More HOF musings...the "Big Ending"

[deesonic]

Its always so surreal at the end of the induction ceremonies when everyone gets on stage for a big jam. I mean to see Keith Richards, Sammy Hagar, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, REM, Ronny Spector, Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, and Paul Shaffer all doing 'People Have the Power' is just too bizarre, but cool.

Again, Mike Mills sounded great. And why must there always be 14 guitar players drowning out the bassist for the last big jam? Mike Mills held his own though and cut through nicely.

[scottice]

Originally Posted by deesonic

And why must there always be 14 guitar players drowning out the bassist for the last big jam?

haha... I was wondering that myself.

I love MHD... now Jack Bruce is on! YAY!

[Matt Till]

If HOF doesn't stand for High on Fire, what does it stand for?

[Matt Till]

Oops, didn't see the other thread... hall of fame. Gotcha. Thought this was a High on Fire thread, got excited.

[Sneckumhaw]

Originally Posted by scottice

haha... I was wondering that myself.

I love MHD... now Jack Bruce is on! YAY!

What's MHD? If Jack Bruce is on it then it's automatically great!

[Foamy]

Until RUSH is in the HOF, it is at best a worthless HOF!
Patti Smith? For what? One song?
I know these things are self-congratulatory, but man, like 'em or not, one can't (honestly) argue they don't belong.

[Alan Vorse]

Originally Posted by Enchanter_Tim

Until RUSH is in the HOF, it is at best a worthless HOF!
Patti Smith? For what? One song?
I know these things are self-congratulatory, but man, like 'em or not, one can't (honestly) argue they don't belong.

Yeah, Progressive Rock in general is overlooked in favor of punk/new wave. How can Yes not be in? King Crimson? Peter Gabriel?

Rush is the new Susan Lucci.

[deesonic]

Originally Posted by Enchanter_Tim

Patti Smith? For what? One song?

Actually I was quite surprised and pleased with the induction of Patti Smith. It shows that the HOF does more than reward record sales and hitmakers. It recognizes inspiration and grounbreaking as well...sort of. I think there's much better artists out of the NY 70s punk scene, but Smith's contributions are undeniable. And it was great to hear names dropped by Smith and De La Rocha (her inductor) like Tom Verlaine and Television, Bad Brains, etc... great and very influential bands that will never be in the HOF.

And since they inducted Patti Smith, they should have included a special recognition to Hilly Kristal and CBGB's since they closed last year. I mean the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Patti Smith (all in the HOF) made their name in that dive.

So, basically the induction of Patti Smith gives recognition to not just her, but to many of her contemporaries on the New York scene (Television, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, New York Dolls, Dead Boys, etc) or those who followed in her footsteps (Sonic Youth, Swans, Lydia Lunch and the rest of the "No Wave" bands).

Hey, and with Patti Smith and Van Halen inducted that brings the number of HOF bands/artists I've seen live up to 13! And since it's a slow day at work, here's a list:

AC/DC
Aerosmith
Black Sabbath
Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead
Lynyrd Skynyrd (although not the classic lineup)
Parliament/Funkadelic
REM (actually just one or two jamming w/ other bands in Athens GA, never REM proper)
David Lee Roth (solo)
Patti Smith
David Byrne (of Talking Heads)
U2
Van Halen (Van Hagar)

[scottice]

Originally Posted by Sneckumhaw

What's MHD? If Jack Bruce is on it then it's automatically great!

Music High Definition: Basically MTV, VH1 and CMT have a hi-def channel on Comcast and this is it. Play a bunch of sweet stuff, in fact the Rush: R30 concert from Frankfurt has been playing quite a bit.

Unfortunately they repeat very, very often and if you didn;t like it the first time you won't the sixteenth. LOL

[jerry]

I thought it was cool that VH1 finally aired a commercial-free-warts-n-all live broadcast.

[deesonic]

Originally Posted by jerry

I thought it was cool that VH1 finally aired a commercial-free-warts-n-all live broadcast.

Yeah, that was interesting. But man, some of those folks can ramble (ie. Ronnie Spector, Michael Stipe). But it's strange how unflashy and awkward the precedings really are compared to say, the Grammy's. Lots of uncomfortable silence and weird crowd reactions ("that's not Van Halen!"). And the Paul Shaffer letter from Phil Spector was like...ummm....ok.

And as much as I love the song "White Lines" with it's driving bass groove and "The Message," I must say that Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's performance did nothing to change my lack of appreciation for that genre of music. I have to be careful, because I do actually like some hip hop and I can appreciate the roots of hip hop coming from the streets of south Bronx where kids could not afford musical instruments and singing lessons and therefore used what they could. But scratching records and hyping/rapping ("raise ya hands in the ayah!) on a microphone has never seemed very "musical" to me. And their performance was just a bit too herky jerky, changing gears too often to really get into. But the impact of this group on the world of rock and roll (very loosely defined) is undeniable. Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and others will be along soon I'm sure.

[Vandelay]

Sammy Hagar seems like a nice guy, but what's he doing in the Hall of Fame? As a songwriter, he's a hack. Here's a sample taken from the song they performed last night, how many cliches can you count?

I tell myself
Hey only fools rush in
Only time will tell if we stand the test of time
All I know
You’ve got to run to win
and I’ll be damned if I’ll get hung up on a line

[deesonic]

Ah, I see we've been moved to misc...

Originally Posted by Vandelay

Sammy Hagar seems like a nice guy, but what's he doing in the Hall of Fame? As a songwriter, he's a hack.

Great point! And yeah, he seems very nice and he has a decent voice, but not head and shoulders over DLR like so many Hagar lovers will have you believe. I get the feeling the Velvet Revolver guys are not big Hagar fans either after that lackluster 'Runaround' crap they did. Again, was Scott Weiland awful or what? Enough of that jerkin' around, just sing!

So, after all the Van Halen hype I got out my favorite VH cd for my drive to work today, 'Women and Children First.' Once 'Everybody Wants Some' kicked in, I was instantly reminded what a great band this once was and how bad DLR and Van Halen needed each other. And while I've come to terms with Hagar being an equal member of the Van Halen experience now, I can never consider his era anywhere close to the DLR era. But hey, he's a nice guy...

[scottice]

Man Eddie VH is really gonna' kick himself in the arse for missing this. What a jerk. He probably told his brother not to go too. Alex is probably pissed! If I was Alex I would have told my brother to "F off... I'm going. You can be a baby if you want but I'm not going to miss this opportunity." It would have been very cool to see him up on the riser last night. I'm glad Sammy and Mike were there at least.

[jerry]

Originally Posted by scottice

Man Eddie VH is really gonna' kick himself in the arse for missing this. What a jerk. He probably told his brother not to go too. Alex is probably pissed! If I was Alex I would have told my brother to "F off... I'm going. You can be a baby if you want but I'm not going to miss this opportunity." It would have been very cool to see him up on the riser last night. I'm glad Sammy and Mike were there at least.

I agree! I couldn't figure out why Alex and David wouldn't be there either. I heard Roth didn't like the song selection or something else pretty petty. Life is short, these guys are in their 50's now, time to mature a little.

[scottice]

Oh, I forgot about Dave... I think many forget about him these days.