Playlist for 4/28

Jack White - Blunderbuss
Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine
Spiritualized -Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Tommy Womack - Now What/There I Said It

Axl Recap

One week removed from the 2012 Rock Hall Induction ceremony, and after reading a bunch of recaps  (and waiting until May 5 to see the highlight show on HBO), I've come to the conclusion that Axl Rose wasn't missed very much.
Admit it.  Until Axl declined his honor, you hadn't thought about him in years.  Not since Chinese Democracy came out.  Now we can all go back to where we were before his Hall letter.

It's simple really.  The Rock Hall went about its business last week.  And they'll do the same next year, regardless of who won't show up.  People are wondering if he will set off a flurry of artists who will decline their inductions as well.  I've said before that I doubt that will happen.

Bottom line:  Rose's absence did no damage to the Hall, but only hardened the stance that Axl's past reputation hasn't improved.   He blew it.  But he probably doesn't care.

24 Years

Today's my 24th Wedding Anniversary.
A secret to a happy marriage?
Don't talk about too much.
That's why I'm keeping this real short.
I love my wife.
That's all I'm going to say.  

The Kinks

Once again another Poll I participated in.  This time picking my 20 favorite Kinks songs.  Singles, album tracks, etc.
Thought this turned out okay.  Their best period was definitely in the 60's.  But I have a soft spot for their late 70's/early 80's return to the charts.
Ranked 1- 20

1.  You Really Got Me

All Day and All of the Night

Waterloo Sunset

Sunny Afternoon

Lola

Well Respected Man

Tired Of Waiting

Come Dancing

Victoria

Set Me Free

Stop Your Sobbing

20th Century Man

David Watts

Father Christmas

Apeman

Days

Superman

Do It Again

Rock N Roll Fantasy

20.  Celluloid Heroes

Levon Helm

When I think of Levon Helm, I think of a voice that was pure Americana.  In fact, the Band practically invented the genre (along with CCR), and Helm's Southern Drawl mixed with the Band's Rock/Dixieland/Country leanings were a volatile mix (along with Rick Danko's vocals).  And it is this that made Helm a hero to all the Country-Rockers that followed in the Band's wake.

Must also say that Helm had a great voice for Documentary work.  In fact he narrated one of my favorite Elvis Presley docs called Elvis '56.  Find it if you can, made years before throat cancer took away some of his vocal prowess.

Dick Clark

Saturday's and American Bandstand.  Yeah, those were the days.  I kind of feel about Dick Clark that I felt when Don Cornelius died.  I tried as much as I could to catch both Bandstand and Soul Train.  First came AB then Soul Train.  Those were great Saturday's.

Clark always got a bad rep from some Rock Critics because AB featured a lot of "safe" Pop music and not enough artists on the fringe.  But Clark was selling a brand, and the brand was what the "kids" wanted to dance along with.

Funny, I don't think of all the other ventures Clark did when I heard he died.  His legacy will always be American Bandstand.

Playlist for 4/18

Melanie Fiona - MF Life
Dr. John - Locked Down
Macy Gray - Covered
Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

2012 #1 Single?

By this time last year I already had a Single of the Year candidate, "Rolling in the Deep", and it held up until December and indeed became my #1.

Well, once again, I already have a strong song for 2012.   The only hint I'll give is that the song is a moody, atmospheric slow burner.  And like Adele's song, it has crossed over to all radio formats.

You do the guessing.  But for now, it's going to be hard to topple.

Rock Hall LIves In The Past (no surprise)

How far off the radar has the Rock Hall fallen by TV standards?  Consider that the Induction ceremony used to be broadcast live on VH1, then morphed into a condensed version on Fuse and VH1 Classic and now won't be shown until on May 5 on HBO.  In an edited form of course.  A whopping 2 1/2 hour edited one.
 
There was no live streaming of the show.  Will someone tell these fools that this is 2012 and options like this should be readily available.  Even if people are willing to pay for it.

The Hall lives in the past.  From its secret NomCom meetings which members are afraid to speak about or else have Mr. Peresman bark at them, to not revealing the final vote totals, which could alleviate any suspicion of doubt among a skeptical public  about who really got the actual percentages.

Snubbed

For some reason Hall haters like Eddie Trunk and others seem to think Axl Rose snubbed the Rock Hall.  Partly because they wouldn't allow anyone who ever showed up on stage with Axl under the guise of Guns N' Roses to be inducted.   No.  He snubbed Slash.  And "the fans", and of course anyone else who got this whiny, immature Rock God rich.

In 1994 Axl showed up to induct Elton John and played with Springsteen.  Now 18 years later he hates the Hall?  Not buying it.  Maybe he has a thing for Wenner, but this decision is about his colossal ego.
One could say the Hall blew it by letting Metallica and the Chili Peppers have marginal band members inducted.  But I doubt Axl thought so deeply along those lines.

He's blown it.  The Trunk's of the world might relish this, but maybe if he wasn't kissing Axl's butt so much (did you see  That Metal Show interview with Rose?), he would see that Rose has blown an opportunity to give something back to those who have stuck with him.

Mild Peppers

One day away from the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony, and yes, I'm still not happy that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are getting inducted.  To me they are a minor blip in the vast World of Music History.
In fact there are tons of 80's bands that were more influential and made better records than them:  Smiths, Cure, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran spring to mind.

Oh, I get it, they married funk with rock.  Were they the first?  The answer is no.  In fact I'll take Fishbone over them anyday.  Or Frank Zappa's late 70's albums or any of the various off-shoots from the P-Funk family.

But the Peppers have the longevity and the hits.  And Jann & Rolling Stone loved them.  So they go in.  I'll live.  I'll have to move on.  But when people ask me who shouldn't be in the Rock Hall, I now have another name to add to the list.

Eddie Trunk

Eddie Trunk likes to talk about how bad the Rock Hall is, and in a recent tweet he said that people have asked him about starting his own Hall.  He's game, but needs $$$$.

I tweeted this question to him:  @EddieTrunk How are you going to define "Rock and Roll" if you had your own Hall? How far back would you go?


Not surprising, I didn't get an answer.  He never answers my tweets.  Guess he gets a lot of 'em.   But how would someone so vocal about how the Rock Hall defines "Rock and Roll",  define the phrase.   Would he have Muddy Waters in there?  How about Elvis Presley?  Hank Sr?  I've heard Trunk say Chicago belongs in the Hall.  So I guess he inducts Chicago.  How far back would he go?   Are we talking plaques for the likes of Tesla and Poison?.  He loves UFO, so they automatically get in?  How would his Hall work.  Only a fan vote?  How's he going to react when someone complains about an artist who gets snubbed?   I've got questions.


Someone tell Eddie Trunk to stop dodging me.

Playlist for 4/12

Burial - Kindred
Barry White - Let The Music Play
Echo & The Bunnyman - Very Best of
Hunger Ganes - Soundtrack
Todd Rundgren - Hermit of Mink Hollow
Johnny Cash - Man In Black

Axl Rose Declines

The Rock and Roll Hall of Haters love it.  Axl Rose has stuck it to Jann Wenner's bloated institution.  Jann's been dreaming about a G 'N R reunion for the last few years.
But sadly, the joke's on poor Axl.  You see, lifetime achievement awards aren't about you, they are about the people who got you there.

This should have been Rose's night to thank all the musicians, friends, families, even Industry People (who he now hates) for getting him where he his today.  Which appears to be a spoiled, narrow-minded millionaire rock star.

Maybe a Rock Hall honor doesn't mean much to Rose, but ask Donovan, Leon Russell, Darlene Love, members of the Crickets, Miracles and others how much it means to them.  And ask those that haven't been inducted yet how much a Rock Hall honor would mean.

Maybe Axl doesn't like some of his former bandmates.   Doesn't want to be in the same room with them.  Maybe Axl really does think that everyone who's every played in his post-Slash Guns reincarnation should be inducted too.

Doesn't matter.  Rose will never get another high profile forum like this again.  Yep, the Rock Hall haters will love it.  But they are the ones acting more foolish than Axl Rose.

P.S.  How could we forget.  In 1994 Axl Rose not only inducted Elton John but jammed with Bruce Springsteen.  Like someone said on Twitter, this is all about his problems with Slash, not the Rock Hall itself.

Rolling Stones Poll

Another Poll I participated in.  This time on the Rolling Stones.  I did this very fast.  But thought it turned out okay.

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Tracks Ranked 1 -20   

Jumping Jack Flash

Satisfaction

Gimme Shelter

Paint It Black

Sympathy for the Devil

Brown Sugar

Angie

Honky Tonk Woman

As Tears Go By

Miss You

Ruby Tuesday

You Can't Always Get What You Want

19th Nervous Breakdown

Waiting on a Friend

Wild Horses

Under My Thumb

Start Me Up

Emotional Rescue

Tumbling Dice

Salt of the Earth

5 best albums 1-5

Let It Bleed

Sticky Fingers

Exile on Main Street

Beggars Banquet

Aftermath

3 least liked tracks

Sweet Neo Con

Going to a Go-Go

One Hit to the Body

Playlist for 4/5

Lionel Richie - Tuskegee
Madonna - MDNA
Air - Le Voyage
Lee Fields - Faithful Man
Esperanza Spalding -  Radio Music Society
One Direction - Up All Night
Spoon - Port of Morrow

Top 40

Do you realize that the Billboard Hot 100 #1 single throughout March, Fun.'s "We Are Young", is the first #1 song by a "Rock" act since 2009.  In other words for the last 2 1/2 years the charts have been dominated by Dance and Hip Hop songs.

The charts are so splintered now that maybe nobody, outside of those that follow the Billboard charts, would notice this.  In fact, I didn't, until  saw an article about it.

This would have been big news before Top 40 went off in to different radio formats in the 80's, but if you ever tune in to a Top 40 Hits channel you would notice notice but dance songs.