Kiss, LL Cool J, the Red
Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, the Hollies, songwriter Laura Nyro,
Donna Summer, Darlene Love, ABBA, the Chantels, and the Stooges have all been
nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
For what it is worth, this
is a pretty weak class. You don’t really have any stand-out performers, and as
far as “influences” — the term that the HoF uses to classify the significance
of the performers who are nominated and those that get in — there really isn’t
much of that here.
Personally, I would like to
see the Hollies and Laura Nyro make it. I think they have made enormous
contributions to rock and roll in their own way.
During their heyday, I
don’t think the Hollies made a bad record. They had a substantial number of
hits in the U.S. — “Bus Stop” “The Air That I Breathe,” and “Long Cool Woman In
a Black Dress” among them — although they were better known in Europe and
elsewhere. They featured one of the most underrated lead voices in rock, Allan
Clarke, was the starting point for Graham Nash, and still tour and put out new
records today, albeit with just two original members, Tony Hicks and Bobby
Elliott.
And as for Nyro, although
it would be a posthumous honor, I think it would be well deserved. She was the
hot songwriter of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the songs that she wrote
encompassed rock, soul, pop, Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building influences. Just
a short list of her biggest songs — “Eli’s Coming,” “Save the Country,” and
“And When I Die” among them — should guarantee her spot, and her influence on
other female singer-songwriters such as Carly Simon and even Alicia Keyes is
enormous.
Since a total of five go in
each year, I will have to pick three more: Darlene Love, and maybe Genesis, and
after that, I really don't know. Maybe Jimmy Cliff for his reggae influence,
but I don’t think he’s a lock.
Of course, as long as Jann
Wenner is running the show, you can bet Kiss, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and LL
Cool J will get in. Let’s not forget the Dave Clark Five fiasco, when
Grandmaster Flash was substituted because Wenner wanted a rap act in. He gave
in the next year, and the DC5 entered the HoF, but the bad vibes are still
there.
My question: if Kiss is
even nominated, how come acts like the Monkees (where Kiss learned their
marketing) and Paul Revere and the Raiders (another marketing model) are not in
the mix?
Oh, that's right. I forgot.
It's Jann Wenner.
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