I wasn't even going to bother commenting about this. After the induction of Blondie and Patti Smith and the exclusion of the performance of David Lee Roth. But what's fascinating to me is the BLOWBACK! All over the Net, people aren't debating which of the nominees should get in, but who was LEFT OUT!
Donna Summer didn't go rock until '79, however much we love her, she belongs in the DISCO Hall Of Fame. Where Nile Rodgers and Chic should be enshrined also. Hell, want to honor Nile's production work with the B-52's, bringing them back from the dead, I'm all for it. But if it weren't for Ms. Summer and Chic would there have BEEN that bonfire at Comiskey Park?
And the Beastie Boys... Well, rap is a bit closer to rock than disco, but who's a bigger innovator... The Beasties or Alice Cooper?
I could go on and on about the unjust exclusions, but what's fascinating to me is the cabal which runs this rapidly sinking organization/ship/museum seems to have NO CLUE how they're fucking it up/eviscerating all its credibility.
If there are no more rockers to be inducted, DON'T! The Musee d'Orsay doesn't install twenty first century paintings, that's for a DIFFERENT MUSEUM! God, EXCLUSIVITY breeds credibility. It's not about the annual induction ceremony, it's about the Hall Of Fame itself. Which is less about the actual building than a state of mind. What kind of honor does it have when you induct people who DON'T EVEN ROCK?
Why not induct everybody who ever had a hit. Why not Liberace? He's a predecessor of Elton John. And Frank... Sinatra's hip amongst the young 'uns now, and he was a teen star in his day, paving the way for everyone from the Beatles to the Backstreet Boys... Let's let him in TOO!
God, they already let in Miles Davis, which proves that there's no difference between jazz and rock... HUH? Tell THAT to a jazzbo.
Just because Jann Wenner created a magazine that once captured the zeitgeist of the sixties, that doesn't mean he's relevant NOW! Certainly "Rolling Stone" isn't. If he wants to create a museum of popular culture, the US Hall Of Fame, since he owns that rag, so be it. Why does he have to fuck up OUR Hall Of Fame?
Just like the Iraq war is ours. Even though Bush started it, he doesn't get to stay in office to finish it. We want someone new. Oh, the RULES say we get someone new. Aren't there any rules dictating that Wenner's run has been LONG ENOUGH?
"Yes, it's ours"
this is one point that the fat old bald men (and women) of the Foundation seem to forget.
Especially Jann Wenner.
Cat
