Letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Dear Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum,
Hi, it's Greg O'Neill again. Great class of inductees for 2021~ Tina Turner, Carole King (as a performer), The Go-Gos, Jay-Z, The Foofighters, Todd Rundgren, Kraftwerk, Charley Patton, L.L. Cool J, and some other inductees chosen by the Musical Excellence Committee, I am very excited to make another trip to Cleveland in the near future!
Here are my recommendations for the 2022 class:
New Order- Yes, I'll allow they're very '80's. What of it? You got Kraftwerk inducted in 2021 in the Musical Excellence category. They set the tone for synth-heavy '80's bands like New Order. Every time I hear the song "Blue Monday," I think of The Wedding Singer. True Faith had just enough of a weird video that I can imagine some voters saying, "yeah, hey, they've earned it." Every time I hear that song that Sofia Coppula used in the trailer for Marie Antoinette, I think back to a mix tape Ian Mason made for me for a 2006 trip to the Chicago area. I like it when "Bizarre Love Triangle" randomly comes on the radio with a random '80's hit on Q 98.1 in Fulton County while I'm driving on Route 97 from Rock Island to Lewistown.
Aha- They had "Take on Me." This song had the best music video. I liked the pencil animation, starting with the woman in the diner reading her comic book set at the race track, and the handsome musician from Aha, alternately portrayed playing the keyboard and as a hand-drawned stencil in the comic book, reaching his arm right out of the book to grab her and pull her in. It was very romantic. Because in any given moment, one of them would be portrayed as real, the other as hand-drawn, looking at each other through alternate sides of a portrait hole. That, coupled with the plight of the boy and girl as hand-drawn characters escaping down the hallways and corridors from armed animated assailants, then peeling back the wall to find reality, and perhaps safety, inside the home of the woman. Can he help the woman of his dreams get back home safe? And will he have to give himself up to the man in the flight goggles with the wrench and the driver in the derby cap to get her back? It was a head trip of a video, but I loved it. Vintage '80's... and for that matter, '90's, because with the '90's came '80's nostalgia. Also enjoyed "The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
Naked Eyes- "Always Something There to Remind Me." This one doesn't take me back to the '80's so much as to the 1990's, as they were still playing on Power 98.9. They were on a mix tape I made of music in 1997, when we had a cold weather-snow day, and I was home from school. I was waiting for the Green Bay Packers song to come on so that I could hit record, but I recorded a bunch of other songs along with it. 14 year old Greg was setting the template for what would become Greatest Hits! Oh yeah, and their song "Promises, Promises" was played on my wedding night! Since the first play Sara and I ever did together was the 1968 musical "Promises, Promises," our DJ, Tim Dominicus, placed that on the dinnertime playlist, then put it on the mix CD he gave us! (I'll grant you, the Naked Eyes version isn't actually from the musical Promises, Promises, as that was Burt Bachrach music). Either way, they take me back in time and place to the '80's, again, listening to Power 98.9, and their still being played in the '90's on said station, plus Mix 96. They have staying power. Consider them.
Boz Scaggs- I know I have already used Boz Scaggs in a letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the past. But I am returning to try to persuade you of this point. I found some new Boz Scaggs' music on YouTube and Vevo about a year ago on a Friday afternoon after work. I already knew everything on the album "Silk Degrees." So I was surprised to find that he had songs just as good as "Lido Shuffle," "Lowdown," "What Can I Say," "It's Over," "Jump Street," "What Do You Want the Girl to Do," and "We're All Alone" across a bunch of other albums. "Breakdown Dead Ahead." "Jojo." "Hey Miss Sun." "I am Falling." "Slow Dancer." "Dinah Flo." "You Make It So Hard to Say No." "Love, Look What You've Done to Me." I thought I had gotten his greatest hits when I purchased "Silk Degrees." I didn't realize that I was only just scratching the surface!
UB40- Why not? Come on. They had excellent covers of songs by other artists. "Red Red Wine" always instantly transports me back to the 1980's, instantly. I think of going to Skate Ranch in Milan, Illinois on Thursdays in first and second grade. I heard Neil Diamond's version, and thought, "oh, hey, this is the original version of that song by UB40!" I remember "Can't Help Falling in Love" becoming a hit in 2nd or 3rd grade. And when I heard Elvis Presley's version of the song, I couldn't help but think, "oh, hey, this is the original version of that great song by UB40!" "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)." I heard Al Green's version and thought, "ok, this was the basis for that terrific song that UB40 covered!" "The Way You Do The Things You Do" by The Temptations was the first song where I correctly identified them as the original recording artists before hearing UB40's version, but they still brought a neat, sort of reggae-calypso twist to the Temptations' original. I know that this one is a long-shot, since much of what they have performed isn't first-time original work, but I still find them to be groundbreaking. Their sound is unique!
The Gin Blossoms- "Hey, Jealousy" transports me back, instantly, to 6th grade. That great '90's music video that looks like a fast-forwarded jog, interspersed with the band playing in a house, makes me feel younger, the second it comes on. I remember the first time I heard it, inside the Subway restaurant in Macomb, Illinois, when my dad drove me to Quincy to see the Alleman Football game, that day I didn't have school at Jordan, and we were able to make a roadtrip and stay at the Roadway Inn. "Anywhere You Go, I'll Follow You Down." Brings me back to having ice cream sundaes at Happy Joe's when I was in junior high. "Until I Fall Away," brings me back to watching MTV on TCI Cable in my sister's room in 6th and 7th grade. "Til I Hear it From You" brings me back to football games and Tae Kwon Do in 8th grade. Memories of listening to Power 98.9 on the boom box, or the panasonic stereo I got for Christmas when I was in 6th grade. I liked this band. I liked them a lot. I suggest them for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Other ideas:
New Kids on the Block
Michael McDonald
Klymaxx
Boy Meets Girl
The Raspberries
The Cranberries
Blues Traveler
Styx
Boston
Three Dog Night
Paul Davis
Walter Egan
Jerry Rafferty
Norman Greenbaum
Tracey Chapman
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Peter Frampton
REO Speedwagon
.38 Special
Survivor
Foreigner
Blind Faith
The Traveling Wilburys
Steve Winwood as a solo artist
Thank you so much!
Greg O'Neill
Hi, it's Greg O'Neill again. Great class of inductees for 2021~ Tina Turner, Carole King (as a performer), The Go-Gos, Jay-Z, The Foofighters, Todd Rundgren, Kraftwerk, Charley Patton, L.L. Cool J, and some other inductees chosen by the Musical Excellence Committee, I am very excited to make another trip to Cleveland in the near future!
Here are my recommendations for the 2022 class:
New Order- Yes, I'll allow they're very '80's. What of it? You got Kraftwerk inducted in 2021 in the Musical Excellence category. They set the tone for synth-heavy '80's bands like New Order. Every time I hear the song "Blue Monday," I think of The Wedding Singer. True Faith had just enough of a weird video that I can imagine some voters saying, "yeah, hey, they've earned it." Every time I hear that song that Sofia Coppula used in the trailer for Marie Antoinette, I think back to a mix tape Ian Mason made for me for a 2006 trip to the Chicago area. I like it when "Bizarre Love Triangle" randomly comes on the radio with a random '80's hit on Q 98.1 in Fulton County while I'm driving on Route 97 from Rock Island to Lewistown.
Aha- They had "Take on Me." This song had the best music video. I liked the pencil animation, starting with the woman in the diner reading her comic book set at the race track, and the handsome musician from Aha, alternately portrayed playing the keyboard and as a hand-drawned stencil in the comic book, reaching his arm right out of the book to grab her and pull her in. It was very romantic. Because in any given moment, one of them would be portrayed as real, the other as hand-drawn, looking at each other through alternate sides of a portrait hole. That, coupled with the plight of the boy and girl as hand-drawn characters escaping down the hallways and corridors from armed animated assailants, then peeling back the wall to find reality, and perhaps safety, inside the home of the woman. Can he help the woman of his dreams get back home safe? And will he have to give himself up to the man in the flight goggles with the wrench and the driver in the derby cap to get her back? It was a head trip of a video, but I loved it. Vintage '80's... and for that matter, '90's, because with the '90's came '80's nostalgia. Also enjoyed "The Sun Always Shines on T.V."
Naked Eyes- "Always Something There to Remind Me." This one doesn't take me back to the '80's so much as to the 1990's, as they were still playing on Power 98.9. They were on a mix tape I made of music in 1997, when we had a cold weather-snow day, and I was home from school. I was waiting for the Green Bay Packers song to come on so that I could hit record, but I recorded a bunch of other songs along with it. 14 year old Greg was setting the template for what would become Greatest Hits! Oh yeah, and their song "Promises, Promises" was played on my wedding night! Since the first play Sara and I ever did together was the 1968 musical "Promises, Promises," our DJ, Tim Dominicus, placed that on the dinnertime playlist, then put it on the mix CD he gave us! (I'll grant you, the Naked Eyes version isn't actually from the musical Promises, Promises, as that was Burt Bachrach music). Either way, they take me back in time and place to the '80's, again, listening to Power 98.9, and their still being played in the '90's on said station, plus Mix 96. They have staying power. Consider them.
Boz Scaggs- I know I have already used Boz Scaggs in a letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the past. But I am returning to try to persuade you of this point. I found some new Boz Scaggs' music on YouTube and Vevo about a year ago on a Friday afternoon after work. I already knew everything on the album "Silk Degrees." So I was surprised to find that he had songs just as good as "Lido Shuffle," "Lowdown," "What Can I Say," "It's Over," "Jump Street," "What Do You Want the Girl to Do," and "We're All Alone" across a bunch of other albums. "Breakdown Dead Ahead." "Jojo." "Hey Miss Sun." "I am Falling." "Slow Dancer." "Dinah Flo." "You Make It So Hard to Say No." "Love, Look What You've Done to Me." I thought I had gotten his greatest hits when I purchased "Silk Degrees." I didn't realize that I was only just scratching the surface!
UB40- Why not? Come on. They had excellent covers of songs by other artists. "Red Red Wine" always instantly transports me back to the 1980's, instantly. I think of going to Skate Ranch in Milan, Illinois on Thursdays in first and second grade. I heard Neil Diamond's version, and thought, "oh, hey, this is the original version of that song by UB40!" I remember "Can't Help Falling in Love" becoming a hit in 2nd or 3rd grade. And when I heard Elvis Presley's version of the song, I couldn't help but think, "oh, hey, this is the original version of that great song by UB40!" "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)." I heard Al Green's version and thought, "ok, this was the basis for that terrific song that UB40 covered!" "The Way You Do The Things You Do" by The Temptations was the first song where I correctly identified them as the original recording artists before hearing UB40's version, but they still brought a neat, sort of reggae-calypso twist to the Temptations' original. I know that this one is a long-shot, since much of what they have performed isn't first-time original work, but I still find them to be groundbreaking. Their sound is unique!
The Gin Blossoms- "Hey, Jealousy" transports me back, instantly, to 6th grade. That great '90's music video that looks like a fast-forwarded jog, interspersed with the band playing in a house, makes me feel younger, the second it comes on. I remember the first time I heard it, inside the Subway restaurant in Macomb, Illinois, when my dad drove me to Quincy to see the Alleman Football game, that day I didn't have school at Jordan, and we were able to make a roadtrip and stay at the Roadway Inn. "Anywhere You Go, I'll Follow You Down." Brings me back to having ice cream sundaes at Happy Joe's when I was in junior high. "Until I Fall Away," brings me back to watching MTV on TCI Cable in my sister's room in 6th and 7th grade. "Til I Hear it From You" brings me back to football games and Tae Kwon Do in 8th grade. Memories of listening to Power 98.9 on the boom box, or the panasonic stereo I got for Christmas when I was in 6th grade. I liked this band. I liked them a lot. I suggest them for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Other ideas:
New Kids on the Block
Michael McDonald
Klymaxx
Boy Meets Girl
The Raspberries
The Cranberries
Blues Traveler
Styx
Boston
Three Dog Night
Paul Davis
Walter Egan
Jerry Rafferty
Norman Greenbaum
Tracey Chapman
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Peter Frampton
REO Speedwagon
.38 Special
Survivor
Foreigner
Blind Faith
The Traveling Wilburys
Steve Winwood as a solo artist
Thank you so much!
Greg O'Neill