In order of importance.
Charlie Patton-Anybody who influenced Howlin' Wolf gets my vote. Prewar Acoustic blues does take a bit of getting used to. Yazoo has a decent overview of his best known songs. Seek it out.
Billy Preston-The Beatles loved him as a sideman. His early A and M singles are soul goodness.
Kraftwerk: Pioneers of techno and for all they're worth, Autobaun is still a sweet 20 minute ride, including the most beautiful part of the song, the last five minutes. And then Trans Europe Express paved the way for New Order and Depache Mode.
Todd Rundgren: Gave Grand Funk Railroad the radio ready sound they were looking for with We're An American Band and Shinin On'. As a solo artist, he hasn't made anything worth hearing since Faithful, to which he did a note by note copy of Good Vibrations. I like him better in the power pop era Utopia rather than the prog rock noisefest they originally were.
Randy Rhodes-His early stuff with Quiet Riot made them sound like a metal Humble Pie, with Ozzy, he became a guitar god.
Tina Turner-She brought the funk with Proud Mary and the United Artists years are her best, with Mr Ike watching every move. She reinvented herself after leaving Ike into becoming a rock goddess, tho I think her songs were more MOR than Proud Mary funk.
Carole King-With Gerry Goffin, they wrote some of the best 60s songs ever. On her own Tapestry made her a legend. I prefer the Greatest Hits tho.
Foo Fighters-Questions abound about why they should be in there and not Iron Maiden but Dave Grohl is such a nice guy I won't say nothing bad about him. He kept Pat Smear employed. The Foo Fighers albums are spotty but I still swear by the first album and the Greatest Hits overview. The Colour And Shape is where novices should begin at.
Gil Scott-Heron-Best known for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Tonight. He did some powerful albums on Arista but I tend to think he's more of an oddity than visionary. The Last Poets were better.
The Go Gos-They were punk goddesses before IRS snapped them up to be pop stars, but they could play, Gina Schlock was a damn good drummer. But I do think Fanny (the original girl band) were better, as well as the Bangles. To be honest, I never got into their music but if I had to choose one album from them, it would be Beauty And The Beat.
LL Cool J. Mama said knock you out.
Jay Z- Did wonders with Def Jam records and highly influential rapper. Otherwise I have no use for him.
Clarence Avant-President of Sussex Records that gave Bill Withers his start and had his best albums. He had Dennis Coffey on the roster as well. And of course Rodriquez to which Sixto and family claimed that Avant shortchanged him on the royalites. In order to understand him better, check out the documentary The Black Godfather.
I think in terms of theory, Bob Koester, head of Delmark Records who recently passed away earlier in this week from complication of a stroke should be in the HOF moreso than Avant, simply of the fact that Koester did his best to preserve the sound of the real live Chicago blues. Hoodoo Man Blues by Junior Wells with Buddy Guy is the best example. Koester has issued and reissued some fine comps off Delmark and bought the Apollo label masters for a decent overview from Wyonie Harris and of course the East Coast and West Coast Jive Comps that showcased the talents of Babs Gonzalez.
So here tis. 13 new inductess to the Music Hall Of Fame and yet they leave out Paul Revere and the Raiders and Iron Maiden.
The blame is placed on Greg Harris, the Terrorist (CEO) of the Music Hall Of Fame who suggested that fans should think outside of the box to include rap n hip hop. So the fucker hates Iron Maiden or Paul Revere and the Raiders and "that ship has sailed" when it comes to the other rock and rollers not into the HOF. Let's call it for what it is, a money making venture that nowadays the rappers such as Jay Z or LL Cool J have been around for 3 decades. But to this viewpoint, it hasn't been rock and roll for quite a while, what else can explain a Jon Laudau getting into the music Hall of fame and not Paul Revere or Three Dog Night for that matter, artists who dominated the AM Radio of the late 60s and early 70s and now pushed toward the back. Yes, the rock boat has sailed away, Jann Wanner's favorites are in there and each year the Music Hall Of Fame will continue to add more rappers and hip hop artists since the teens of that era are now in their thirties and look at them in nostagia fondness, as we do with the bands we grew up with. Looking back, the 2021 crowd might been better than the 2020 class but at this point, comparing both leaves me a bit cold. At this point, it's no longer a rock and roll hall of fame but rather simply a music hall of fame built to appease the folks of hip hop or rap, which might be rock in spirit. But to Harris' assumption that rock and roll is more than four mop tops from England, he doesn't know his music history very well. The profit line is his concern. To which he can take his music hall of fame and shove it up his ass sideways. There's plenty of room from what I have heard.
Goodwill finds.
Gerry And The Pacemakers-Do You Like It/Ferry Cross The Mersey
The Jam-All Mod Cons
Gerry Marsden, who passed away earlier in the year has never been celebrated from critics but to me, Gerry and the Pacemakers could rock with The Beatles or Dave Clark Five but the ballads are better known. Do You Like It, is the first album that Slow Down that the Beatles probably heard and used for their own later on. This EMI 2 on 1 CD does have a great stereo sound from George Martin producing and Ron Richards (the hollies) recording. Ferry Cross The Mersey is all mono with a couple tracks from Cilla Black and The Fourmost to break up the mundane.
