I agree with Al Mascitti
If you by letting John Couger into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you open the door to a lot of second and third tier rockers.
Mellonkamp (sp?) had maybe two good songs. So why not Eddie Money? Why not Gillbert O’Sullivan? Where does it stop?
The National Association of Sports Writers, or whoever picks inductees screwed up on this one.
Jason,
Please get a spell checker. Spelling Mellencamp wrong is excusable, but cougar? The force of your arguments go out the window when people see errors like that. And I agree with you!
Will he be inducted as the artist formerly known as John Cougar? I mean, that was his name when he was actually selling records. And wasn’t it Mellencamp was the guy who brought John Edwards on stage recently to a chorus of boos?
I didn’t hear Mascitti this morning, but Jensen’s been going on for ages about how the Hall has stiffed progressive rockers like Yes, E.L.P. and King Crimson.
See, now this is where we part ways, my friend. I am a big John Cougar, err John Cougar Mellencamp, err John Mellencamp fan. He’s got at least 10 songs that I know every word to.
Incidentally, I won tickets to a show of his once in 95 by singing a little bit of 3 songs on the air. Luckily, my voice is like Donviti’s body, so the offers came rolling in.
Once I got to the show, I found the tickets were “Lawn Seats.” Fine, but I didn’t bring a blanket. Then 3/4 of the way through the show I feel this splashing on the back of my leg and turn around to see a guy pissing into a beer cup that he cut the bottom out of. He gave me this “Sorry, dude, when you gotta go, ya gotta go” look.
I considered pummeling him with my pumped up muscle, but resisted and ended up leaving a few minutes later.
Nonetheless, I support J(C)M in the Hall of Fame although personally, the Hall is slightly less interesting to me than any of a dozen Hard Rock Cafe’s I have been to around the world.
Jack and Dianne’
Little Pink houses
Scarecrow and the Plow
I fight authority
Have you ever been to the Rock and Roll hall of fame? They have Michael Jackson and Madonna stuff in their.
John is a fine choice IMO
John Ashcroft? Let the mighty eagle soar…., yeah rock on baby….Oh, sorry I see it is John Cougar Mellancamp…he is ok.
I was there. There are plenty of nice Madonna and Michael Jackson things at any Hard Rock Cafe.
They already let in Debbie Harry. Enough said.
Come on now, Steve, don’t be dissin’ Blondie on me. Or is your argument perhaps not against Blondie’s induction so much as who should have been put in there first?
No, I’m dissin’ Blondie. Yes is not the R&R Hall of Fame and Debbie Harry is?
Apparently no progressive rock is worth remembering.
Well, he’s a funny looking little guy but I’ve mostly enjoyed his music. And Blondie. Clearly I have no taste in music. Right now I’ve got Elvis’ Greatest Hits, Boston, Crosby-Stills & Nash, Bruce Springsteen and Mozart CD’s in my car player. Oh, and I still like opera.
Shite, Geek, sing to me~!
Actually, Friday was the first time Gary and I didn’t discuss the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and really now, can you trust an outfit that spells it Rock AND Roll instead of Rock ‘N’ Roll?) in several weeks. I don’t mind John Mellonhead, but like Blondie, he’s not really top-drawer, IMHO. Whereas, being the prog-rock geek I am, Yes and Genesis seem like no-brainers to me. Gary, on the other hand, loved that New York punk/new wave scene, so he actually defends the admission of the highly derivative, not-particularly-interesting Blondie, a group that — let’s face facts here — would have trouble getting cover-band bar gigs if it didn’t have a good-looking (though marginally talented) lead singer. That’s my opinion, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.
It’s been about an eon since I stopped judging music by whether its practitioners were cool enough to like. Most of the HoF voters still haven’t reached that point, unfortunately.
I sense a bit of a generational and stylistic gap going on here.
Now I can agree that Yes and other prog-rockers ought to be in there. And Genesis is an obvious choice. I just happen to like punk and new wave a lot more than prog-rock so when I heard Blondie it felt like a no brainer to me.
If you guys and gals are cringing now at Mellencamp and Blondie, just wait until 2014 or so (I think that’s about right) – you know that Nirvana is getting in on their first chance.
And I’m quite ambivalent on that point. On the one hand, I do own all their cd’s and appreciate their role in putting the nail in glam-metal’s coffin (http://youtube.com/watch?v=OPfRtroo_LI). On the other hand, I can’t remember the last time I listened to any of those cd’s. And most times when Nirvana comes on the radio these days I find myself changing the station…
I do have to say that John Mellonhead’s drummer, Kenny Aronoff does deserve to be in the R&R HOF if they had nominations for position players.
My bone of contention with Nirvana is Cobains utter idiocy whith regards to his suicide. He had this vision of dying at the same age as Hendrix and Jim Morrison, so he did everything he could to get into “their club.” Shitty behavior.
A real rock and roll hero dies of an accidental overdose or in a pool of their own vomit.
Blondie was a strange choice, especially since the New York Dolls and Television were way more creative and way more influential, IMO. Public Enemy and Afrika Bambaataa ought to be in (if they are eligible).
While the HoF has real legends included in their ranks, when I look over the years of inductees, I always imagine that list as similar to the carefully selected books that folks will put up on their shelves just to be seen as being well read. Yes, that really is overly cynical. But I suspect that may be why prog rock is sorta dissed — there are plenty of folks I know (of the yuppie persuasion) who are embarrassed to admit they even used to listen to it.
But I definitely don’t get John Mellencamp and never did….
“A real rock and roll hero dies of an accidental overdose or in a pool of their own vomit”
Don’t forget:
– plane / helicopter crash (Valens, Holly, Big Bopper; John Denver; Otis Redding; Randy Rhoads; half of Lynyrd Skynyrd; Jim Croce; Stevie Ray Vaughan; among others)
– motorcycle / car crash (Allman, Cliff Burton, etc.)
– murdered by a family member (Marvin Gaye, Roger Troutman, etc.)
– drowning (Dennis Wilson, Jeff Buckley, etc.)
– auto-erotic asphyxiation (Hutchence)
– ham sandwich (Mama Cass, and yes I know it’s not true, still cracks me up though)
Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, self-inflicted gunshot wound is a pretty lame way for a rocker to go out… 🙂
Johnny: Don’t get me wrong. Cassandra nails the Blondie problem — lots of people did what they did earlier and better — and I don’t dislike Mellencamp, but the same criticisms apply. The Clash is my favorite band, and I will have no problem at all with Nirvana going in (I still listen). I think there is a stylistic problem with the votership, though — what you’ll find is that anything “uncool” (prog rock being exhibit A) gets ignored. And I understand the problem with prog rockers — how are all those other pork-chop guitar players possibly going to keep up with Steve Howe as the assembled Hall o’ Famers try to jam out on “Yours is No Disgrace”?
BTW, you can add Terry Kath, original guitarist (and only real rocker) for Chicago, to the self-inflicted gunshot wound list — though, officially, his fatal injury came while he was “cleaning his gun.”
Yeah, I wasn’t saying Nirvana shouldn’t get in, I certainly appreciate their importance. For some reason now they just don’t thrill me quite as much as when I was 13 and Cobain was being portrayed as my generation’s Lennon.
And yeah, I’ll admit many of the guitar players in the bands that I listen to couldn’t hold Steve Howe’s pick – so to speak.
Then again, (like The Clash, which I also love) it’s often not what you can’t play – it’s what you do with what you can play.
I agree. Admitting John Cougar Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame raised my eyebrows.
Wait, wait, wait. Y’all are questioning the voting decisions of the RnR HOF? I think all of their future justifications to all of our WTF’s was handled in one decision made many years ago. They chose Cleveland.
‘Nuff said.
Right on, Smitty. It should have been Philly, no doubt. Other valid choices would have been NYC or Detroit.
Or Chicago, where the blues became electric.
Wait a minute, Genesis isn’t in the HoF? I thought for sure they’d been inducted, or that it been Phil Collins as a solo artist, but nope. I had to look it up on their website, and I still don’t get it. Not even Peter Gabriel. Madonna? Are you freaking kidding me??? Where’s Dire Straits? Move the damn thing to New York and rename it the Pop HoF, and start over again.
Oh, and the only thing Philly’s entitled to is a doo-wop hall of fame. Cleveland Rocks!
GRex, there was more to Philly than the Geater (thank God, too). Stop channeling Drew Carey while we’re at it, btw.
Hell, I give a nod to Geek in his recent comment…I, too, would even pick DETROIT over Cleveland for the RnR HOF.
Remember that Philly hosted American Bandstand for decades. There are very few influences in R’n’R greater than that of Dick Clark.
That’s just great, Geek. So my Casey (Kasey?) Kasem memorabilia is essentially worthless? I’ll long-distance dedicate you!
I sense that we Delawareans have an opportunity to start the Progressive Rock Hall of Fame and make Cleveland look like the fat bunch of middle class bratwurst eating numbnuts that they are.
On opening day and we can auction off the right to throw a beer bottle against the wall to open it and maybe Tom Carper and Mike Castle can have a ceremonial piss in the corner of the building in lieu of showing up with a big novelty check.
Anyway, the old Land’s End space at the riverfront is available.
Smitty, I’m sure there are Scooby-Doo fans on E-Bay that will buy that stuff right up.
It’s a a rating show kids, and Johnny DOES have a following. If they chose a band like YES no-one in the ‘burbs would check in, they don’t know about the GOOD YES stuff, but they know those handful of Mellencamp songs from over the years.