Rock n Roll Forever

The inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for 2008 were announced today:

Leonard Cohen
The Dave Clark Five
Madonna
John Mellencamp
The Ventures

From the website:  "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors the legendary performers, producers, songwriters, disc jockeys and others who have made rock and roll the force that it is in our culture."

Madonna?  Really?

Of all the inductees, John Mellencamp offers the most rock & roll for my money.  Anyone who used to use Cougar as their middle name is pretty rock & roll if you ask me.  But I just don't know about the rest of them.

So I'm tipping my proverbial hat to Mellencamp.  Let's let him rock us.

Comments

[ashod]

i s'pose you can make the argument that leonard cohen isn't "rock" or "roll" but when it comes down to just plain awesomeness, dude is tops. if you haven't spent any time with him, i suggest you do so. if you need a recommend, start with the song "famous blue raincoat" or "hey, that's no way to say goodbye." serious genius at work. OR OR OR...HALLELUJAH! DUH! YOU KNOW THAT SONG!!!

[Chris Ernest Hall]

I've ranted about the R&R HoF already on Vox and Twitter, but maybe doing it here will in some infitissemal way increase your Google pagerank.

So, my feeling on Madonna is that she belongs in some kind of Hall of Fame (of entertainers? celebrities? pop stars? cultural tropes?) but not the rock and roll.

As for John !Cougar Mellencamp, let me put it this way. I think Tom Petty is a borderline selection--nice long career, a handful of certifiably great albums, many other decent ones--not a major innovator, but a solid artist. But Tom Petty is ten times a better R&R HoF selection than John Mellencamp. I mean, he's a nice enough guy, but Hall of Fame? No. It's like the main criteria for entry is whether your records are incessantly played on KFOG.

Meanwhile the great progrock bands of the 70s and alternative rock ands of the late 70s/early 80s are neglected. Where's Rush, Yes, Genesis, Kiss, Journey, Ozzy, Husker Du, English Beat?

[horia]

In attitude Madonna is/was very R & R, so, yes, they are right IMHO:-)

[Krissy]

@ashod -- Yes, I do know and love Leonard Cohen, I just don't think he's very rock.

In fact, I think Leonard and Madonna both belong in some sort of Hall of Fame, just not one called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I agree with Chris on that one.

@Chris Ernest Hall -- I also agree with the bands you think were neglected. Just shows how screwy these big honors can be.

@horia -- Thanks for stopping by! I guess Madonna embodies some of the rock spirit sometimes. Someone needs to build a Pop Hall of Fame for her.