Meet The Nominees Vol. 9

Rage Against the Machine

Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses. Nominated for the 5th time, no one else on this year’s ballot has made the shortlist as many times as they have. There is clearly plenty of support for their candidacy, but not yet enough for them to reach the finish line. Will this time finally be the charm?

RATM were a product of the first hip-hop generation, more specifically of young fans drawn to both hard rock riffs as well as hip-hop beats who then grow up to form bands of their own. Their keen musicianship and sense of groove is what differentiated them from the Limp Bizkits of the world. I don’t recall if at the time they were linked with all of those bands classified as nu metal, but from day one it was clear that they were so much better than bands of that ilk. And they really stood out from the pack lyrically, mixing radical left wing lyrics with their hard driving music. It’s objectively hilarious that Paul Ryan claims that Rage is his favorite band. Did he actually listen to the words? Or did he say “la la la I can’t hear you!” as he completed his P90X workouts to their music?

There was always one thing that fully held me back from being a big RATM fan. When he wasn’t rapping, Zach de la Rocha had a clear default mode when it came to singing. He would too often simply scream at the top of his lungs, so he didn’t have much of a sense of dynamics. While listening to an album I usually find myself exhausted after the first 5 or 6 songs.

However, remember when I said a few weeks ago that an outstanding instrumentalist helps a candidate stand out from the pack? Rage certainly had that with Tom Morello. He may very well be the single most talented guitarist of the past quarter century. Just as importantly, his style is immediately identifiable. Within a few notes, you know that’s him playing. A shredder as spectacular as he is deserves a spot in the Hall. It remains to be seen if their relatively short period of dominance is enough to sway voters, especially considering the fact that bands vaguely classified as hard rock often take a longer time to garner support.

If elected, will they perform at the ceremony? - Probably, but it’s no guarantee. Morello is an official Friend Of The Hall, as not only has he participated in multiple past ceremonies, but he is also a member of the nominating committee. The band itself has had several aborted reunions over the years. It may honestly be a matter of how Zach is feeling that week.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hit - Guerilla Radio

My Personal Favorite - Guerilla Radio

Possible Side Category Inductee - Wolfman Jack

Alan Freed was one of the inductees in the inaugural class, but after him Tom Donahue is the only other disc jockey that has been enshrined. In a sense, that’s not terribly surprising. The chief benefit of a great DJ comes from his or her connection to the local market. They act as a comforting local presence, as they riff on local news on air, emcee concerts, and make personal appearances at store openings. A voice from a huge media market such as New York or Los Angeles can more easily gain national fame, but otherwise the local heroes are legends in their own backyards yet remain unknown outside of their backyards.

Wolfman Jack was one of the exceptions who did in fact achieve national prominence. First making his name for himself at a Mexico based border radio station, he took advantage of several factors to become an easily recognizable voice and face. His appearance in American Graffiti was a major part of the 1970s early rock & roll revival. His run as host of Midnight Special brought many bands into American living rooms in the pre-MTV era. He was a major pop culture presence for more than a decade.

In our current era in which several factors such as voice tracking, streaming, satellite radio, and national syndication have diminished the relevance of the typical disc jockey it would be a good gesture to honor the profession by presenting the Ertegun Award posthumously to a man who was arguably America’s most famous disc jockey. Clap for the Wolfman!

SNL Recap

I went into the episode with low expectations, which were largely met. Travis Kelce seems to be a nice enough guy, and he fully committed to every sketch in which he appeared, but the show demonstrated the standard problems with an athlete host. There were segments that would have probably hit better with an experienced performer. The American Girl Cafe sketch didn’t evolve beyond creepiness, for example.

If I had to pick a highlight I would go with the sketch in which Ego & JAJ explain to their adult children through song why they are separating, assisted by Kelce as Sucre, the third component of their throuple. This week’s Please Don’t Destroy was a good one, as the trio entered a self defense course taught by Kelce to stop the interns from picking on them. It didn’t completely land, but the sketch featuring Bowen as Garrett from Hinge had its moments.

There were some good correspondent segments in Update, as Sarah News is always welcome. The piece with Mikey & Punkie focusing on her inability to remember the names of famous people was adorable. Its premise reminded me of the old Under a Rock with Tig Notaro sketches on Funny Or Die, but it was different enough from that other segment to stand out.

No sign of either Andrew or Molly this week. The absence is a little more glaring for Molly, as we’re far enough into the season that rookies should have started to stand out. You definitely don’t want to find yourself in Luke Null territory at this point. Next week Jenna Ortega makes her hosting debut. As a rising young star, she has more innate performing skill than Kelce does, so I’m hoping for a better show.

Liberty Valance Update

I recently saw another example of “print the legend” syndrome. Like most of these, there’s no real harm done with the exception of it being perhaps a tad unfair to the person involved. The Athletic published an interview with Buster Posey which largely focused on his post retirement life and his involvement in Giants ownership. At one point the home plate collision rules came up.

The restrictions on plate blocking and collisions have been informally known as the Buster Posey Rule, as they are largely thought to be instituted in response to a collision that resulted in a season-ending injury for Posey in 2011. The problem is that it’s not true. The rule change did not take place until the 2014 season, as the real impetus came after Alex Avila suffered a serious injury during the 2013 postseason. That still has never prevented old-school analysts from complaining about a catcher being penalized from blocking the plate with some type of comment along the lines of “This is ridiculous! Just because a star player got hurt they had to change the rules!”

I suppose it sounds better to tag the rule to a big name rather than an average player such as Avila, and Posey seems to have made his peace with his connection to the rule, as the following quote makes clear:

It used to bother me some. I wouldn’t say it bothers me anymore. It’s not necessarily a pleasant memory. But I do think (the rule) is good for the game. Baseball players were always big and fast but guys today, man … you’re putting the catcher and the runner in a dangerous spot. A guy’s 6-foot-2, 220 (pounds) who can absolutely fly barreling down with no pads or protection on, and the catcher’s got protection but it’s not meant to be run over.

4 Down, 64 To Go

I don’t follow college basketball as closely as I used to, but I will still say with 100% certainty that my favorite annual sporting event by far is the NCAA tournament. Even in years in which the championship game is a dud, the 66 games that lead up to the finale are always filled with memorable moments. It’s a particular treat when the country gets introduced to a great player from outside the power conferences and it’s so sweet when a smaller school such as Saint Peter’s last year pulls off some upsets and makes a magical run.

The process has begun as the first 4 conference tournaments crowned champions this weekend. There is actually a 5th automatic bid that is already set, as Northeast Conference regular season champ Merrimack has made it into their tourney final, but they have not spent enough time as a D-1 school to be eligible for the Big Dance, so their opponent Fairleigh Dickinson has already nabbed that conference’s automatic bid. As Championship Week continues, prepare for a week filled with many of our favorite words and phrases, such as bid stealer, bracketology, bad loss, bubble, and the like.

It’s a quirk of the calendar but I always get a kick out of the fact that Selection Sunday coincides with the start of Daylight Savings Time. The selection committee has enough work to do as it is, but they have to complete it during a weekend that runs an hour short?

BTW, on a personal note my alma mater Fordham will be the #3 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament. That means it would likely take two upsets to earn a bid, but it’s still a better chance than they’ve had in a quite a while. The last time Fordham made it into the NCAA tournament George Bush was President. That would be H.W. Bush.

We Don’t Deserve Bill Walton

I had mentioned after Tim McCarver passed that national audiences eventually lose patience with color analysts. The reverse to that theory is that we grow so fond of our local analysts that we gladly accept their quirks. Bill Walton is the rarity in that he’s a national voice yet he is so unapologetically himself that when he says the sort of stuff that annoys us if it would come from anyone else we simply smile and say “that’s Walton for you!”

There truly is only one Bill Walton, and that’s a good thing. Could we handle multiple graduates of the Walton School Of Broadcasting on a regular basis? I was watching portions of Saturday’s UCLA/Arizona game and of course the subject of tourney bids came up. It’s obvious that he doesn’t follow any basketball other than the PAC-12. He was insistent that the conference deserves 7(!) bids and sounded personally insulted that anybody could possibly think different. God love the guy.

Da Inner Sound, Y’All

I own physical copies of the first 3 De La Soul albums, so I wasn’t personally affected by their absence from streaming services. Now that they’re back, however, it was wonderful to see on social media how much joy listening to their classic tracks has brought to people. It would be awesome if a new generation gets introduced to them and is able to recognize what a great group they were in that peak era. I really wonder what would have happened if their reemergence into the zeitgeist had occurred a couple of months sooner. Might that have encouraged a committee member or two to argue their case and earned them a spot on the Hall ballot? Maybe next year.

Regardless of whether they ever make it into the Hall or not, this is a band that I unequivocally love, and the Weekend Of De La Soul reiterates how sad it is that we lost Trugoy so recently.

That’s All Folks

For those that are new to this little corner of The Internets, welcome aboard. If you’re enjoying what you read, tell all your friends and neighbors about it. Thanks for reading, and we’ll speak again on Wednesday.