2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

Still surprised Los Lobos didn't make the cut (should have been this year, I believe...).


(09-12) 14:10 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --

Former Beatle George Harrison, Prince, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne are among the nominees on the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot.

Harrison, who died of cancer in November 2001, is already in the rock hall as a member of the Beatles. Former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney preceded him for their solo work.

Previous nominees back for another try include the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gram Parsons and Patti Smith. Other nominees include The Dells, The "5" Royales, Bob Seger, the Stooges, Traffic and ZZ Top.

Ballots were mailed this week to voting members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in Cleveland.

Funk-rocker Prince has led a diverse career topped by his "Purple Rain" soundtrack, heartland rocker Mellencamp had a string of hits after dropping the middle name "Cougar" and songwriter Browne was a prominent member of the 1970s Los Angeles singer-songwriter scene.

Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released. The inductees likely will be announced in December.

 

IMO all four of the new nominees are well deserving of induction.

renny

 

I also feel all four listed are deserving. If I had to only vote for two I'd select George and Prince. I think the two of them influenced other artists more than John Mellencamp or Jackson Browne.

Just my $.02.

 

Rumor has it that Lancelot Link & the Evolution Revolution were left off the ballot due to a printer's error.

 

Yet another year goes by where Rush isn't nominated. That's just one of many reasons why the rock and roll hall of fame is a crock.

 

All four will get in but, as much as I dig Mellencamp, he's still a second-rate Boss; his career is unthinkable without Springsteen leading the way(not true of, say, Bob Seger, for example).

Browne is a tough call, but, if the Moody Blues can't get in, I see no reason for Browne to be inducted. Like the Moodies, he rocked a bit now and then, but leaned more toward balladry and pop at times, just enough that I would leave him out. Why Browne would be considered 'rock' is as mysterious to me as Brenda Lee being considered 'rock,' as it was a small percentage of what her career represents(also true of Bobby Darin).

But, as I said, all four will probably make it. Lobbying and politics play no small part in this, but obviously, George and Prince are no-brainers.


ED

 

Would a vote for Harrison be a vote for his solo career, or also the Beatles? I don't know if I'd vote for him on the basis of his solo career. Most of All Things Must Pass is great, he has good work scattered throughout his solo catalog, but I'm not sure if that's enough.

Prince, Jackson Browne, Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gram Parsons and Patti Smith, The "5" Royales, and the Stooges would be my top picks (I've come to appreciate Sabbath a lot more this past year).

 

A vote for Harrison would be for his solo career, since he is already in with The Beatles. I agree that his body of work isn't all great. It even has a few "clunkers" in it, but his slide guitar playing, and The Concert for Bangla Desh make him HOF material in my book.

 

For the first time in many years, I agree...

 

Ed, I gotta challenge you on Mr. Mellencamp - up to the album with Crumbling Down and Pink Houses onnit, Johnny Cougar was more like a 3rd rate Springsteen; but when Scarecrow hit, I changed my tune really quicklike - Johhny turned into John and made a major leap in his songwriting (outside lyrical help definitely improved things there); the next few albums threw stuff like accordians and fiddles into the mix - not yer everday thing tossed into a pop song at the time. He's also got a sense of humor - he pops in on the Bob and Tom radio show outta Indy and is willing to poke fun at himself - I say let 'im in...

 

'Course, calling that place The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is kinda goofy considering alla the not rock and roll artists in there; shoulda called it the Pop Hall o' Fame...

 

No Poco, no Yes, no Rush.....

I don't even bother with it anymore....it is all political and does not mean a thing, IMHO

 

Well, while Poco, Rush, the Moody Blues, and Jethro Tull have their devoted audiences, they also have a large share of detractors, as well. I think the same goes for Yes, but their earlier albums seem universally liked (P.S. I snagged a Gastwirt Fragile today. Excellent call, Jamie!).

Mellencamp has a pretty uneven career. The first half of that album with "Crumblin' Down" and "Pink Houses" was excellent, meat and potatoes rock, and "Scarecrow" took it up a couple notches. "Lonesome Jubilee" was also excellent, but after that, his work became very uneven. The last one is actually a solid album, his best in a long time.

I think I'd vote for Mellencamp, but this reminds me of a page I saw on the Baseball Hall Of Fame. Somebody made a site of 'second-tier' all-stars, players that COULD get in the Hall, but have enough flaws to deny them that honor. Example: Don Mattingly, for years a GREAT player, just phenomenal, and for awhile, it seemed as if he was the latest link in that great chain of Yankee legends. But, hampered with back injuries, he began to slide, starting in 1987. He stopped batting .300, hit less than 30 home runs, less than 100 RBI's, less than 200 hits, etc. After a ten year career, finally retired without a ring. Some say he belongs, but then there's that other camp that says a certain standard must be maintained, and more 'ordinary' players can't be let in without tarnishing that great 'aura' surrounding the Hall of Fame.

 

I think that the RnR hall of fame is a joke.

Every year they wank themselves off and try to find a way to put another Beatle or God forbid Clapton into the Hall for the ninth time. Let's see, lets put Eric Clapton in the hall nine different times:

Yardbirds
Blues Breakers
Cream
Derek and the Dominoes (without Duane, they would have done nothing)
solo career
for stealing George's wife
for making fifteen consecutive ****ty albums
for pinching a sweet loaf in 1983
for making two ****ty albums with Phil Collins

Now we will totally ignore any band that has ever been called "Progressive". Rush, Jethro Tull, Yes...

I guess that Garth Brooks will go into the Hall for his "Chris Gaines" fiasco. For finding a way to make a pop album without alienating your fans that cannot tell you are a total fraud.

Or maybe Garth can go in for refusing to visit a dying child who's dream was to meet Garth Brooks.

Rock on Garth!

Give me a break

 

Well, in the Baseball HOF, as with the R&R version, there are *already* some less-than-stellar inductees. If you're a fan, try seeking out a copy of The Politics of Glory, by Bill James (himself a controversial figure among baseball fans, but his arguments of who belongs and who doesn't, and why, make for fascinating reading).

 

Stooges!!!

 

Prince CLEARLY deserves it. George, though, doesn't. At the risk of sounding cynical, if he hadn't died, he wouldn't be on the ballot. His solo career was spottier than Lennon's, and since John didn't deserve to be in the HOF as a solo artist, George definitely doesn't. Putting BOTH of them in would just be a nod to semi-PC sentimentality. As erratic as his own solo career has been, Paul's the only ex-Beatle who did enough on his own to merit inclusion - selecting John and George is ridiculous...

 

Right on man, I agree with you 100% Rush's exclusion from the ballot is just one of many reasons why the Hall is a sham. If Rush ever does get inducted, I hope they boycott the ceremony.

 

Looking at the nominees, I would agree with Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols, ZZ Top, Bob Segar, Prince & Lynyrd Skynyrd. I don't even care for the Sex Pistols, Bob Seger or Prince all that much, but I do recognize their stature and importance to the history of Rock. I could NEVER personally vote for John Couger, John Mellencamp or whatever he's calling himself these days because his material just doesn't merit it, IMHO. Note: I have seen him live, back when he was backing up REO Speedwagon in the early 80's; his music didn't impress me then and it hasn't aged any better.

Rush?

It's an outrage and a disgrace bordering on tragedy that bands like Rush, Yes, the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull can't seem get the time of day from the R&R Hall of Fame. Forgetting their progressive styles, these are bands which can ROCK, especially Rush & Tull.

I'd like to see some REAL rock bands added to their inductee's list; bands that made a difference in one capacity or another instead of the namby pamby mainstream pop crap they seem to be gravitating toward! Where are the great rock & prog. rock bands like UFO, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Oyster Cult, Rory Gallagher, King Crimson, Procol Harum, Heart, Alice Cooper, etc., etc. ...?

Perhaps the Board of Directors of this "esteemed" repository of legendary rock music should consider changing the official name of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame to the Pop Single Museum, then they would avoid all of the confusion associated with their apparent headlong flight into the One Hit Wonder basement via the Elevator Music Escalator!


Cat

 

The Hall of Fame is starting to get dangerously close to the point where it gets watered down by too many lesser lights and somewhat fringe type artists. They need to induct someone every year to justify the party. Not to that some of the artists listed don't deserve induction but I hate to see its
importance lessened by borderline artists.

 

Even those should be changed to ONLY those.

The Pistols contrived or not put out one of the greatest Rock LP's of all time and changed things forever after.
Rush wrote songs about trees that went on too long and mostly appealed to people who have not a clue about what makes a song memorable.
Hint...It AIN"T the number of drum rolls you can fit into a chorus.
They were funny at first (I think I'm Going Bald) then they were silly (2112) and then they decided that bloated,without humour and self righteous was the way to go and they have'nt looked back since.
I remember an interview with Neil Peart in Creem back when I was in High School that was one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life to this day.
Rush was great when I was 15 and Smoked lots of crappy weed in the back of a pickup on the way to White Castle But when you graduate high school it's good to put this stuff in nostalgic perspective NOT take it seriuosly when youre old enough to know better.

The Pistols and ESPECIALLY the 5 Royales(Lowman Pauling practically invented the modern guitar style we now take for granted) deserve immediate entrance into the hall LOOOOOOOOOOOONNNGGGGGG before the members of a band that gave us By-Tor And the Snow Dog are given the oppurtunity to mop it's floors.

For that matter I could without thinking very hard about it name at least 50 bands or performers that deserve the honor (Loosely used term)of induction before Rush should even be considered.

Unless they build a bad poetry wing at the hall in which case I invite them to have at it.



Hows that for a rant?

love and peace.

 

don't forget, the rock hall likes people with causes.

mellencamp - farm aid
j. browne - no nukes

renny

p.s. where the hell is chicago???????????

 

I agree...Chicago should be there and if The Moody Blues are shut out again (this makes no sense) I concur...Jackson Browne's induction just doesn't make sense.

Having said that, I am saddened and shocked that once again...the nominating committee has ignored Lothar And The Hand People. What were they thinking?

 

Much as I like 'em, too -- heck, I'd take Los Lobos over most bands in the R&RHOF -- I don't see them ever getting in. They've had zero impact on the charts, except for their "La Bamba" cover.

I do disagree with the George Harrison solo nod. We're talking about one album: ALL THINGS MUST PASS. The rest is tribute to how long a recording contract can be sustained based on former glory. On the other hand, aren't The Mamas & The Papas in? A couple great singles sets the bar pretty low, and Harrison exceeds that standard.

 

I think at some point in the not too distant future, the Rock Hall will be looked at as a curiosity, not unlike the Grammys. People will stop noticing or caring who gets in or who doesn't get in. We all know that there are many artists who should be in who are not, and many who are in that should not be. It's all politics. And whether or not some of my favorite artists are in there or not will never affect my enjoyment of their music.