, and Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby revived Carl’s career. His guitar picking has been the inspiration of many. Carl died in 1998.

The Wicked Wilson Pickett well deserves his place in the hall. His performances were electric. His recordings were made at two of the best studios ever, Stax-Volt and the recently closed Mussel Shoals studios.His tunes lacked the homogenized sound that many Motown records suffered. We got down In the Midnight Hour while on our way to the Land of 1,000 Dances via Funky Broadway with Mustang Sally. Wilson’s scream on his cover of the Beatles Hey Jude rivaled only Arthur Brown.