2005 Rock Hall Inductees Do They Deserve it?
Chrissie Hynde
New inductees include U2, The Pretenders, The O'Jays, Percy Sledge, and Buddy Guy.
U2 deserves their induction. Their pre-Joshua Tree efforts rocked hard while championing the cause of the little guy (Often the Irish). Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride (In the Name of Love), and New Years Day are essential. Beginning with The Joshua Tree their music became more polished with the guitar often less prominent. And do we really know Bono? Is he the Jubilee proponent desiring the forgiveness of third-world debts or is he his Judas quoting Macphisto alter ego? He is certainly interesting.
The Pretenders shot out of a cannon with their guitar slinging self-titled debut that in itself justifies their induction. Learning to Crawl was great too, but a bit mellower. Precious, Tattoed Love Boys, My City was Gone, Back on the Chain Gang, and Thumbelina as well as their cover of Hendrix's Room Full of Mirrors belong in every rocker's home. Chrissie has mellowed, but I wish she would scorch the earth again. Maybe she should recruit former Urge Overkill members for her band.
You just have to love Percy Sledge. His When a Man Love's a Woman may be the reason you are reading this. His is the definitive version. Stay away from Michael Bolton's cover. Percy warned us though....or at least his mama in Take Time to Know Her. The problem with Percy's induction is that he is not by definition a rock star. Soul singer, yes. Top 40 artist, Yep. Rhythm and Blues, indeed. Percy should not be in the rock hall.
The O'Jays gave us Love Train, Back Stabbers, and the Apprentice Theme AKA For the Love of Money. Like Percy they are not rock singers by definition and deserve membership elsewhere.
Buddy Guy comes closer to being a rocker. He is often cited as one of the best guitarists by Eric Clapton. However, Buddy belongs in the blues hall of fame, not the rock hall.
There are so many rockers who have not been inducted due to the inclusion of soul, blues, and country artists that are not by definition rockers. Perhaps one day artists like Love, The Moody Blues, Alice Cooper, Electric Light Orchestra, Johnny Rivers, King Crimson, Steppenwolf, Yes, and others will find their well deserved space in the hall.
posted by Randy Black @ 1:42 PM
4 Comments:
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Pretenders yes, U2 yes, the rest no. I guess by giving rock such a loose definition, they are saying it has no definition. While I don't think that the number of hits should be a criterion, the number of hits by a crossover artist, like Sledge, should matter. I think he had only two that made rock charts. Whereas many other soul and R&B acts had many. Maybe guys like Smokey Robinson should be in? At least that is debatable.
BTW, my favorite U2 album remains "Boy," their debut. I was lucky enough to see them before they got big (in 1981 for $4.50) with "War." And The Pretenders first was their best too...
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I do not count top 40 as rock. If that is the case then Kenny Rogers is Rock and Barry Manilow and Britney Spears...well, you get the point. Rock needs guitars or something that jams, or at least creativity in the lyrics. Percy is a fine performer but, he is a soul or top 40 artist. Smokey is more of a rocker due to his pacing in songs like Shop Around and due to his songwriting but, I just wish that all the deserving true rockers get in before the marginal, crossover artists. If they want to put them in have another category like soul-based rock or country-based rock so their entry does not take away from the other artists. The problem is that once they are in they get to vote for all future members and it becomes more of a top 40 base than a rock base. I guess it all harkens back to the popularity contests ala high school king and queen and not to who is the best.
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