Song of the Day 2/26: Phil Collins, “I Don’t Care Anymore”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its list of nominees to the usual criticisms, mainly that half of the acts have little if any connection to the genre of music in the institution’s name. As Paste magazine reported, the list comprises
Sade, Phil Collins, Oasis, The Black Crowes, Joy Division and New Order, Mariah Carey, Iron Maiden, and Billy Idol, all of whom have appeared on previous ballots. This year’s crop of first-time nominees includes INXS, Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill, Luther Vandross, Wu-Tang Clan, Melissa Etheridge, New Edition, Shakira, and, of course, P!NK.
By my count, that’s eight of the 17 that could be considered rock acts, while dozens of actual rock acts that made a mark on the genre are ignored. Billboard posted a morning line of each act’s odds of enshrinement, ranging from 8-1 for Pink and New Edition to even money for Oasis and Phil Collins.
Collins seems to have the best chance. He’s already in as a member of Genesis, and the days when he was considered the antithesis of cool have faded. His health-related retirement gives the industry a chance to honor the 75-year-old before it’s too late.
“I Don’t Care Anymore” was released on his second solo album, 1982’s “Hello I Must Be Going.” It only made it to No. 39 on the Hot 100 despite its use in “Miami Vice,” which made frequent use of Collins’ music. The title is exactly what acts snubbed by the Hall always say about the institution.
The fact that people insist on separating music into different subjective classifications is consequence of the human predisposition to pattern seeking. Listening to any music one can hear influences from a wide range of sources.
I suspect the sorting is a holdover from the old days when you didn’t have every song ever written at your digital fingertips and had to pick a lane in the form of a radio station and album to purchase. My kids are less sort-y than me and jump blithely between Parliament to Pink to Pavarotti.
Those weren’t the old days. Back in the ’60s, before the rise of FM, Top 40 radio stations played all sorts of music, because people bought singles and all sorts of music made the Top 40. It wasn’t unusual to hear the Doors right next to Sinatra. The radio station sorting came about because many people have narrower taste, and people who grew up on swing and jazz didn’t want to hear rock and roll, let alone rock.
I think most people have eclectic taste like your kids. I certainly do, though there are certain types of music I can do without.
Nevertheless, it’s called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, not the popular music hall of fame, which is what it has become. And as that Billboard article notes, it has pretty much slammed the door on country artists, perhaps because country music has its own hall of fame.
The very idea of a Rock and Roll hall of fame, even if it were executed with some integrity, makes me sad. “Hall of Fame” and “Rock and Roll” are, to my mind, antithetical. But this charade of a Hall of Fame will soon include every musician who ever had a song in the top 40, probably because that is the way the institution makes money and perpetuates itself – which is, again, so NOT rock and roll.
“But this charade of a Hall of Fame will soon include every musician who ever had a song in the top 40”
There are several sites dedicated to chronicling all the bands that haven’t gotten in, many of them obvious oversights.
Their attempts to appeal to a broader audience – money-grubbing if you prefer – has led to installment of many rappers whose connection to rock is confined to sampling, and divas with little connection to rock.
Any Hall of Fame is basically a museum. Ignoring bands that made a mark on the history of the form is like saying “We don’t need no stinkin’ Andy Warhols in our museum of modern art.”