Who’s Still Got A Shot?
By my unofficial count, there is a total of 47 artists that have been nominated at least once for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame who have not yet been inducted. Clearly not all of these will eventually make it in, but many will. Last week I took a look at those that have accumulated at least 4 nominations; today let’s examine those with fewer. Don’t worry, I won’t dig into all 47.
Those involved in the process have all but said that the book has been closed on the 60s and pre-60s, so unless the Hall creates some type of veterans category, most of the artists nominated in the early years are out of the running. So, no Ben E. King, Johnny Ace, Esther Phillips, Dominoes, etc. etc. Similarly, there have been many cases of nominations that seemingly came out of left field that have proven to be one-and-done candidates. No need to hold one’s breath for Conway Twitty, The Sir Douglas Quintet, The Bad Brains, John Prine, among others.
There are others whose circumstances have changed following their nominations. Afrika Bambaataa was a pioneer in both hip-hop and electronic music, but the serious accusations leveled against him years ago have essentially disqualified him. I can’t picture anyone on the nominating committee sticking their neck out to make a case for him. Steve Winwood was nominated as a solo artist, but was subsequently inducted as a member of Traffic. Nothing would be gained by inducting him a second time; much of his solo work is bland pseudo soul music. If Traffic had not been inducted, a Winwood induction could be justifiable as a career spanning honor covering his solo career in addition to Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith, but not anymore.
Personally I believe it’s time to start to move past the 70s as well, or at least the 70s classic rockers that are filling in a lot of the space. IMHO any remaining inductions of 70s artists should be limited to an act such as The Spinners, who represent a subgenre that’s still underrepresented. Finally, there are several acts that could easily slide into the side categories and get inducted without taking ballot space away from others still awaiting their chance. I’d place under that umbrella The New York Dolls, War, The MC5, The JB’s, Fela Kuti, and probably Devo.
Who does that leave us? I would list these acts as those that have the strongest chances of reappearing on future ballots - Jane’s Addiction, Motörhead, The Dave Matthews Band, Soundgarden, Mary J. Blige, Iron Maiden, Beck, A Tribe Called Quest, Cyndi Lauper, The White Stripes, and the Joy Division/New Order combo.
There are several others I was on the fence about. The Hall’s recent embrace of country might reinvigorate Gram Parsons’ candidacy. I’d feel more comfortable about another nomination for Eric B & Rakim if the voters start to show a propensity for honoring more than 1 hip hop act per year. Has the time already come and gone for veteran acts such as Warren Zevon and Dionne Warwick? And what about some of the major college rock acts? I love The Replacements, but their nomination feels like another of those left field choices. And you have to wonder if Morrissey’s toxicity has tarnished The Smiths’s chances - not that he would actually show up if they were ever elected.
This all goes to show why debates over who does and doesn’t belong are always so contentious. There are scores of artists for whom one can make a reasonable argument, a large number of whom have never been nominated and whose chances grow slimmer with each year. That’s part of the reason why I try to avoid complaining too much about the annual results (I try; don’t always succeed) and prefer to focus on positive feelings about those who do get in. If, for example, Los Lobos look like another one & done, that’s still fine. Their absence doesn’t change the fact that they are as good of a live band as I have ever seen, and my enjoyment of How Will The Wolf Survive? is not contingent on whether or not they ultimately receive that particular seal of approval.
Who Could Have Seen This Coming?
I’m not going to join in on the pile on regarding the missing submersible, other than to say it would be nice if even a fraction of the attention devoted to the search could instead focus on the tragedy of the sunken refugee boat off the coast of Greece. If I had enough disposable income that I had 250K to spare so that I could explore the Titanic wreck, I’d probably spend my money on stupid s*** as well, so I’m in no position to judge.
But take a look at this. Can anyone look at a vessel operated by a video game controller and decide that yes, this is exactly the safest way to travel a couple of miles into the ocean depths while withstanding the thousand of pounds of pressure found at those depths?
Even better, these photos are of the OceanGate Exhibitions office. You generally only see this type of ambience at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
Try to imagine what would have happened had this taken place in say, 1977. News organizations would scramble to pull out their Bermuda Triangle maps and redraw them so that the borders would extend as far north as the Newfoundland coast. There would have been people attempting to come up with some sort of supernatural explanation for the sub’s disappearance instead of blaming it on a fly by night organization using substandard equipment.
Oisk
The Baseball Hall Of Fame announced that former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine will be the recipient of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented on the Saturday of next month’s induction weekend. The honor, which is bestowed every 3 years, is meant to honor those who have helped perpetuate O’Neil’s legacy.
Ball Four is a common choice, but for me the greatest baseball book I have ever read is Roger Kahn’s The Boys Of Summer which flips back and forth between Kahn’s memories of covering the team as a young beat reporter and “where are they now” revisits with several of the players when the book was written in 1971. Of all of the former players covered in the book Erskine was arguably the standout as his post playing career involved raising a special needs son in addition to coaching college ball in his home state of Indiana.
His support of his son spurred on his lifelong involvement with the Special Olympics, which is the main reason why he deserves the O’Neil honor. Everything I can see from both Kahn’s book as well as from what his former teammates and contemporaries have said make it seem like Erskine is an absolute gem of a human being. The man is 96 years old and one of the few surviving members of the Brooklyn Dodgers. I’m happy to see the man receive a deserving honor while he is still able to.
The “Debate Me” Epidemic
For some reason, debate challenges have increased recently, mostly coming from assorted right wing trolls. One of the underlying problems with that is that by definition a debate should consist of an exchange of ideas, but those throwing out these challenges aren’t particularly interested in that. They simply wish to own the libs, facts be damned.
What makes it worse is that in the current environment people are encouraged to act as awful as possible. RFK Jr. spouted his anti vaccine conspiracy mongering on Joe Rogan’s podcast. After prominent vaccine scientist Peter Hotez pushed back on the show’s content Rogan challenged Hotez to debate Kennedy on his show. Hotez said that he would be happy to come on Rogan’s show by himself to present the scientific argument, stating that Kennedy’s inclusion would reduce it into a Jerry Springer type farce.
As a result, Rogan, Kennedy, and Elon Musk released the hounds, as they all criticized Hotez through their various outlets, accusing him of cowardice for refusing to stoop to Kennedy’s level. It got so bad that a stalker came to Hotez’s Houston home to harass him.
This whole “debate me!” movement is pure arrogance. I’m right, I’ll show you how right I am, nothing can change my mind, and I will barely listen to what you have to say. When this is combined with a stirring up of the masses, it’s yet another example of the dangerous atmosphere that is being created. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know how much risk Peter Hotez was under, but stories such as this are terribly concerning.
Please Clap
Many thanks to all of you fine readers out there. This newsletter is a labor of love for me; I hope you have been enjoying it. See you again on Friday.