Smells Like the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2014 has officially been inducted. And as recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Alex Lifeson of Rush famously said, blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah.  Yes, I understand the speeches were long.  Everyone in Bruce Springsteen's E Street band spoke.  As John Oates said when he and Daryl Hall accepted their induction, it was "lucky for you there's only two of us."  Blah blah, still no Family, blah blah.  But Brian Epstein is finally in as a non-performer - specifically, as a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement.  And a few others are in, too.  So let's break it all down:

Nirvana.  Few bands have been more deserving of a first-ballot induction than these guys.  Kurt Cobain, Kris Novoselic and Dave Grohl saved rock and roll (for a time being, anyway) at a time when popular music was increasingly represented by artificial, manufactured "artists" and when the music itself was not speaking for or to the fans who actually bought the records.  Also, their songs spoke to a generation of young Americans who did not find much pleasure in being young, children of divorced parents caught in a "new" economy of diminishing returns.  And the jokers who dispense popular culture are still trying to entertain us.  Which shows you how much Nirvana still matters twenty years after Cobain's death.  Oh well, whatever, never mind.

Kiss. Speaking of jokers . . ..  Sorry, I still think these guys are still a cartoon.  A funny cartoon, albeit unintentionally funny, but a cartoon just the same.  They do get extra points for not performing at the induction ceremony.

Stephen Georgiou/Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam.  I have mixed feelings about his induction, and not because he defended the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie.  On the one hand, he did come up with some notable songs such as "Peace Train" and "Wild World," but "Oh Very Young" and "Moonshadow" are two of the lamest songs ever conceived.  "Morning Has Broken" is a beautiful song, but it's not rock and roll.  I'll give rock's only Greek-British convert to Islam (unless George Michael becomes a Sufi) a pass, if only because Rod Stewart's and Sheryl Crow's covers of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" legitimize his legacy on their own.    

Linda Ronstadt.  Another tough call, since Ronstadt was mostly a cover artist, and her track record on interpreting other people's songs was uneven.  But she does have strong covers of  Betty Everett's "You're No Good" and the Hollies' "I Can't Let Go" in her favor, and her cover of the Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved" is underrated.  So I'll give a thumbs-up to this, and besides, her recording of Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum" with the Stone Poneys should be enough to get her in the Hall.  It's too bad that Parkinson's disease has prevented her from even attending the induction ceremony, let alone performing.

Daryl Hall and John Oates.  My only negative comment on this induction is this:  What took so long for this to happen?  Because Daryl Hall and John Oates have a huge legacy of helping to popularize Philadelphia rhythm and blues and expertly fusing rock and R&B to create a fresh blue-eyed soul sound not experienced since the days of the Righteous Brothers.  Also, their incredible string of late-seventies and eighties hits can't be ignored.

Peter Gabriel.  Some say Peter Gabriel deserves induction into the Hall of Fame more as a solo artist than as the frontman for Genesis, and I agree.  The deeply personal "Solsbury Hill," with its intense arrangement, the very pointed "Games Without Frontiers" (which appeared on his 1980 album, which featured an innovative cymbal-free drum sound concocted by Gabriel with his former bandmate Phil Collins), and his many hits from 1986's So are some of the most challenging mainstream rock records of the past 35 years.  Also, I would throw in the brilliant "Shock the Monkey" (from Gabriel's 1982 album Security) for good measure.

The E Street Band.  If not for the E Streeters, there would be no Bruce Springsteen as we know him.  I'm only sorry that Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici didn't live to see this day.

Brian Epstein.  Another long overdue induction.  If not for Brian Epstein - who believed in the Beatles before anyone else did or had reason to - the Fabs likely wouldn't have made it out of Liverpool, never mind conquered America, and popular music would have all the poorer.  And to think, people once laughed at Epstein for being a department store factotum in a backwater town and telling everyone his boys would be bigger than Elvis . . ..  Well, if you should ever come across a record department manager at a Wal-Mart in Bismarck who's managing a rock band on the side and who thinks they can be bigger than the Beatles, don't laugh.  He could be the next Brian Epstein.

Liverpool sixties rocker Billy J. Kramer, another former Epstein client, lobbied long and hard to make this happen.  He and his backing group the Dakotas ought to be inducted too. :-) 

Andrew Loog Oldham.  Ironically, Oldham publicized the Beatles for Brian Epstein before discovering the Rolling Stones and positioning them as the "anti-Beatles" (no, that was the Dave Clark Five), and while the influence of his promotional savvy - he believed that any press, even bad press, was good press - has sometimes been less than welcome (yes, Miley, I'm talking about you!), he too deserves the Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement simply for getting the Stones up and running and realizing their potential as a rhythm and blues outfit, which helped to make them great rock and rollers.

With the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2014 taken care of, we now look to 2015.  Expect a rap act to be inducted, as there were no rappers inducted this year and the Hall has to pay lip service to "diversity" somehow, before its directors are accused of cultural bias. Blah blah blah.  Do not expect British folk rock bands - Steeleye Span, the Pentangle, Lindisfarne, or Fairport Convention - to be inducted; they're too obscure for Americans to care about.  (Not even Jethro Tull? Least of all Jethro Tull, because rock critics have never forgiven Ian Anderson for Thick as a Brick!)  Do, however, expect acts like The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple and the Marvelettes, unsuccessful nominees in previous years, to be in the running for induction in 2015, because if at first you don't succeed . . ..  Green Day is also a possibility.

We'll find out soon enough.  But will Family get in? Spoiler: No.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was originally established to honor rock and roll performers but has since gone on to include performers representing a variety of pop styles. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah, blah. Blah.