More musical pain: corporate bonding a la David Brent. [via]
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The 2007 rock n’ roll hall of fame nominees have been announced: R.E.M., Van Halen, The Stooges, Patti Smith, The Dave Clark Five, Chic, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Joe Tex and The Ronettes.
The first five I agree with. Grandmaster Flash and The Ronettes I could live with. I have no freaking idea who Joe Tex is, so I’d be surprised if he/she/they made it. If Chic gets elected, I will make it a goal in life to visit Cleveland and piss on the hall of fame, nay, on the very essence of rock n’ roll.
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I watched Cinema Paradiso (imdb | rotten tomatoes) over the weekend. I liked it a lot; I’m really annoyed that I read an article several months ago giving away the last scene (the article was about films that make men cry, and this was a popular choice), but it was still very worthwhile. Highly recommended, unless you’re my mother or Stanzi, in which case you’ll cry for the last 20 minutes.
[tags]bank of america, rock n’ roll hall of fame, cinema paradiso[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 
You’ve heard Joe Tex, you probably just didn’t know it. “I Gotcha” from the Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack is Joe Tex. And given that he is the father of of an entire genre of popular music, I wouldn’t be suprised if he gets voted in.
While Chic probably won’t get elected, they’re not all bad. Without them there would have been no “Adventures on the Wheels of Steel”, and you’d have probably never heard of the Sugarhill Gang or Sister Sledge.
I didn’t know Joe Tex either, but it does seem like he was more influential than well-known. So let him in.
Chic definitely deserve to go in. C’est Chic was the best disco album ever, and “Good Times” from their next album is a phenomenal song that everyone in the world knows.
The other acts are all no-brainers.
Best disco album ever? Maybe. But disco ain’t rock and roll. If it is according to the hall’s interpretation, then the rock and roll hall of fame doesn’t know fuck all about rock and roll.
Broadly, sure it is. The Hall of Fame has inducted Buddy Guy and Parliament and Bob Marley and Johnny Cash and Isaac Hayes.
But those guys all played music that hasn’t become regarded by history as a terrible, badly-dressed mistake like disco has. It’s universally reviled and dismissed as unimportant, unlike the blues, funk, reggae and old country genres played by the people you list above.
I’m not saying it should be restricted to people with electric guitars playing 4/4, but fer chrissakes, it’s the hall of fame…shouldn’t it be restricted to forms of music that at least bear some kind of semblance to to the badassness of rock ‘n roll?
Disco is just a combination of soul, funk and R&B set to a beat you can dance to. Now, I’m not ready to bring back bellbottoms and gold chains, but to to say it’s unimportant is dismissing it too lightly.
Most early forms of rap and house music came from rapping over disco tracks. Virtually all dance and urban pop music can be traced back to disco.
How exactly do you define badass? Sex and drugs and alcohol? Those three things defined the disco era as much as the music did.
I define it as loud music played (largely) by people who wrote their own songs. I define it as song sung in voices lower than the BeeGees’. I define it as music that comes from loss, or a twisted gut rather than what’s poured out of a music factory to maximize radio profit. Disco in the 70s was what boy bands were to the 90s and reality TV is to the 00s: cheap, lowest-common-denominator shit sold to the masses by people who put commerce above art.
And hey, all the power to them. I have no problem with the profit motive. It is what it is, and purveyors of disco (and those other examples) did what they knew would work in order to make a buck. Cheers. But I cannot stomach the notion that this should land them in what’s supposed to be a shrine to the best of the genre.
The recording industry gives out gold and platinum records to recognize commercial success; I’d hope that the hall of fame would have a little more artistic integrity than that, but I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t.
For every Johnny Cash, there are a thousand shitty country bands like Big & Rich that sell records to the lowest-common-denominator.
For every Rolling Stones, there are a thousand shitty rock bands like Nickelback that sell records to the lowest-common-denominator.
For every Ricky Nelson, there are a thousand shitty pop acts like Ricky Martin that sell records to the lowest-common-denominator.
Chic isn’t being considered for induction because of any commercial success. They’re being considered because they are an act that had a large influence on a wide variety of artists, from Grandmaster Flash, to Madonna and Queen. If you can’t look past your general disdain for the genre and see that, to be blunt, maybe that’s why you don’t get a vote.
So are you saying that Big & Rich, Nickelback and Ricky Martin should eventually be elected to the rock and roll hall of fame? I don’t think that’s what you’re saying, but that’s kind of what it sounds like.
As far as being nominated because they were influential (though I’d argue about just how much of an influence they were) then they should be nominated in the Influence category. They simply can’t make it on their own musical merits.
No, I’m saying that 99.9% of the acts in every genre are shitty commercial bands that pander to the LCD, and that you can’t judge the merits of any given artist by looking at the shit. You can’t judge Johnny Cash by saying that 99% of country music sucks (even though it’s true), and you can’t judge Chic by saying that 99% of disco sucks (it does).
The Hall decided a long time ago (see Billy Joel/The Beach Boys/The Bee Gees/etc) that it wasn’t just about the rock genre, but representatives of the best artists of all modern popular music.
Just because you don’t like disco doesn’t make the art any less valid.
Now, all that said, I don’t think that Chic should make it in either. But your blanket statement that basically says that disco artists shouldn’t even be considered pissed me off. You’re smarter than that.
I said they shouldn’t be considered for the *rock and roll* hall of fame. If there’s a disco hall of fame, Chic should be enshrined. So should the Bee Gees.
Misinterpreting my argument and attacking the misinterpretation pisses *me* off. Bitch!
See point above: despite the name, the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” is not a “rock and roll” Hall of Fame.
Here’s what I’ve learned: however you slice it, the rock and roll hall of fame is for shit.
And hence, TheSex Pistols’ response to their induction.
so I shouldn’t rent it this weekend?
I think you should watch it. I just think you should have kleenex handy.