Finally, a Glam Nod from the Rock Hall
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 12:01AM 
Finally, Alice Cooper and Bon Jovi receive official nods from the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Both are nominated for induction. Also nominated are the Beastie Boys, Neil Diamond, Donovan, Dr. John, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Donna Summer and Tom Waits.
The Rock Hall committee always baffles me, but judging from the nominee list, I'd say both Jovi and Cooper should get in without any hassle. Oh, and the Beastie Boys will probably get in this time too (they were originally nominated in 2008).
To be truthful, I didn't even want to write about this topic today...but since Bon Jovi and Alice Cooper are in the list, I had no choice. Bon Jovi is a legitimate Glam band – and Alice just rules.
I suspect Bon Jovi will be the only Glam band we see in the Hall – at least for a very, very long time. I also think Motley Crue will get nominated and, much like Kiss, be passed over. Thing is, the Rock Hall is a joke. The Alice Cooper Band deserved to be in long ago – same for Kiss. Rush, once again, was unfairly passed over...and really, you're telling me LL Cool J has done more for music than Rush?
The good news is that if Alice and Jovi do make the cut, the induction ceremony might be less of a giant bore than usual. I'm not sure who would pay homage to Bon Jovi...Nickelback maybe? I wonder if Slipknot would induct Alice? Or maybe Rob Zombie?
I hope that – if Jovi does get in – the artist display inside the Rock Hall in Cleveland pays homage to the band's 1980s heyday. Sure, Jovi has beat the odds and stayed relevant...but their party began in the 80s...and they, along with the Rock Hall board, must always remember that.
Reader Comments (20)
I do agree, however, that Kiss should get in.
Rush? Sorry, that ain't Rock'n'Roll. 2112 and a handful of songs does not an inductee make.
I don't think Madonna should have gotten in but at least she showed a lot of class by having Iggy Pop perform "Like A Virgin" at the ceremony, as a nod to the fact that he should have been inducted at the time.
Now, he IS Rock'n'Roll! Hu-uh-lo-oh!
p.s. As much as I absolutely LOVE Crue and Poison, I'm not so sure they are really worthy of being inducted. Maybe, and I said, maybe, Crue. But there are a lot of other more important bands that should go before them.
Jovi & Alice Cooper are both no-brainers and deserve to be there. Actually, it's a bit of a joke that Alice hasn't made it before now, but whatever.
good grief are you serious? handful of songs? they've been putting out power rock for 26 years!!! and there's only 3 of them! give me a break...
now - as for Neil Diamond, LL Cool J, Donna Summer (there were others nominated had no idea who they were) - name one song by these artists that could be confused as a rock song?
I will say though that both should be in ALice more than Jovi but compared to the others GAH!!! nominee fail!!
By the way... who the hell is Donovan?
The "influential" standard seems to me to be an easy way to cut out the "uncool" glam rock bands, in favor of performers who are much less Rock n Roll. Bob Marley was no doubt influential... but when did he make rock music exactly? Glam bands, by comparison, tend to influence live performance and showmanship a lot more than they influence recorded music. And it's easy for the "rock intellectuals" to trivialize that.
I'm surprised that Kiss didn't make the cut though. There are thousands of bands who cite Kiss as an influence. That's surely just sour grapes - pure and simple. And why did it take so long for anyone to give a nod to Alice Cooper? Have they been asleep for the last... uh... 40 years?!? Alice Cooper was HUGELY influential in the creation of Heavy Metal as a whole genre... but again, maybe more so when it came to the "look" of Heavy Metal rather than the "sound". They picked up Black Sabbath early, but left poor Alice to wallow (really unfairly, I reckon).
What's fascinating to me though is the way that they seem to have passed over some very influential bands in favor of a few more flavor-of-the-month kind of acts. Where is Iron Maiden? What about (dare I say it) Slayer or Megadeth? It would be really, really hard to say that these bands haven't been enormously influential in changing the scope and sound of metal music. Look at the CD collection of pretty much every metal band on earth...
But I wouldn't be surprised if the Glam line of rock music continues to get ignored by this museum. There are plenty of influential bands (Sweet/Slade/Def Leppard) that should be there but aren't, presumably on the notion that they only really influence other glam bands. It's sad, but that's what you get when your music isn't fashionable with the so-called "experts".
Now who's taking bets for 2012? It will be 25 years since 1987... Can we say *cough* Guns'n'Roses *cough*?
As the band name post has dropped off the front page, I thought I would repeat this in here so that you see it.
I asked the Bangalore Choir main man David Reece about the name for you & he said:
"The name means explosive vocals a Bangalore is a bomb and we combine many harmonies so Bangalore Choir".
Anyway, if it were up to me, Alice Cooper would have gotten in years ago, but Bon Jovi would never get in. Yes, they've sold zillions of records, but as another commenter pointed out, they really haven't influenced anyone.
finally, to the person who mentioned Neil Diamond, I suspect that that his nomination has more to do with the tons of immensely popular songs that he wrote for other artists, rather than the songs he recorded himself.
P.S.Besides Alice, have these asshats who nominate/elect evr heard of a band named Deep Purple???
I'll try not to play the musical snob here, as I think there is room for all different kinds of music in the Hall, even though it is called the ROCK & ROLL Hall of Fame. Not many people can argue with the inductions of Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, et al. But Blondie and not Heart or Pat Benatar? Talking Heads, and not Journey, Bad Company, or Moody Blues? No Yes or KISS? Even Rush I wouldn't mind - sorry Metalboy.
So yes, there have been many head-scratching choices over the years, up to and including Abba last year. But the selection process is very bizarre. Of the 10 or so acts nominated every year (under a huge veil of secrecy), only 5 acts get in at a time. You can be nominated many times, but not necessarily each year. Beastie Boys nominated 2 years ago, but not last year. Last year KISS and Red Hot Chili Peppers nominated, but neither one this year. HUH?? And for the record, Rolling Stone and its sycophants have way too much influence over the nominees and the eventual inductees.
All that said, let's briefly discuss the music we all know and love. Alice Cooper is way overdue, and completely DESERVED. Get him in there! It took Sabbath about 10 years to get in, let's hope that Alice doesn't suffer a similar fate. I will admit that while I'm not a fan of Bon Jovi, I was surprised at their nomination. But I'd rather see them in there than others on the list of nominees. KISS needs to be in there, maybe a few more years of waiting for them. The industry may look upon them as a joke, but their influence on everyone from Anthrax to Garth Brooks cannot be denied. Poison has no shot, sadly, yet Def Leppard does. Can't explain it, just a feeling based on trends over the years. The Scorpions and Judas Priest have been criminally ignored, and both deserve to be enshrined. Someone above mentioned Deep Purple, and they have a shot hopefully someday.
As for this year, I believe that Beastie Boys, Tom Waits (don't get it), Neil Diamond (longevity, if for no other reason), and Donna Summer (she's been nominated for years) will be the eventual inductees, leaving one spot open for ALICE COOPER!
Ugh. That explains everything. I can't wait for the day they induct Justin Timberlake.
Craptastic!
Great description, Christian! (Hey, you still haven't told me whether you've got Zambelis!)
Anyway...
Bon Anchovy is a joke. They've only got three songs, when it comes right down to it and they were written by a hired gun hitmeister, Desmond Child.
Sorry, if they get in, it's B.S. I do rather like their cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" (which Springsteen stole and turned into "Kitty's Back In Town" -- YouTube that one!). The rest of their stuff is drek... Christian is right... "Bad Medicine"? Puh-leez!
Hey, okay, I have those 3 songs and a handful of others on my iTunes, but that duzn't make me think for a moment that these clowns should be in The Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame...
Look, Neil Diamond is tres cool... He gets in on his early stuff alone, so what if he cheezed out later. "Solitary Man" and "Cherry Cherry" are totally bada*s! "Kentucky Woman"? Covered by Deep Purple. Plus he wrote "I'm A Believer" for The Monkees, "Red Red Wine" was a big hit for UB 40 and let's not forget "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" covered by Urge Overkill on the Pulp Fiction Soundtrack!
And, of course, there's the dubious but still great cheeze souffles of "Sweet Caroline", "Holy Holy", "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "I Am...I Said", etc... It's his "hit", "Heartlight" in the 80's that really killed it for me but I'm willing to overlook it. He should get in.
Donovan is cooler than you think, folks. Check out "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" and Spiders & Snakes totally Glam Metal cover of "Mellow Yellow". "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is quite simply a perfect classic 60's Psychedelic mind-blower! He always got ridiculed as a Dylan knock off but he is really quite talented. All of his hits were like nothing that has ever been done before or since.
Man, Donna Summer is a joke. Okay, she did one thing that was kinda cool back in the 70's... the Giorgio Moroder groundbreaking dance hit, "Must Be Love", but other than that, come on! She does not deserve to get in! Ever! She can't even really sing! Bizarre they are even considering her!
Alice is a legend! I think he should be inducted by Zombie, though I don't know if that will happen. Who does he know in the racket of the old schoolers? That will be who presents his award to him.
Also, it would be cool to see him up there with his original band performing "I'm Eighteen", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" or "I'm Elected"...
Like I said above, Madonna is not exactly Rock'n'Roll. Maybe she should be in there but I think they jumped the gun. I honestly think they vote in "newer" acts to project themselves as relevant. Whatever we wanna think about inducting Madonna, she did show a lot of class when she had Iggy Pop cover "Like A Virgin" at the ceremony.
Now that dude is Rock'n'Roll!
Look, I mean really look at the list of Inductees. Let's be fair. They've done a pretty good job of getting everyone in there thus far when you just look at who's in and who got passed over. ABBA is the most glaring screw up.
I agree, as I stated before, Kiss should be in... I also think Cheap Trick should get in eventually. They are cited more than anyone as an influence by everyone from Motley Crue (check out the cover of the Cheap Trick classic "He's A Whore" by Vince Neil on his latest album) to Kurt Cobain.
The most glaring omission in my mind is Deep Purple, as someone else flagged above. Geez, just think if they had gotten in when Neil Diamond gets in. They could do "Kentucky Woman" together. And how killer would it be to get Blackmore up there?!
As far as Rush goes... Huh-uh-lo-oh! I don't need a chipmunk yoddler and an overrated drummer (Tommy Lee or Bun E. Carlos could play any of that clown's sh*t, seriously, but why bother?) in The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. Look, Lifeson is cool, but why didn't he ditch thoze bozo's a long time ago. He should at least do an album as "Lifeson", which kinda sounds like a cool band name. Hey, it's never too late.
He might even wind up inducted (without the shackles of the other two, hahaha!!!). By the way, I'll take Iron Maiden over Rush anyday, Shad!
And I hear you guys on the influence of Rolling Stone. The induction nomination lists always seem like they jump off the pages of Rolling Stone. It kills me how they only gave a cold nod to our beloved Glam Metal only when it peaked in the late 80's/early 90's and only because it dominated the charts and MTV. They still don't get it and never will.
p.s. Kiss should have gotten in before Metallica and Metallica should not have gotten in YET. Not for a very, very long time.
p.s.s.t. Thank you so much, Tony! I can't believe you asked Reece personally about the origins of his stellar band's band name, Bangalore Choir. So cool! Tell him I love his work on Accept's "Eat The Heat" album, as well. One of my faves! "Generation Clash"! That's what we've got right here on BBG! and it sure duz make life interesting, right Bigawk?!
p.s.s.s.t. What's the most hilarious thing out right now? Santana and Daughtry butchering "Photograph" on his latest mail-in covers thang (hey, if it worked for Rod Stewart and Rush, hahaha, why not Santana?). You want a real killer cover by Santana? He's done a few, like his classic, "Evil Ways" but check out the job he did on The Zombies, "She's Not There" from '77. Talk about a delivery system for scorched earth guitar lead policy. This absolutely SMOLDERS! And for something cool, see if you can dig up my latest Glam Metal find, Sittin' Pretty from the late 80's. K-I-L-L-E-R!!! Rock On!