2023 Rock & Roll HOF screechfest

[X-Hack]

'94: https://www.dead.net/show/july-13-1994
'95: https://www.dead.net/show/june-15-1995

There was an airport there? Who knew. The drive there from Michigan, through Ontario and Quebec, was interminable.

 

[Starman]

1988...I remember the first time I heard the tune/saw the video...I could not wait to go to Cutler's and buy it the next day.

If the Sex Pistols were voted into the HOF on the strength of one album, and they were, I'd argue Living Colour should be in on the same basis.

 

[CD Boogie]

If the Sex Pistols were voted into the HOF on the strength of one album, and they were, I'd argue Living Colour should be in on the same basis.

I saw them open for the Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels Tour in Foxboro in 1989. They were great. Corey Glover, the lead singer who also dabbled in acting and was in "Platoon," was a good friend of one of my reporting colleagues and dropped into the newsroom one day. Still had those dreads. This was probably 1999, 2000.

 

[MisterCreosote]

If the Sex Pistols were voted into the HOF on the strength of one album, and they were, I'd argue Living Colour should be in on the same basis.

Also, Living Colour’s second album is just as good as Vivid, if not better.

 

[Starman]

In some ways the RNRHOF goes through insane and ridiculous contortions to admit rappers and pop and disco R&B acts in order to diversify the predominantly white color mix of "Rock & Roll" when they could induct Living Colour on unimpeachable R&R credentials.

An all-hands on deck RNRHOF All Star Jam on "Cult of Personality" could be a video moment for the ages, along with new drop-in audio bites featuring the last 3o years.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I could make a strong argument for Bad Brains to be inducted, too.

 

[Starman]

I could make a strong argument for Bad Brains to be inducted, too.

I would say RATM would be a fair comparison for the Brains.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Comparing Living Colour 's Vivid to Never Mind the Bullocks is utterly stupid. Yeah, Living Colour is a great group of musicians, but the band in no way has any of the meaning and influence of the Sex Pistols.

 

[Huggy]

Comparing Living Colour 's Vivid to Never Mind the Bullocks is utterly stupid. Yeah, Living Colour is a great group of musicians, but the band in no way has any of the meaning and influence of the Sex Pistols.

Definitely gotta agree here, the Pistols' impact was seismic spawning hundreds, **** probably thousands, of acts in their wake in the UK and elsewhere. As Joe Strummer said one night after seeing them, "It's a whole new thing, man."

And as much as I like Living Colour (Vernon Reid remains the most famous person to have replied to one of my Tweets) to the extent they are remembered at all today by anyone other than hardcore fans is probably as the performer of CM Punk's entrance music.

 

[Starman]

Ehhhhh ... the Sex Pistols, over time, have become wildly overrated. Much to most if not all of what they did had been done earlier by the Ramones, the Stooges and the MC5. Kind of a 1970s parallel to the Doors: yeah, they were great and important and influential for a brief moment and released some all time great songs but they don't rise to top tier HOF level, much of their legend is a result of their early burnout.

 

[Bubbler]

Ehhhhh ... the Sex Pistols, over time, have become wildly overrated. Much to most if not all of what they did had been done earlier by the Ramones, the Stooges and the MC5. Kind of a 1970s parallel to the Doors: yeah, they were great and important and influential for a brief moment and released some all time great songs but they don't rise to top tier HOF level, much of their legend is a result of their early burnout.

I'll meet you halfway. I think the Pistols are overrated too. However, they were a sensation (in the UK) in a way the Ramones, Stooges and MC5 never remotely came close to on either side of the ocean.

So they were very influential. Even though the Pistols, on purely musical merit, are nowhere near as good as the Clash or the Stranglers or any number of other peers were (though Steve Jones was very good), the first thing people think of when they think of punk is the Pistols and that matters.

They are vastly more deserving than Living Colour, whom I dug a lot in the very late 80s/early 90s, but frankly? I dug them as an antidote to the **** hair metal that pervaded at the time, much in the same way I dug the Black Crowes for the same reason. Vernon Reid sounded like manna from heaven in comparison to ****e like Poison, Slaughter and the rest.

In hindsight, they made three albums total in their heyday, weren't really influential in any way, and sound dated these days. In fact? They don't sound that far off of the hair metal they seemed to be an alternative to at the time.

 

[Songbird]

1970s parallel to the Doors: yeah, they were great and important and influential for a brief moment and released some all time great songs but they don't rise to top tier HOF level

Are you saying The Doors aren't HOF worthy?

 

[Starman]

Are you saying The Doors aren't HOF worthy?

They are, but not top tier.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

It might have been here that I saw this. Still worth reposting:

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-open-letter-to-17-year-old-boys-who-just-discovered-the-doors

 

[Hot and Rickety]

They are, but not top tier.

The Oliver Stone movie probably sent the Doors into the overrated category, at least right after it came out. The Doors were inducted in 1993, two years after the movie came out and before a number of acts that I'd consider far more worthy: Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, etc. I think modern appraisal of their work shows they had like 3-5 genuinely canonical songs -- certainly enough to merit HOF induction -- but also a whole lot of dreck.

 

[Songbird]

And Sinatra's voice is tinny.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

They are vastly more deserving than Living Colour, whom I dug a lot in the very late 80s/early 90s, but frankly? I dug them as an antidote to the **** hair metal that pervaded at the time, much in the same way I dug the Black Crowes for the same reason. Vernon Reid sounded like manna from heaven in comparison to ****e like Poison, Slaughter and the rest.

Seriously Bubs I will **** your **** up. :D

You're right, though, a lot of their stuff sounds a lot like the hair metal of the time. They were just writing much better songs.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

You listen to the Sex Pistols' album today and read the lyrics and it seems so ... prescient. I will just leave it at that.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I accidentally shoplifted a Living Colour cassette in 1989. Went to a Kmart and it got missed on the ring-up.

"Open Letter to a Landlord" was the song that sold the album to me. The follow-up album was crap. However, this song is one of the criminally underrated singles of 1989.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I accidentally shoplifted a Living Colour cassette in 1989. Went to a Kmart and it got missed on the ring-up.

"Open Letter to a Landlord" was the song that sold the album to me. The follow-up album was crap.

I'll meet you halfway. I think the Pistols are overrated too. However, they were a sensation (in the UK) in a way the Ramones, Stooges and MC5 never remotely came close to on either side of the ocean.

So they were very influential. Even though the Pistols, on purely musical merit, are nowhere near as good as the Clash or the Stranglers or any number of other peers were (though Steve Jones was very good), the first thing people think of when they think of punk is the Pistols and that matters.

They are vastly more deserving than Living Colour, whom I dug a lot in the very late 80s/early 90s, but frankly? I dug them as an antidote to the **** hair metal that pervaded at the time, much in the same way I dug the Black Crowes for the same reason. Vernon Reid sounded like manna from heaven in comparison to ****e like Poison, Slaughter and the rest.

In hindsight, they made three albums total in their heyday, weren't really influential in any way, and sound dated these days. In fact? They don't sound that far off of the hair metal they seemed to be an alternative to at the time.

Guns 'N' Roses were the perfect bridge between hair metal and grunge. They made music videos sans Spandex and cheek blush and I appreciated it. Living Colour had a couple of badass songs but sadly, couldn't stick.