Is That Legal?

Ha! The baby-boomers have sown the wind of taking their rock'n'roll too seriously and now shall reap the whirlwind of Blondie bein' in the hall of fame!!

Now, what can be done about the notion of the automobile as fashion accessory & ego projector?

How can it get any worse than the concept of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the first place?

Can Journey be far away from enshrinement?

Huey Lewis is not already in?

Why the hate towards Duran Duran?They were one of the seminal new wave bands, from their music, to their look, to their videos. The fact that they sold millions of albums, and were teeny bop in Britain doesn't detract from their seriousness.

That's true, but "New Moon on Monday," "Wild Boys," and "Union of the Snake" did detract from their seriousness.

Well, I'm not sure what's the big hoopla.

I met a girl who once who blinded me with science...until I told her to get that bleep-bleep laser away from eyes. And you know, I was tempted to call Blondie. And I do recall once when I was very hungry, hungry like a wolf.

So you see, these are artists whose art give insight to life; it is art that informs, art that inspires. I, for one, will say a prayer for them now.

Or maybe save it for the morning after.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame long since quit being about excellence or innovation. All you need do now is make enough hits at some point to be remembered 25 years hence. (Britney Spears will be eligible for induction in 2024, and don't bet against her getting in.) Its lax guidelines for induction actually diminish the stature of those artists who deserve to be honored in such a place. "Oh, look, there are the Beatles. There's Robert Johnson. There's Marvin Gaye. And over here, there's another group of great innovators who influenced thousands of musicians--ZZ Top."

Yeah, right.

Eric, I think if you were just 5 years younger you might be singing a different tune about Duran Duran. I've been to the Rock hall and trust me, there's much worse there already.

Aw, c'mon! Blondie's first album is a really great recording. Plastic Letters has a few good cuts. And Parallel Lines does, as well. Not sure if that makes them HOF material or not but their first LP was really a great achievement. If you haven't listened, give it a try. It's a far cry from the band that later recorded "Call Me" and other nauseatingly commerical crap.

Look, I don't follow these things too closely, so I have a question: are any of the following acts in?:

XTC
Elvis Costello
Kraftwerk
Squeeze
Gary Newman
Echo and the Bunnymen
Ramones
Talking Heads

If not, then the whole thing's the farce we all know it to be.

Its all about the money !! and the ads that they get ...which keeps shit like this going on.

Personaly I would have kicked thier ass for putting all sissy bands like these into the hall of fame and dilute the name and fame of the all the great ones who are already in the hall of fame.

Check out the article about star spangled banner(woodstock'69) my blog
http://acidnirvana.blogspot.com

Hey, don't bash Blondie too hard -- after all, the first hip-hop-inflected tune most of us heard was "Rapture," I'll bet.

BTW, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Ramones, and The Talking Heads are all in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Even a blind hog...

Whilst I do take an on and off interest in the Hall of Fame and nominees to it, I am very well aware that critics of high skill (not those in Rolling Stone, Q or Mojo) admit that those artists that are of great influence do not get nominated.

If you want to see a good guide to the best albums, read Joe S. Harrington's Top 100 Albums at:
"www.blastitude.com/11/pg14.htm" (#100 to #76);
"www.blastitude.com/12/pg2.htm" (#75 to #51);
"www.blastitude.com/13/pg12.htm" (#50 to #26) and
"www.blastitude.com/14/pg4.htm" (#25 to #1).

Though the language is coarse and crude and I must admit I have no sympathy for it, Harrington is so intelligent once you can get into his writing that he makes most music criticism quite worthless.

Harrington's list had a major influence on that way I viewed music and I imagine it could do the same for you.

Indeed, the entire R&R hall of fame is a joke. It's pointless.

WHen the Sex Pistols were recently voted in, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) declined to attend the ceremony. No surprise.

He had a TV show at one time. IN one episode, he displayed (what he claimed to be) articles like "Jimmy Hendrix's scarf" and "Buddy Holly's glasses", etc.

He heaped them in an open field... and blew them up. THen John turned to face the camera and said, "It's not the stuff they OWNED that made them special... it's the MUSIC THEY MADE."