REFLECTIONS ON THE HALL
Perfect? No…but they seem to know what they’re doing.
by Mike Olszewski
We all have opinions about what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be, and they cover a wide range of issues. In the 38 years since the Hall was awarded to Cleveland, I’ve heard people argue for and against artists who were inducted or still waiting to be honored as well as the genres they represent. Country? Rap? Jazz? Does Louis Armstrong belong in a hall that has yet to induct Emerson Lake and Palmer? Do the “supper club acts” have the same credentials as the Clash or Rage Against the Machine? Does Leonard Cohen deserve the same honor as Jimi Hendrix? Did Sid Vicious function at the same level as Jimmy Page? They share the same honor. Years ago, I had a conversation with the late Jim Henke, the author and Rolling Stone columnist who was also head curator for the hall, and he hinted it’s more likely a Pop Music Hall of Fame. He may have been right, but is that wrong?
First, let’s look at the hall’s mission. It’s aimed at celebrating an art form that draws its influence from a wide range of musical styles. The museum on the shores of Lake Erie does a pretty good job of catering to just about everyone’s tastes. I’ve heard time and again “it’s a tourist trap”. You could make the same argument for the Smithsonian, but both serve an important purpose. Let’s also keep in mind the importance of the hall’s archives at the Gill & Tommy LiPuma, Center for Creative Arts on Woodland Avenue. As a research center it ranks among the best and any real hall of fame “experience” includes a visit to both facilities. It’s an ongoing evolving effort, but I think most would agree that as far as the educational component is concerned it’s “mission accomplished”.
Another point to consider: What was Top 40 radio like? You had Frank Sinatra sharing the charts with the Rolling Stones and even Bob Dylan, and you chose the tunes and artists you liked best. It exposed us to a lot of different types of music and you listened for your preferences. The Rock Hall is like a library. You go to a library to research something like medieval history. You’ll be able to find the book you need, but that doesn’t mean you criticize the library for having other topics. Good grief, you could say the same thing for a supermarket or hardware store! You need something, it’s there with a lot of other stuff.
I once worked at a radio station where the program director (who was actually directed by consultants) told me “Whatever the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is selling, I’m not buying it”. When I asked why he said it wasn’t rock and roll. I asked him to define rock and roll and that caught him off guard. After stammering around for a bit, he basically said, “Whatever we play”. This was the same station that listed its top artists of all time, with only one black artist. Granted, the list on its website had Hendrix at the number one position, but the name should have read “Jimi” not “Jimmy Hendrix”. Rock and roll is a lot more than three guitars and a drum kit.
Are there things I’d like to see changed? Sure. If all the eligible artists were inducted you’d see hundreds go in every year so the hall has to pick and choose. I don’t believe it’s intentional but too many artists have been honored posthumously and the hall might take a serious look at inducting deserving artists while they are still alive. Two cases come to mind, oddly enough both with a “five” in their name. The Dave Clark Five helped open the doors for the British Invasion in the sixties breathing new life into popular music. The story is they had enough votes but were bumped for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five because the hall wanted to showcase a rap act. I think Grandmaster Flash deserved the honors, but the one person who really appreciated the long overdue recognition was the DC5’s lead vocalist Mike Smith. He was paralyzed in an accident, and died eleven days before the band was finally inducted in 2008. To see the band accepting the honor on his behalf was heart wrenching.
Which brings us to Detroit’s MC5, the highly political group that was practically the house band at the Grande Ballroom. They had been nominated six times before finally being named as honorees in the musical excellence category for the upcoming ceremony. The problem is that the last two members….guitarist Wayne Kramer and drummer Dennis Thompson…both died this year. Like Smith, Kramer was grateful for the honor, but wouldn’t survive to accept the accolades. As I said, I don’t believe it’s intentional, but they might want to give a close look at giving inductees kudos while they’re still with us.
I also mentioned radio which is almost an after thought at the Hall. Very few disc jockeys are represented. Alan Freed was inducted at the first ceremony in 1986, and the “father of FM progressive rock” radio Tom Donohue followed a few years later. Dick Clark is in but that’s based more on TV’s American Bandstand than his time in radio. B.B. King, Rufus Thomas and Sly Stone are all radio vets but that’s not why they’re inductees. Especially in the fifties and sixties, the disc jockeys were often as popular as the music they presented and unless they are honored by the hall people like Dick Biondi, “Murray the K” Kaufman, “Cousin Brucie” Morrow and many others…including a long list of folks to consider from Northeast Ohio…won’t get the recognition they richly deserve. You can also make an argument that the induction should be held exclusively in Cleveland. No athlete gripes about making a trip to Canton or Cooperstown, and I’ve never met a Rock Hall inductee who didn’t love the way Cleveland handled the ceremony. Let me also say it makes sense to even take it to London, Tokyo and any number of high-profile cities that have been proposed as long as they point back to the hall’s home in Northeast Ohio.
So, while it’s officially the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, let’s keep in mind that it has always been open to change. As Bono plainly stated when he gave the induction speech for the Who, you can either accept change or get out of the way because it’s not likely to stop and I’ve reviewed the changes I’d like to see.
Photo Credit: Eric Friedebach | Flickr
