(Afrika Bambaataa. Surely we can forgive one lousy collaboration with John Lydon compared to a larger body of work?)
…though Roger Friedman’s version of “Bombs Away On The Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame” isn’t nearly as catchy or interesting as the original.
I™ve never participated in a boycott ” not of lettuce or grapes or anything else. But enough is enough.After the announcement late Friday of the nominees™ ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there™s only thing to do: Hit publisher Jan Wenner, who controls the Rock Hall, where it hurts.
If you love rock ‘n’ roll, stop buying Rolling Stone until the tremendous insults of the Hall of Fame are corrected
This year™s ballot shows that the Hall has skipped over the seminal 1970s for the worthless ’80s. The committee has chosen dance music over rock. They™ve all but ignored the pioneers who influenced the genre in favor of non sequiturs. The choices: dance group Chic, hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, mediocre Bruce Springsteen-wannabe John Mellencamp (a Wenner crony who™s lost out on many tries), white rappers the Beastie Boys, disco queen Donna Summer and, of course, Madonna.
Among “older” names: the aforementioned DC5, instrumentalists the Ventures and Leonard Cohen.
Here™s the idea: that these names should enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before such historically important and influential acts as Iggy Pop and the Stooges, “fifth Beatle” Billy Preston or performer/producer Todd Rundgren.
They aren™t the only ones.
Major groups the Hall voters deem “not hip”: The Moody Blues (simply for “Days of Future Passed”) and Chicago (for its first two seminal albums). Hall & Oates, Yes, Genesis, J. Geils Band, Alice Cooper and KISS are also names often mentioned by critics.
Afrika Bambaataa and the Beastie Boys: Are they kidding? Even the latter must be laughing. They had one big hit, “You™ve Got to Fight for Your Right to Party.” The former, while I™m sure quite lovely, is a record-scratcher with a great name. Each of these belongs in a Rap Hall of Fame.
Replies Tim Cook,
This is an amazing editorial on many levels. It’s interesting, I think, because it at once makes me sympathize with the Rock Hall and at least tepidly partisan toward Rolling Stone magazine–a real achievement. This is where I must disengage for time management and mental health, but never have I seen such halfbaked middlebrow pedantry since, I don’t know, the last time I listened to Rock, Rot and Rule by Scharpling/Wurster, the true standard bearer for all canonical value assignments.
“If you’re still reading or buying Rolling Stone, it’s time to stop.”
Holy Ronstadtits!…Didn’t we stop buying that piece of shit in 1974?
BTW…The National SABR convention is in Cleveland next yea…oops, gotta run “howtomakeapipebomb.com” just printed out.
Afrika Bambaataa didn’t really have a large body of work, though. And that World Destruction song is very 80’s (and still true today).
Yeah, dude: the Moody Blues. Why not fuckin’ Toto while we’re at it?
As far as I’m concerned, they all belong in the Hall, whether I personally like them or not. But I’ll tell you one thing: This is one reason why lots of Suburban WhiteGuys (who weren’t always the way they are now) vote Republican–they don’t get any love from the post-punk hip consensus, so they want to get back at them. Suburban WhiteGuys know that the hip consensus is politically left-of-center, and they aren’t really politically aware (except to the extent they were awakened by the Iranian hostage crisis and 2112, for which Neil Peart is probably still kicking himself), so they vote Republican. Maybe if we let (the terribly underrated) Chicago or Kiss into the Hall, they’ll start to relax.
–Jeff (a white dude from the suburbs, but not a WhiteGuy, even if he does think the hip consensus is wrong about the ’70s)
No Bambaataa, no culture in the 80s or 90s. As I always say, since everything hip over the last 30 years has been stolen from Hip Hop, Hip Hop deserves a check for that. This happens whether some slang has made it’s way on 30 Rock, the Nightly News or even the cultural diversity deprived FOX news, or if some waaay too black white kid wants to call me “Broh.” Matter of fact my beautiful, child of a NY Jewish couple, white girlfriend was at most of those jams Bambaataa threw with her older brother when she was only 8 years old. And she’s always saying how great the music was, the times were, the people were, and she doesn’t think she’s black and has some nice Zeppelin on vinyl that I practice my electric guitar to.