Too little, too late?
Some 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are way overdue
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
BY JAY LUSTIG
It's catch-up time for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Artists eligible for many years -- including pioneering heavy-metal group Black Sabbath and Southern-rock kings Lynyrd Skynyrd -- dominate the list of '06 inductees announced yesterday.
New-wave hitmakers Blondie (fronted by Hawthorne native Debbie Harry), punk renegades the Sex Pistols and the late jazz great Miles Davis, whose career included some rock- and funk-flavored fusion projects, will also enter the Hall at a March 13 ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
A&M Records co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss will be honored in the non-performers category; A&M artists, over the years, have included the Police, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Cat Stevens and Alpert's group, the Tijuana Brass. Inductees in the sidemen category will be announced at a later date.
The news of Blondie's induction may offer some holiday cheer to supporters of CBGB. The group built its early following at this New York club, which is currently fighting eviction.
The 11 artists who were nominated but didn't make the final cut were the Patti Smith Group, John Mellencamp, the Stooges, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Cat Stevens, the Dave Clark Five, Chic, the J. Geils Band, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Sir Douglas Quintet and Joe Tex.
Among those who didn't even receive nominations: Van Halen, Yes, Chicago, Genesis, Kiss and Willie Nelson.
So, to sum up ... Davis, who is rarely, if ever, considered a rock 'n' roll artist, will enter the hall next year. But Van Halen, who practically defined rock 'n' roll for a generation of teenagers in the '70s and '80s, didn't even come close to making it.
Black Sabbath's induction will end a long and sometimes bitter feud. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne has often lashed out against the Cleveland-based hall, and asked that Sabbath not even be considered for nomination.
"Just take our name off the list," he said in a 1999 press release. "Save the ink. Forget about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it's not voted on by the fans. It's voted on by the 'supposed' elite of the industry and the media, who've never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so their vote is totally irrelevant to me."
About 700 musicians, music-industry members and rock experts make the final selections for the hall each year, after a nominating committee makes its choices. Groups become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album.
Black Sabbath had been nominated seven times before; Lynyrd Skynyrd, six, and the Sex Pistols, four.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, who were also nominated last year, would have become the hall's first rap act. Other influential hip-hoppers, like Run-DMC and Public Enemy, are not yet eligible.
There may be more than one prominent non-attendee at this year's ceremony: Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten has been just as vocal as Osbourne regarding his disdain for the Hall.
When a reporter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer brought up the Hall in a 2003 interview, he snapped, "It's the Hall of Shame -- let's be accurate," then said he wasn't bothered by the group's exclusion.
The Hall, he said, is "a low-rent Las Vegas" run by "fat, useless (expletive)-wits who don't know anything about music." Asked if he would attend the ceremony, if inducted, he replied, "Don't be silly. Who cares? Really! Who created this preposterous penguin jet set of pop stars? It's for tossers, mate.
"Look -- I've been invited to do 'Hollywood Squares.' The center one, you know? And I turned it down." (
he's so funny)
~ i'm glad they're finally getting in, but i see their point.
i think it would be funny if none of em showed up. 
i was raised on J Geils.
if Grandmaster Flash ever got in, ignatz would think he died & went to heaven. if Van Halen can't even get in, there's no hope for They Might Be Giants. 
Some 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are way overdue
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
BY JAY LUSTIG
It's catch-up time for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Artists eligible for many years -- including pioneering heavy-metal group Black Sabbath and Southern-rock kings Lynyrd Skynyrd -- dominate the list of '06 inductees announced yesterday.
New-wave hitmakers Blondie (fronted by Hawthorne native Debbie Harry), punk renegades the Sex Pistols and the late jazz great Miles Davis, whose career included some rock- and funk-flavored fusion projects, will also enter the Hall at a March 13 ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
A&M Records co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss will be honored in the non-performers category; A&M artists, over the years, have included the Police, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Cat Stevens and Alpert's group, the Tijuana Brass. Inductees in the sidemen category will be announced at a later date.
The news of Blondie's induction may offer some holiday cheer to supporters of CBGB. The group built its early following at this New York club, which is currently fighting eviction.
The 11 artists who were nominated but didn't make the final cut were the Patti Smith Group, John Mellencamp, the Stooges, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Cat Stevens, the Dave Clark Five, Chic, the J. Geils Band, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Sir Douglas Quintet and Joe Tex.
Among those who didn't even receive nominations: Van Halen, Yes, Chicago, Genesis, Kiss and Willie Nelson.
So, to sum up ... Davis, who is rarely, if ever, considered a rock 'n' roll artist, will enter the hall next year. But Van Halen, who practically defined rock 'n' roll for a generation of teenagers in the '70s and '80s, didn't even come close to making it.
Black Sabbath's induction will end a long and sometimes bitter feud. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne has often lashed out against the Cleveland-based hall, and asked that Sabbath not even be considered for nomination.
"Just take our name off the list," he said in a 1999 press release. "Save the ink. Forget about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it's not voted on by the fans. It's voted on by the 'supposed' elite of the industry and the media, who've never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so their vote is totally irrelevant to me."
About 700 musicians, music-industry members and rock experts make the final selections for the hall each year, after a nominating committee makes its choices. Groups become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album.
Black Sabbath had been nominated seven times before; Lynyrd Skynyrd, six, and the Sex Pistols, four.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, who were also nominated last year, would have become the hall's first rap act. Other influential hip-hoppers, like Run-DMC and Public Enemy, are not yet eligible.
There may be more than one prominent non-attendee at this year's ceremony: Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten has been just as vocal as Osbourne regarding his disdain for the Hall.
When a reporter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer brought up the Hall in a 2003 interview, he snapped, "It's the Hall of Shame -- let's be accurate," then said he wasn't bothered by the group's exclusion.
The Hall, he said, is "a low-rent Las Vegas" run by "fat, useless (expletive)-wits who don't know anything about music." Asked if he would attend the ceremony, if inducted, he replied, "Don't be silly. Who cares? Really! Who created this preposterous penguin jet set of pop stars? It's for tossers, mate.
"Look -- I've been invited to do 'Hollywood Squares.' The center one, you know? And I turned it down." (
he's so funny)~ i'm glad they're finally getting in, but i see their point.
i think it would be funny if none of em showed up. i was raised on J Geils.
if Grandmaster Flash ever got in, ignatz would think he died & went to heaven. if Van Halen can't even get in, there's no hope for They Might Be Giants. 
i knew you were gonna say something about Split Enz. 
I was a little disappointed when I saw the list in the paper this morning... I'm still rooting for Warren Zevon (if he isn't in there already), Randy Newman, and Nick Lowe to be inducted. 
That IS a shame, and I agree that they should start inducting more people per year. 
That was a wonderful article. 