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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: New R & R HoFers |
| Date | Wed, 15 Dec 2004 04:34:19 -0600 |
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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 05:17:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Bennett <mrhonorama@ameritech.net>
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: New R & R HoFers
Message-ID: <20041214131741.14138.qmail@web81410.mail.yahoo.com>
Greg --
1. Read my original post on this -- I discounted the
Hall of Fame in that -- as it truly reflects what is
great in rock music.
I've read it twice, and perhaps we're just not understanding each other
here. On the one hand you've discounted the Hall and called discussion of
who gets into it a "bogus topic", and yet on the other hand you're giving it
cred as representing "a mainstream take on what is great rock music". Not
that the weight of mass opinion is a clincher for either of us, but what
we're talking about here is something more than record sales ... if, in
fact, one asserts that there is bona-fide critical opinion behind that
"mainstream take" rather than the machinations of WEA executives and
self-important magazine tycoons.
2. Sadly, yes, I think that the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame represents, to a degree, a mainstream take on
what is great rock music.
I'm not a conspiratorial type by nature, but it just doesn't ring true to me
that the inception into the Hall of B-list soul man Percy Sledge and a
modestly famous L.A. folk-rocker in Jackson Browne who's almost better known
for his political views than his songs can be considered "a mainstream
take". They can be considered a WEA corporate-influence take, or a Jann
Wenner take, but a mainstream take? I don't buy it.
(Incidentally, I'm not slagging Percy Sledge in terms of the quality of his
music. I feel that he was one of the better stylists of the Southern soul /
deep soul tradition, and I like his interpretations of many Dan Penn /
Spooner Oldham songs the best.)
And the get a lot wrong.
The Hollies and Ventures belong in the pantenon of
rock greats as surely as Ron Santo belongs in the
Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Now you're just pandering. :-)
I'm not saying it has a major
impact. But anything that has the mainstream's stamp
of approval is a reflection of mainstream thought.
This induction makes headlines and gets shown on TV --
it has some meaning, I suppose. By the same token,
The Grammys and The Oscars don't really reflect the
best music and films, but to some segments of the
public they do.
Agreed, and perhaps if the Hall induction broadcast is cemented into TV
consumer habits as an annual tradition, the Hall will take on the same
weight as a pop-culture arbiter of excellence that some on this list seem
willing to grant it already. But I don't think that it's nearly at that
point yet. The Grammys, Emmys, Oscars, etc., carry long-term institutional
heft within American pop culture. And the MTV awards, for example, draw a
lot more viewers and are probably a lot more important to the under-30 set
that is actually buying music and going to concerts.
Gregory Sager
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