Hall of Fame Inductees announced

Your key quote: "...you will see some very suspect names on there." Indeed there are. Why the Moodies keep missing the cut is beyond me; true, they'll be remembered for some of their quieter, elegant, and--ahem--pretentious fluff, but they certainly could rock when in the mood, i.e.: "Go Now!," "Peak Hour," "Ride My See-Saw," "Lovely To See You," "It's Up To You," "The Story In Your Eyes," "After You Came" and "I'm Just A Singer," to name the most obvious examples. Bobby Darin got in, and over his career rocked a lot less! Could be older voters define them on their biggest success, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, or with the mellotron-based sound and their general, acoustic nature. FWIW, I've never trusted the HOF concept: too popularity-based. Otherwise, why Billy Joel?

ED

 

Well, you're not alone, but you won't find many friends to agree with you....and anyway, they more than proved themselves with STOP MAKING SENSE, still IMHO the most entertaining of concert films, and the only time an act took every song and made it better than the original version, which for me is a true sign of greatness. Their albums could be hit'n'miss affairs, but that film--and now, the essential DVD--sums up what was great about them. No, they deserve to be in the HOF; it was a no-brainer. But we all have acts we just never cotton to, no matter how good the rest of the planet thinks they are.
And, oh yeh, "Road To Nowhere" may have just 'bubbled under' for a week, but it's a great record--and video.

ED

 

As we approach the eligibility of bands from the mid-seveties onward, the RRHOF is going to face issues of popularity versus influence; records sales versus reviews; Top 40/pop artists versus rap, disco, and metal. Fed by niche-market radio, the music audience fragmented, and we'll cease to agree on future inductees the way we agree on The Beatles or Elvis.

I can't imagine a RRHOF not including The Talking Heads, The Clash, or Elvis Costello. That music still sounds vital to me, while the classic rock cliches on my local radio station -- mid-seventies one-word-name arena bands -- make me think of air-brushed vans and designer jeans.

 

Looks like your wish has come true:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...id=769&u=/nm/20021108/music_nm/life_police_dc
Rock Band Police to Reunite -- for 3 Songs Only
Fri Nov 8, 1:49 PM ET

MILAN (Reuters) - Former British rock band Police, whose hits included
"Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle," will get together for a one-show reunion in
New York next year, ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland (news) said on Friday.

"I am a dinosaur of rock," Copeland told a news
conference in Milan where he was performing with his
band Stewart Copeland's Orchestralli. "We're going to
get together again after nearly 20 years."

Copeland, now 50, said Police had agreed to play
three songs at a ceremony in New York in March to
mark the band's induction into The Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame along with Australia's heavy-metal rockers
AC/DC and fellow British groups Elvis Costello
(news) and the Attractions and The Clash.

Copeland said Police had also been invited to perform at a concert organized by
former South African president Nelson Mandela but the band's former lead singer
Sting had not yet said whether he would agree.

 

I totally agree with the Clash and Elvis but I just never got the Talking Heads. I think as the years go on, the newer inductees are going to be more and more a matter of opinion, even as far as influence and importance goes.

 

I saw David Byrne and his band live at the Calgary Folk Music Festival in late July 2001. It was a magnificant performance. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have been in the audience during the recording of the Stop Making Sense movie, or at any of the shows during the tours with the Talking Heads "Funk Orchestra".

When the heck is somebody going to release "The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads" on CD?
___________________

I also agree with all the bands mentioned that have been passed over again and again, or have never made it to the nomination ballot: Moody Blues, Deep Purple (come on!), Stooges, etc.

 

"And She Was" was a mother, too.

ED

 

I don't have to think in terms of 'as the years go on': I'll stand by my OP that neither Bill Haley nor Bobby Darin--among others--really belong in the R&R HALL OF FAME, though they did do good work and did rock(the latter, when he felt like it). I like Haley for the limited yet culturally essential player he was, and Darin for the all-around talent he was. But truly worthy of HOF status? Same argument's been going on in baseball since Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.
Still, all things being equal, I'd rather have a borderline candidate IN than OUT. AC/DC is far more borderline than the Heads, because where the former just continued the riffs of hard rock tradition, the Heads took those riffs and pushed them everywhichway into a quirky and engrossing mesh of black & white forms. Odd, strange at times? Yes. Influential? Debatable, but somehow, even today, I hear their echo. Brilliant at their best? Yes. Original? Up to a point, just like all the best, unless you think the Beatles' music--or even Elvis's--was created out of whole cloth. All 'pinch' as the british like to say; it's how well you pinch that makes the difference, and what you pinch you contort and mold into your own. On that alone, the Heads are IN. Period. If David and Tina's interplay during "Heaven" on SMS doesn't convince you, nothing will.
And that's your loss. Enjoy what you dig; we all go our own ways.

ED

 

That was in fact, Sting's own wedding.