Listen To the Music

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2020 may be remembered more for being virtual due to the pandemic than for its inductees - if it indeed is remembered at all.  Dude, the it took place the same day Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election - no one even noticed the damn ceremony!  As for 2021, the nominations won't be made until some time early in the new year - under normal circumstances, they would have been made by now already - with an induction ceremony likely in November.  Hopefully, it will be a live and in-person ceremony and not a virtual one, because the pandemic should be over by then.  But the new schedule that pushes the inductions from the spring to the fall could persist in 2022 and beyond.  

But who cares?  No one cared about the inductions this year.

This is a shame, because there were a couple of worthy inductions for 2020, although there were a couple of others that make people wonder why the Hall's leadership just doesn't drop all the pretenses of honoring rock and roll and call it the Popular Music Hall of Fame, Paul McCartney suggested back in 2000.  (Oops, I just said "back in 2000" - that makes me feel so old! 😃)  So here they are, one by one.

Depeche Mode.  Once upon a time I would have said no to inducting these guys because "People Are People" got along so awfully with my ears.  But I've since grown to like Depeche Mode because I've heard a couple of their other songs, and they're easily one of the cooler New Wave bands of the eighties, a decade not known for producing many cool bands in the first place.  And Johnny Cash made the case for them in spades by covering their song "Personal Jesus."  Reach out and touch faith, indeed.

The Doobie Brothers.  The ultimate no-brainer.  Nothing says good times and good vibes like seventies classic rock, and nothing says "seventies classic rock" like the Doobie Brothers, who turned over more than a few members over a decade's time yet still made great music.  Early hits such as "Listen To the Music," "Long Train Running," and "China Grove" from the era when Tom Johnston  fronted the band were toe-tapping rockers, and the Dixieland-based "Black Water" showed a strong command of roots music in a pop context, but but when Michael McDonald joined, the Doobies then gravitated to a soul-based jazz-inspired sound that expanded the Doobies' command of pop - and bringing in Jeff "Skunk" Baxter from Steely Dan was also a plus.  The Doobie Brothers were one of the very few classic rock bands to re-invigorated by a key personnel change - however, give kudos to the group's constant, guitarist-singer Patrick Simmons, as well as bassist Tiran Porter - and they deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame strictly for McDonald, the greatest white singer of the seventies.

Whitney Houston. I'm sorry.  Whitney Houston doesn't belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Don't get me wrong.  She was a great singer.  She had numerous hits, most of which were enjoyable when they came on the radio.  You can't take that away from her. And as she came from Essex County, New Jersey - my home ground - I obviously have pride in her achievements.  But she was not a rock and roll singer and, despite her gospel roots, never rose to the level of Aretha Franklin or Etta James.  She was pop.

Nine Inch Nails.  Nine Inch Nails, until British musician Atticus Ross joined in 2016, was multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor and whoever he chose to being into the studio or on stage.  But this one-man band created some really intense music back in the nineties, and like Depeche Mode, was given the seal of approval by a Johnny Cash cover (Cash remade the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt").  So, yes, this induction makes sense.  

The Notorious B.I.G.  No.  He was a rapper.  The end.  

T. Rex.  For their energy, and their crunchy hooks, T. Rex are more than deserving to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The late Marc Bolan was a great frontman, backing up his power pop with rock and roll attitude.  "Bag a Gong (Get It On)" and "Jeepster" only scratch the surface of T. Rex's incredible music, but they're enough on their own to justify their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.    

The 2020 Ahmet Ertegun Award for the contributions of producers, label bosses, mangers, and other impresarios went to former MCA Irving Azoff, who also managed the Eagles, and rock critic Jon Landau, who quit the Fourth Estate to manage Bruce Springsteen. While some old-school rock critics may still hold a grudge against Azoff for giving us the Eagles, he's long been a professional in managing and running the business side of things in pop and rock, and Landau . . . well, he's the reason we all know who Springsteen is.  He's more than deserving of this honor.

And that's it for my comments on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2020.  For those whose favorite acts didn't even get nominated (*cough cough*, Jethro Tull, *cough cough*), hope springs eternal for 2021.  (Yeah, right.)

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.  But who cares?

Notorious

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2020 have been named, and sure enough, there are at least two dubious choices - but as the two artists who exude such dubiousness are black, anyone who has a problem with their inductions either have to hold their tongues or speak out while risking charges of bigotry against them.

The nominees in question are rapper Christopher Wallace, alternatively known as the Notorious B.I.G. or as Biggie Smalls, and pop singer Whitney Houston.  Even though neither of these performers ever encouraged anyone to pick up a guitar or crank the amps up to eleven, apologists for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are already making the arguments in favor of these inductions.  The argument for Wallace is the same for every rapper - rap embraces the same outlaw spirit that once influenced rock and roll but no longer does - and the argument for Houston is that she inspired so many black women in popular music who came after her and besides, it's time to give due to women of color who began their recording careers after 1970 or so.

I'm sorry, I have to disagree. Rap, or hip-hop, or whatever the hell it's called these days, has its own Hall of Fame, and Wallace doesn't belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame any more than Jimi Hendrix belongs in the one for rap.  Whitney Houston may have inspired many black women and even some white women to become singers, but few of them can be plausibly called "rock" singers.  If you want to add more black women to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame roster, there are women like Tina Turner (who, shockingly, has never been inducted as a solo act) or Nona Hendryx, who made a solo album after Labelle broke up that was full of heavy playing that could have fit nicely onto an AOR playlist.  Or Chaka Khan, who rocked with Rufus and sang "I'm Every Woman" before Houston did.  These two nominations were made strictly to check boxes out of political correctness to promote "diversity." 

Look, I have no problem with Whitney Houston as a singer.  I even featured her on my beautiful-women picture blog.  I thought she was a fine performer.  I thought she was good at what she did.  But what she did was sing MOR ballads and light disco tunes.  And the truth is, her music inspired as many critics as fans - even among those who acknowledged her talent.  Joan Baez once said in a Rolling Stone interview that Houston had "the most incredible gymnastic setup in her voice" but lamented that ninety percent of her material was "just plain boring," because she flaunted her voice without having much to say.  And, of course, I do have a problem with Wallace, big-time, and I won't say anymore about that than I already have. 

As you may have already noticed, Wallace and Houston have one other thing in common - they're both deceased, and they both died under tragic circumstances.  They've since been martyred.  So fans of hip-hop or dance pop are going to have a problem with anyone who has a problem with these inductions.  Criticizing these inductions won't make those of us who object just look bigoted - it's going to make us look churlish.  That's the chance we have to take.  Because last time I checked, it's called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and not the Popular Music Hall of Fame, and rock fans shouldn't let liberal guilt get in the way of setting parameters that allows just anyone to be inducted.  That means acknowledging that some white men shouldn't have been inducted, like James Taylor, who is a major talent but is not rock.  The inductions of some white male pop-rockers who lean more toward pop than rock, like Billy Joel, may have to be reassessed.   But for Pete's sake, let's make it clear that there have to be parameters before Kanye West ("Rap is the new rock and roll") becomes eligible for induction in 2029 - or before Ed Sheeran gets inducted in 2039!

And I think I've made myself clear about those losers Maroon 5.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony - which will also see the induction of the Doobie Brothers and T. Rex, two acts whose inductions are long overdue - takes place on May 2.  I'll have more to say on this subject at that time.

Whitney Houston: 1963-2012

I'm still in shock over the news that Whitney Houston died last night at 48. Although she'd had her share - more than her share - of mishaps in her battles with all sorts of substance abuse (mostly drugs), she appeared to be on the mend and poised to come back bigger and better than before. She has just wrapped production of a new movie, and she was in Beverly Hills to perform at a tribute to her mentor, record company executive and legend Clive Davis. Now the Grammy Awards ceremony is paying tribute to her tonight.

Although Whitney Houston was a very conventional singer who mostly showed only traces on her records of what she achieved singing gospel songs in church (and I noted over two years ago that Davis, as her mentor, had some responsibility for this by watering down her sound), it's worth noting that even a bland Whitney Houston is preferable to a Britney Spears at her most inventive and creative. You can pick almost any Whitney Houston single and listen to it with the pleasure of appreciating her vocal talent.

Whitney Houston first achieved success with her debut album in 1985, which roughly corresponded to the increasingly annoying trend of female pop singers who cared more about gimmickry and the style than genuine talent. Houston made it big without offensive videos, blue hair, vulgar dancing, or any of that stuff. She just had her voice. Her success led to that rise of other female singers who relied more on vocal talent than tawdry showmanship; it's no accident that performers like Anita Baker, Oleta Adams, and Mariah Carey followed in Whitney's wake.

I don't know where everything went wrong for her, though. After the 1992 movie The Bodyguard and the 1995 movie Waiting To Exhale, she should have been on top of the world, but she sank to the bottom of a drug-infested, soul-sucking living pattern. I was always rooting for her to get back on her feet, but she always seemed to stumble again once she did. Not even her undeniable talent could save her. It's a terrible shame.

Ironically, the news of Houston's death comes even as the British pop/soul singer Adele - now fully recovered from her vocal cord surgery and likely to tour soon - is up for six Grammy awards tonight after conquering her own personal demons.

A new beginning comes from another beginning's end. R.I.P. :-( 

Whitney's Back!

For those of you too young to remember, Whitney Houston is the greatest eighties female R&B female vocalist whose name isn't Anita Baker. She sold millions of records back in the Reagan years, and she had the most astonishing voice most people had ever heard, and as long as she got the right material for it, she was entertaining.

When she didn't, though, she could produce something really annoying (the less said about her cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," the better). More often than not, she got middling material that was neither entertaining nor annoying. It just . . . was. Houston's biggest flaw as an artist (as opposed to being a performer) was that she was more into showing off her voice than saying anything with it. (That's why Anita Baker gets my vote between the two.) Some of the blame for this went to Clive Davis, the legendary Arista Records founder who discovered her and signed her to his label, who watered down her sound and her proficiency for gospel singing and had her records aimed at a mainstream audience.

Alas, Houston didn't merely almost have it all - she had too much of it. Her downward spiral into drug addiction and her disastrous marriage to Bobby Brown ruined her career, but having finally rid herself of Brown - the welcome first step in her twelve-step program to recovery - she's been working her way back up to the charts and she's released her new album I Look to You, which critics say is her finest work in ages. I've heard one track from the record, "Million Dollar Bill," and it's an astonishing revelation. It shows you what she can do with her voice when she does have something to say.

Ironically, Clive Davis, the man accused of keeping her from saying anything back in the eighties, is engineering her comeback today. It's really great to see Davis having taken such a personal interest in Houston when the rest of the world was ready to write her off . . . and did just that.

I really hope Houston makes it back to the top. (Whitney, from one New Jerseyan to another - you go, girl!) I just hope she doesn't employ her trademark melismatic phrasing too much. Melisma only sounds great when it's really dirty.

Which is why I love Roger Chapman. :-D