The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2018
I can't believe I haven't weighed in on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2018.
I was very happy with this year's class.
I've been a Mark Knopfler fan since I got the Twister soundtrack on Compact Disc from my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Kathleen for my fifteenth birthday in 1997. It was my first CD after getting a CD player. He sings and performs Darling Pretty.
I've worked my way back to his earlier work with that little band called Dire Straits. I took the gift card from my dad, er, Santa, that I got for Christmas and used it to get "Brothers in Arms." That song may be the album's highlight, but followed closely behind by "Money for Nothing," "Walk of Life," "So Far Away," and everything else. I keep waiting for Knopfler's next great guitar lick in each song. They often catch me by surprise. Phil Kopp and I were lucky enough to catch a portion of one of his performances on rockapalast.
The Moody Blues are long, long, long overdue to get into the Rock Hall. Often times, a band qualifies when the rock critics and elite see longevity... like, classic rock standards from the 60's, and straight through career work, with some style and tone transitions, in the '70's, '80s, and even '90's. The Moody Blues are the same band that brought us "Nights in White Satin," very experimental prog rock, and "Your Wildest Dreams," a 1986 mainstream pop hit that nonetheless was replete with a very nostalgic music video that hearkened back to the band's early days in the 1960's, setting out to make a name for themselves, and leaving the pretty girl in go go boots as they throw their guitars and instruments into the back of a van. The Moody Blues was on one of the first CDs I ever got, one of the Wonder Years CDs I bought in high school. It featured "Tuesday Afternoon Forever Afternoon." I knew from that that this band could not easily be categorized. They are ecclectic. I can rest well knowing that the band that sang "I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band" and "Melancholy Man" has been welcomed into the Rock Hall. Between them and Dire Straits, I think I may plan another trip to Cleveland soon.... and then there's Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi I have been a fan of for many years. We used to sing "Living on a Prayer" before performances of our play An American Daughter at Augustana College. I know that a lot of the rock critics are like Lestor Bangs, and declared real rock dying or in its death rattle in 1973, with the advent of pop, punk, glam rock, and heavy metal. But Bon Jovi I think did stay true to the pulse of what rock and roll was. So what if they were commercial? So what if they were nakedly emotional in their lyrics, emotional to the point that feelings and mushiness drove the music rather than vice versa? I like Jon Bon Jovi. I like Ritchie Zambora.
I like Nina Simone from what I've heard of her. I am happy she got in. Since the choices were fairly mainstream this year, I was happy to see someone I really hadn't heard of much included in this year's induction class, prompting me to have to go back and discover her work. Every year, there's usually one artist inducted, or at very least on the Rock Hall ballot, where I see their name, I see their picture, and I have to say to myself, "who are they?" Then I get embarrassed for not having heard of them. Well, as we speak, I'm listening to a mix of Nina Simone on YouTube. I really enjoy the orchestra and piano rich sound to her song "Feeling Good." I think I'm familiar with "I Put a Spell on You" from when Zooey Deschanel performed it on Conan all the way back in 2010. Now "Wild is the Wind" is playing. I do recognize this song. Sam Mendes used this song in the trailer for his 2008 Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet movie Revolutionary Road. Okay, cool to have a lounge act from the 1960's, and an African American woman at that, inducted into the Rock Hall.
I like Sister Rosetta Tharpe just from what I've heard of her. As an early influence, I am glad to see Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction extend beyond the clinical definition of rock and roll in the artists they induct. Rock comes from many roots. And it's good to separate the ingredients. Good to bring in the artists from the earlier decades of the 20th Century and consider their contribution to the Rock and Roll lexicon.
And then there's The Cars. After the Talking Heads got inducted in in 2002, I thought, "okay, the Cars will be next." I think the Rock Hall felt like they had given New Wave its due with that. Finally, though, they get around to the Cars, a band that is just as revelatory, just as innovative, just as hip and ahead of the curve as the Talking Heads were. In fact, The Cars has more crossover for their longevity, with hits like "You Might Think" on 97X and "Drive" on Mix96. Then there are the singles that are sort of in between classic rock and contemporary rock, and because they became rather dated for a stretch, they earned the right to be resuscitated in an Adam Sandler movie. "Magic" (The Cars version, that is) was used in Click. That's what I readily identify it with. I've always liked The Cars. This seems overdue. Then again, everyone's inductions seemed overdue this year.
I was very happy with this year's class.
I've been a Mark Knopfler fan since I got the Twister soundtrack on Compact Disc from my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Kathleen for my fifteenth birthday in 1997. It was my first CD after getting a CD player. He sings and performs Darling Pretty.
I've worked my way back to his earlier work with that little band called Dire Straits. I took the gift card from my dad, er, Santa, that I got for Christmas and used it to get "Brothers in Arms." That song may be the album's highlight, but followed closely behind by "Money for Nothing," "Walk of Life," "So Far Away," and everything else. I keep waiting for Knopfler's next great guitar lick in each song. They often catch me by surprise. Phil Kopp and I were lucky enough to catch a portion of one of his performances on rockapalast.
The Moody Blues are long, long, long overdue to get into the Rock Hall. Often times, a band qualifies when the rock critics and elite see longevity... like, classic rock standards from the 60's, and straight through career work, with some style and tone transitions, in the '70's, '80s, and even '90's. The Moody Blues are the same band that brought us "Nights in White Satin," very experimental prog rock, and "Your Wildest Dreams," a 1986 mainstream pop hit that nonetheless was replete with a very nostalgic music video that hearkened back to the band's early days in the 1960's, setting out to make a name for themselves, and leaving the pretty girl in go go boots as they throw their guitars and instruments into the back of a van. The Moody Blues was on one of the first CDs I ever got, one of the Wonder Years CDs I bought in high school. It featured "Tuesday Afternoon Forever Afternoon." I knew from that that this band could not easily be categorized. They are ecclectic. I can rest well knowing that the band that sang "I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band" and "Melancholy Man" has been welcomed into the Rock Hall. Between them and Dire Straits, I think I may plan another trip to Cleveland soon.... and then there's Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi I have been a fan of for many years. We used to sing "Living on a Prayer" before performances of our play An American Daughter at Augustana College. I know that a lot of the rock critics are like Lestor Bangs, and declared real rock dying or in its death rattle in 1973, with the advent of pop, punk, glam rock, and heavy metal. But Bon Jovi I think did stay true to the pulse of what rock and roll was. So what if they were commercial? So what if they were nakedly emotional in their lyrics, emotional to the point that feelings and mushiness drove the music rather than vice versa? I like Jon Bon Jovi. I like Ritchie Zambora.
I like Nina Simone from what I've heard of her. I am happy she got in. Since the choices were fairly mainstream this year, I was happy to see someone I really hadn't heard of much included in this year's induction class, prompting me to have to go back and discover her work. Every year, there's usually one artist inducted, or at very least on the Rock Hall ballot, where I see their name, I see their picture, and I have to say to myself, "who are they?" Then I get embarrassed for not having heard of them. Well, as we speak, I'm listening to a mix of Nina Simone on YouTube. I really enjoy the orchestra and piano rich sound to her song "Feeling Good." I think I'm familiar with "I Put a Spell on You" from when Zooey Deschanel performed it on Conan all the way back in 2010. Now "Wild is the Wind" is playing. I do recognize this song. Sam Mendes used this song in the trailer for his 2008 Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet movie Revolutionary Road. Okay, cool to have a lounge act from the 1960's, and an African American woman at that, inducted into the Rock Hall.
I like Sister Rosetta Tharpe just from what I've heard of her. As an early influence, I am glad to see Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction extend beyond the clinical definition of rock and roll in the artists they induct. Rock comes from many roots. And it's good to separate the ingredients. Good to bring in the artists from the earlier decades of the 20th Century and consider their contribution to the Rock and Roll lexicon.
And then there's The Cars. After the Talking Heads got inducted in in 2002, I thought, "okay, the Cars will be next." I think the Rock Hall felt like they had given New Wave its due with that. Finally, though, they get around to the Cars, a band that is just as revelatory, just as innovative, just as hip and ahead of the curve as the Talking Heads were. In fact, The Cars has more crossover for their longevity, with hits like "You Might Think" on 97X and "Drive" on Mix96. Then there are the singles that are sort of in between classic rock and contemporary rock, and because they became rather dated for a stretch, they earned the right to be resuscitated in an Adam Sandler movie. "Magic" (The Cars version, that is) was used in Click. That's what I readily identify it with. I've always liked The Cars. This seems overdue. Then again, everyone's inductions seemed overdue this year.