The Class of 2010

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010: ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies and The Stooges. Inducted as Non-Performers are industry giant David Geffen and songwriters Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell.


ABOVE: Iggy Pop and his Stooges finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after seven previous nominations

I have no complaints at all with this year’s inductees. Recall there was a list of 12 nominees, and the 500 voters of the Hall of Fame chose their 5 inductees from that list of nominated 12. It would have been fun to have KISS inducted, but the battle was already partially won by having them finally nominated by the famously anti-KISS Nominating Committee. Red Hot Chili Peppers are deserving, but I am glad they did not make it on their first ballot. There are still plenty of deserving earlier artists, so the Peppers will get their day in the spotlight down the road.


ABOVE: ABBA

I’m not an ABBA fan, but they were a hit machine in the 70’s. The Hollies are somewhat minor, but they had a ton of hits in England during the late 60’s. I like them well enough, and really dig a handful of their songs, especially the Graham Nash gems “King Midas in Reverse” and “Carrie-Ann,” and the super groovy later hit “Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress).” To be honest, I think they got in due to heavy lobbying from Little Stevie Van Zandt and Elvis Costello, both longtime Hollies boosters, as well Graham Nash’s general good standing in the music community. Since Crosby (Byrds, CSN), Stills (Buffalo Springfield, CSN) and Young (Buffalo Springfield, solo) have all been inducted twice, it makes sense to even it all out by giving Nash his second induction by honoring his early band. Jimmy Cliff is great, and it is nice to get another reggae star in there beside just Bob Marley. The Stooges are a crucial band, and we can’t blame the Nominating Committee for waiting so long on them. They have been nominated seven times previously, tying Black Sabbath for having been nominated the most times before finally getting voted in. 8th time’s a charm.


ABOVE: The Hollies are semi-deserving of their induction


ABOVE: I was pleasantly surprised that Jimmy Cliff made it

Inducting Genesis goes a long way in rectifying the criminal absence of prog-rock in the Hall. Members of the Nominating Committee, many of them part of Jann Wenner and Jon Landau’s cliques, are notorious prog-haters. Pink Floyd are the only band in the Hall that could be categorized as prog, but they aren’t really prog. So honoring Genesis is a good start. (the band Yes is one of the most glaring omissions in the Hall so far, but the band who gave us the notorious Tales From Topographical Oceans will probably not get by the Rockhall gatekeepers any time soon). For my money, Genesis during the early 70’s produced the best prog-rock ever recorded. Progressive-rock does not get any better than the trilogy of albums Foxtrot (1972), Selling England By the Pound (1973) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974). That was all during the Peter Gabriel-era of the band. And as dismissive as many fans are of the post-Gabriel (and post-Steve Hackett) Genesis material (which actually comprises about 2/3rds of their career), they made respectable prog-rock in the late 70’s and then made the unlikely transition in the 80’s to pop superstars as a trio. So, congratulations to Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. Long overdue, my friends.


ABOVE: Congrats to Genesis for breaking through the Prog-Rock barrier

The ceremony will be held in March and will be televised on Fuse TV. For those of you interested, Time/Life has put out a 3-DVD set and a more comprehensive 9-DVD set (guess which one I bought?) featuring great performances and induction speeches from the ceremonies from the first 25 years of the Rockhall’s existence. Some of my favorite moments on the DVDs are the rehearsal footage added as bonus features on each disc. If you love rock and roll and its history, this is essential stuff.

Also included on one of the DVD’s is Mike Love’s drunken blitzkrieg of an acceptance speech during the induction of The Beach Boys, where he manages to trash as many music greats as he can within a five minute, fascinating rant. What is fun to watch is George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Mick Jagger all sitting stone-faced in the audience as Love tries to explain why The Beach Boys were a better band than the Beatles or Stones, as there is uncomfortable laughter in the hall. He even goes so far as to challenge Jagger to get up on stage and try and perform as great as he does. A musical duel, if you will. All the more funny because Mike Love sucks. The Beach Boys were great because of Brian Wilson, and it was Love who was primarily responsible for trying to quash the recording sessions of Pet Sounds, Wilson’s masterpiece. Anyway, these are the things that make the ceremonies worth watching every year. (Oh, and Jeff Beck telling the rest of The Yardbirds, including Clapton and Page, “f*** you guys for kicking me out of the band” during their acceptance).