Vote or Die: Rock Hall 2012 Inductees

I can only take 10 of the nominees, of the possible 15, so I'll go with who I think are the 10 most likely.

Here's the full list:

Beastie Boys
The Cure
Donovan
Eric B. & Rakim
Guns ‘N Roses
Heart
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Freddie King
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces
The Spinners
Donna Summer
War
Ron Paul

If I fucked up in any way, I'll edit the poll (if that's possible)

OnTheReg said:

I can only take 10 of the nominees, of the possible 15, so I'll go with who I think are the 10 most likely.

Here's the full list:

Beastie Boys
The Cure
Donovan
Eric B. & Rakim
Guns ‘N Roses
Heart
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Freddie King
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces
The Spinners
Donna Summer
War
Ron Paul

If I fucked up in any way, I'll edit the poll (if that's possible)

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Poll? Ron Paul? What?

Jigo_oi said:

Poll? Ron Paul? What?

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I figured people would write him in, anyway. Might as well head them off at the pass (I hate that cliche!).

Beastie Boys are overrated.

I know i know, RCF has a giant boner for them

They call me Mellow Yellow...quite rightly.

Plenty of personal favorites on the list. Eric B and Rakim were writing modern sounding hip hop lyrics ten years before anyone else did it. Beasties wrote music for hip hop which brought rap away from simple scratching and into original musicianship. They are arguably the rap group that brought hip hop to the suburbs, which is indeed an accomplishment. Thumbs up to both groups for innovation.

I effin' love War. I stole their greatest hits off of a friend of mine in high school and played the crap out of it until someone else stole it from me in college. The album they cut with Eric Burdon of the Animals will blow your mind, regardless of the decade. Do they have enough hits to be considered HOF? Were they influential in some way? My head says no, but I voted for them anyways.

I vote RHCP and The Cure in for each creating consistently good music for roughly 30 years. You can go ahead and hate emo kids, but The Cure pretty much helped invent the movement. From a musicians perspective, they tied the punk movement of the 70s to the alternative movement of the 90s. RHCP started out a funk band, then went and became the U.S. version of U2 for several decades. If they could find a decent guitarist who isn't messed up heroin they would have been bigger than U2.

At first I thought there would be no way G n' R makes it in. They were only great for three and a half albums, only spanning about five years. But, if Fleetwood Mac can make it in for defining a five year period in music, G 'n R has a chance as well. They owned rock before Nirvana and their own drug fueled implosion.

I'm voting in Donovan because I also played out his greatest hits for about 4 years of my life. It's one of the only cassette tapes I still own. I doubt he has the influence or length needed in his career to make it in, sadly.

I think the big story from the media will be if GnR does get inducted. What will happen between Slash and Axl. They haven't spoken in 21 years and it would make for some great TV if they do get on stage together.

Juicy D said:

I think the big story from the media will be if GnR does get inducted. What will happen between Slash and Axl. They haven't spoken in 21 years and it would make for some great TV if they do get on stage together.

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The world desperately wants a reunited and functional Gn'R. If all those egos can find a way to patch things up and record together again, they would make a fortune in hard drug and hooker money in one tour.

Randolph,

I'm not sure where you got your impression of Eric B & Rakim. It's not bad but just a little off. Rakim is an all time legend and he changed hip hip lyrically and with his cadence but so did LL, Kool G Rap, KRS One and Big Daddy Kane. They all were part of this vanguard of new emcees that separated themselves from the pioneers that came before them.

Musically, they didn't have great musicianship but rather they were very adept at replaying grooves. "Eric B is President" is Fonda Rae's "Over like a Fat Rat." "Paid in Full" is Dennis Edwards' "Don't look any Further" Many groups replayed grooves in the early 80s but nothing really sounded like their interpolations.

As far as scratching goes it was a huge part of their first album in "Check My Melody" and "I Ain't No Joke" with "Chinese Arithmetic" being an Eric B DJ cut. There was much less scratching on the 2nd album but better samplers were out so they were able to refine their sound for Follow the Leader.

Oh, and the Beastie Boys aren't overrated but that's another dissertation.

MYoung23 said:

Randolph,

I'm not sure where you got your impression of Eric B & Rakim. It's not bad but just a little off. Rakim is an all time legend and he changed hip hip lyrically and with his cadence but so did LL, Kool G Rap, KRS One and Big Daddy Kane. They all were part of this vanguard of new emcees that separated themselves from the pioneers that came before them.

Musically, they didn't have great musicianship but rather they were very adept at replaying grooves. "Eric B is President" is Fonda Rae's "Over like a Fat Rat." "Paid in Full" is Dennis Edwards' "Don't look any Further" Many groups replayed grooves in the early 80s but nothing really sounded like their interpolations.

As far as scratching goes it was a huge part of their first album in "Check My Melody" and "I Ain't No Joke" with "Chinese Arithmetic" being an Eric B DJ cut. There was much less scratching on the 2nd album but better samplers were out so they were able to refine their sound for Follow the Leader.

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I suppose I was guilty of a little hyperbole with Rakim and Eric B. I was trying to establish how advanced Rakim was compared to those pioneering acts like Sugar Hill and Melle Mel. I suppose others were right there with him elevating hip hop.

My statement about scratching and simple samples was directed at what The Beasties brought as far as ingenuity. One could argue that the true genius was the Dust Brothers mixing their music, but as musicians before being MCs, the Beasties pushed and elevated the musical side of hip hop. I'm not disparaging Rakim and Eric B. by mentioning the reasons Beasties were elevating the art form.

I also won't pretend to know as much about Rakim and Eric B. as you do. I've read enough of your posts on early influences in hip hop to know when someone is a little beyond my knowledge. Still, I have a compilation disc an old coworker made for me of their work and a decent collection of early hip hop. I've seen Afrika Bambaataa live. I'm not without my understanding of hip hop history.

very very difficult list

I have my picks that are similar to a lot of those listed above, so I'll spare the rationale.

What I am excited about is its been 3 years since the ceremony has been held in Cleveland, meaning if the agreement still stands with Jann Wenner (Rock Hall guy and Rolling Stone founder) this class of inductees will be coming here again. Last time was one of the best moments in my life; I mean I watched Jimmy Page shred with Jeff Beck over "Immigrant Song", Flea give a heartfelt induction speech on Metallica, and Eminem crack wise over growing up with Run DMC. I'll once again call off work and wait in the rock hall all night for another chance at seeing this; especially if those three Jewish boys from NYC get the nod.

Can someone explain why Nick Drake hasn't been nominated?

When is Electric Light Orchestra getting in? Have I ever gotten into how much I love that band on here? Jeff Lynne is a fucking genius.