Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Playlist
“Autobahn”
Kraftwerk
More influential than any of the bands enshrined this year, the R&RHOF is a worthless organization with no credibility but it does allow us to have these discussions, keeping the legacy of old acts alive.
Now when “Autobahn” hit the airwaves back in ’75 there was nothing else remotely like it, there were few successful German acts in the U.S., the track was seen as a one hit wonder novelty, which got airplay all over FM, which ruled the era, the fact that they could play this is astounding in retrospect, especially through the lens of today, when little radio risk is taken.
Let’s start with the fact that it’s 22 plus minutes long, not a negative way back when, but the magic was in how hypnotic it was, if only something so revolutionary could be released today.
“Computer Love”
Kraftwerk
This is the album that closed me, back in ’81, the hit was “Pocket Calculator,” but this is the magical, infectious track. The LP came in two versions, “Computerwelt,” with German lyrics, and the Americanized “Computer World.”
I went to see the show at the Santa Monica Civic and it was one of the most innovative I’ve ever seen, with the showroom dummies and…
Nobody pushes the edge like this anymore. But back then we embraced the new and quirky, the innovative and outrageous, and despite sounding like nothing else Kraftwerk was considered part of the canon, everywhere but the R&RHOF, where you’ve got wankers with special interests, guys who never got laid who are still wearing their hair long trying to extend their influence when the truth is we stopped listening to these self-appointed know-it-alls a long time ago, about the same time “Rolling Stone” lost all relevance.
The truth is without Kraftwerk there’s no EDM. And the electronic sound is not only the bass-heavy thumping you hear at festivals, it’s all over the pop chart, to exclude Kraftwerk from the R&RHOF is CRIMINAL!
“Every Little Thing”
Yes
They made prog-rock safe for America.
And if you pooh-pooh this, I feel sorry for you, is there anything wrong with being able to play your instrument, demonstrate your virtuosity, test limits?
Genesis came after. A great band, but Yes was the one that forged the way.
This is from their initial LP, “Yes,” which I discovered on a drive back from Vermont on 8-track in my dentist’s car. In case you’re unfamiliar with the track, it’s my favorite Beatles song of all time, but this time reworked…
Listen for the “Day Tripper” riff, exalt in Jon Anderson’s vocal, get hooked by the changes…
“Yours Is No Disgrace”
Yes
The second LP, “Time And A Word,” had zero impact, you couldn’t even find it on the shelf, but the story was different with the third LP, the one that gained traction and began the juggernaut, this is the opening cut, it starts on a tear and then takes you to hyperspace.
“Roundabout”
Yes
Yes, I can barely listen to it anymore either. But you’ve got to picture it… An almost unknown band with a sound that lived on FM if it got airplay at all crossed over to AM radio and dominated, talk about a success story!
“Heart Of The Sunrise”
Yes
I saw the “Fragile” tour, at UVM in Burlington. It was positively astounding. Remember when you were just thrilled to be inside the building, before if you weren’t up close and personal you didn’t even want to go? We sat in the bleachers, and this song was the highlight, Rick Wakeman was a showman, a star in his own right, remember when you went to the show for the music? I DO!
“It Can Happen”
Yes
“90125” is a masterpiece. Yes, there I said it. The band got too far out there, I liked “Close To The Edge,” “Tales From Topographic Oceans” was too indulgent, thereafter the band sometimes stumbled upon greatness, but there was too much filler and then…
They reconstituted the act and melded pop with prog-rock and the result was so hooky, so infectious, you couldn’t stop playing the album.
“Owner Of A Lonely Heart” was the hit, but this is the best cut. If you want to go deeper, also listen to “Leave It” and “Changes.”
This is not music made for earbuds, this is music made for the big rig, with the lights off, cranked to 11… TRY IT!
P.S. The fact that they waited until the Fish was dead to induct the band is a faux pas nonpareil. The guy who kept the act together, who carried the flame, is not around to see the band get its just due. Makes me sick.
“Message From The Country”
The Move
And we thought the genius was Roy Wood.
You only have to hear this track once to be infected. It’s got all of Jeff Lynne’s magic, all in one cut. The riff, the melodicism, the hook…
And it’s not on Spotify.
Listen on YouTube:
“Do Ya”
The Move
Have you ever heard the original? It’s far superior to the ELO remake.
Once again, not on Spotify…
“10538 Overture”
Electric Light Orchestra
This is the track that broke them, it did not get airplay everywhere, but a ton more than the Move.
Jeff Lynne was almost completely unknown in the U.S., ELO was just seen as a side project, but it got traction.
“Showdown”
Electric Light Orchestra
And then, suddenly, this was all over the airwaves, you could not escape it, it was impossible to dislike, but I never loved it, and then…
“Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”
Electric Light Orchestra
“Eldorado”‘s been completely forgotten. Released in the second half of 1974, it was playable through and through, and it was this initial track that sealed the deal, I’ve got a weakness for majesty and I fell for this immediately.
“Free Fallin'”
Tom Petty
Tom was in a fading band on MCA with a deal so rich Irving Azoff hoped they never put out another album. Tom was working on this solo LP no one was waiting for for years. And then…
“Free Fallin'” didn’t sound quite like anything that came before, but it had the ELO majesty and the hookiness of said band and the gravitas of Tom Petty.
A TOUR-DE-FORCE!
Credit Jeff Lynne.
“Wheel In The Sky”
Journey
For a long time, my favorite track by them.
It was 1978, AOR ruled, and Journey segued from a Santana-offshoot, a home for players, into a hit machine. They fit right in, we did not know they were a beacon for a younger generation, ready to dominate the next decade.
“Lights”
Journey
Soft, but not cynical. This was long before the spandex-clad hair-bands did power ballads to get MTV airplay. This was just a ballad by rockers, but it was majestic and meaningful, long before the band was seen as the wimpy favorite of women, when men could admit they liked soft, soulful stuff.
“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'”
Journey
Now it was a year later, ’79, and the band was serving notice they were something different, not leather-clad rockers who occasionally went soft, but a whole new thing. Then again, AOR was getting long in the tooth, soon to be supplanted by punk, new wave and MTV.
“Stone In Love”
Journey
I’m gonna skip 1980’s “Departure,” with “Any Way You Want It,” a certified hit, a calling card for a lesser band, but I dare say a tad too formulaic for me, in sound, if not changes. But this…
That guitar. Come on, try and deny that riff. And to have a singer who can actually sing, WHEW!
“Who’s Crying Now”
Journey
A personal favorite. It’s haunting, and I’m a fool for that sound.
This is track three on 1981’s “Escape,” track two is “Stone In Love,” and the opening cut of this trifecta is…
“Don’t Stop Believin'”
Journey
This is not radically different from the election of Donald Trump, as in the media completely missed the public’s love for this cut, the people on the R&RHOF committee pooh-poohed this band until…
David Chase included this track in the finale of “The Sopranos,” the greatest TV drama of all time.
And then everybody realized…
“Don’t Stop Believin'” is the essence of the American Dream. We keep on keepin’ on, we keep on thinking things will work out, we don’t stop believin’, this is us!
Credit Journey for embodying all this in song.
And if you’d asked me a decade back I would have denied that Journey belonged in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but if you include Kiss and Cheap Trick and Joan Jett… Are we really gonna eliminate a band that’s bigger with more hits and more cultural impact?
No way.
“California Love”
2Pac
His peak, created with Dr. Dre, this is part of what made white people love hip-hop, you could not deny the sound.
“Ambitionz Az A Ridah”
2Pac
He was a rock star, as in he didn’t care what anybody else thought, he had to speak his truth and live life his way. The fact he lost his life in the rap wars is criminal, what was that all about, after all isn’t it only music, but that was back when it was more than that, when it was the voice of the street, when a record gave you more truth than the newspaper, 2Pac was part of it.
“Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns”
Mother Love Bone
If Andrew Wood had lived, maybe it would be Mother Love Bone being inducted.
This is everything we love about rock, not made for the airwaves, just made to satisfy the makers, and in the process satisfying us all.
If you don’t know this…
Put on the headphones, turn out the lights and go on an aural trip.
“Alive”
Pearl Jam
It’s hard to like Eddie Vedder, a talented man who created a myth about being a nobody from nowhere when the truth he was one of the most popular kids in school.
But there’s no denying that “Ten” is an achievement. Epic Records did an incredible job of breaking this act.
“Even Flow”
Pearl Jam
It’s heavy but accessible.
“Jeremy”
Pearl Jam
The piece-de-resistance, with a legendary video, this track defines the era.
But the act was never really able to follow up “Ten,” not in any truly memorable way, one that penetrated beyond the core. But the band soldiered on, and then they were the only ones left standing, and ended up the great white hope of the white boy Gen-X’ers. They did everything right, supported all the right causes, fought Ticketmaster, but Vedder IS smug and although the rest of the band is lovable the catalog is not, shoot me, I don’t care.
“Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”
Joan Baez
She was pre-rock, and I’m not sure she was an influence, other than as an inspiration to women, illustrating they could play and win just like the boys.
It was a completely different era, folk music ruled, what you stood for was key, musicians were not rich, they were artists, and so was Baez, possibly the most famous exponent of the scene. She was the figurehead, but she was plowed under by rock until…
“Joe Hill”
Joan Baez
Woodstock. Joan was on the album and in the movie. She talked about her husband in prison, she sang this protest song and it had an impact, but it was a different era, when the youth were frustrated and were more about righting wrongs than getting theirs. Oh, how times have changed.
Subsequent to this, Joan became a caricature of herself. She got a divorce, she sang about Dylan, but…
Before the rock era she was an icon. Talk to those over 65 and they’ll testify, how she was on every college student’s turntable, how she was the most desirable…
But if we’re inducting women into the R&RHOF fame… Where’s Mary, along with Peter and Paul? And Cyndi Lauper, who certainly went her own way and was a beacon and had more hits than many inductees. And Exene Cervenka and her band X, who carried the punk torch in Los Angeles. And while we’re at it, how about Kate Bush, who was a limit-tester as opposed to a follower?
And if Cheap Trick and Kiss are in, SHOULDN’T PAT BENATAR???
It’s not on Spotify:
Joan Baez Live – Woodstock 1969 Joe Hill
“Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”
Chic
The voters still hate disco, they’re truly racist, don’t doubt me, they just wish Steve Dahl and his army had prevailed, when the truth is the disco beat has permeated the music scene ever since, ever heard Prince’s masterpiece “Dirty Mind”?
They hate white suits, pooh-pooh “Saturday Night Fever,” deny the fact that disco was a big tent that included all those usually left out, can’t they see the value of the act in retrospect?
It started here.
“Everybody Dance”
Chic
A new sound back then, but one that is still played today, just like “Don’t Stop Believin’.” From the same initial album, back in ’77.
“Le Freak”
Chic
It’s nearly impossible to craft an instant classic that grabs you from the very first note, a lot of the acts inside the Hall have never done this, but Chic did, “Le Freak” animates wallflowers, you cannot hear it and not move your body, and that’s an accomplishment!
“Good Times”
Chic
Ditto on this.
And the R&RHOF gives Nile Rodgers a second-rate honor instead of inducting his breakthrough act, putting him in a category with Ringo, who’s already inside with the Beatles, and the E Street Band?? Come on, that induction is a travesty, old boys in a back room giving payback, how about the Spiders From Mars or the Revolution or the Experience? The E Street Band was support, Nile Rodgers outclasses and outperforms them on every level, as a writer, producer and an innovator, never mind a player, if I was Nile I wouldn’t bother to show up, the perpetrators of this travesty must be revealed, sun must shine upon them, how many guys vote, how old are they?
But that’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an inane institution riddled with political agendas that is oftentimes completely out of touch. Sure, it’s hard to judge art, but what are we doing here, giving honors to those who test limits or those who have commercial success, the inductees are all over the place!
The best we can do is shame those who run this organization.
Assuming we care at all.
Because the truth is the music survives. And those excluding the worthy only wish they could create one hit song, pluck it out of thin air on pure inspiration.
But they can’t.
