Karla, Danny, and Liberty

I saw a singer in an early '80s video on Vevo who kind of looked like Kate Bush.  It turns out she's Karla Devito, who sang the Ellen Foley parts on Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell Tour.  I guess I'm not alone in noticing a resemblance because online people say she looks like a cross between Bush and either Linda Ronstadt or Cyndi Lauper.  Even better, she references the recruiting saga of Petersburg High's own Moses Malone.  Oh, and she's been married to Robby Benson for over forty years!

            "I want some French sunglasses /

            Call waiting on my phone / (note: was that a thing yet in 1981?)

            I want a house for my mother, just like Moses Malone."

Perhaps They'll Get In Over Jann Wenner's Dead Body

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has, perhaps justifiably, not been particularly receptive to certain genres.  Most of these musical styles have uncoincidentally usually not been critical favorites.  I think at one time this statement would have been true for prog rock, although I think a couple of these acts have been inducted in recent years.  It's also probably kind of true for metal, although I think that's probably more of a function of a lot of rock critics not being able to distinguish between the music and musical worth of most metal acts once you get past the obvious inductees like Metallica and Black Sabbath.  Anyway, here are some less than well-represented genres -

Arena rock (aka AOR/corporate rock) - This one seems most obvious.  Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Asia, Kansas, Boston, Styx, etc. sold millions and millions of albums, had lots of hit songs, and sold out lots of basketball and hockey arenas.  They also tended to be fairly faceless acts, didn't ooze charisma, and weren't particularly hip.  The one inductee from this genre, Journey, had truly iconic songs that people remember after decades and a frontman whose name they can identify.  Foreigner was nominated this year, and may eventually get in.  I'm actually kind of surprised that Styx hasn't been inducted, if only for having the funniest "Behind the Music" episode, with Tommy Shaw recalling how his response to having to sing Broadway musical songs about robots on tour was to self-medicate.

Mainstream '80s pop rock - The classic example is Huey Lewis and the News.  Another one would be Bryan Adams.  There's nothing wrong with these acts, and they sold millions of albums and had lots of hit songs.  If they had had equivalent careers in the '60s and maybe even the '70s, then they would have been inducted a long time ago.  It's just that there wasn't anything really innovative about these artists.  And given that music went in the direction of genres such as hip hop, there aren't a lot of younger musicians acknowledging them as influences, at least unironically.  Oh well, perhaps Huey Lewis et al. will get some credit for members of the News backing up Hall fave Elvis Costello on his first album.

'80s solo stars already inducted as part of better groups - Phil Collins is the obvious example here (and also kind of part of the second group), but Sting and Don Henley are others.  Phil Collins was massively successful in the '80s and incredibly ubiquitous, but I don't see anyone too excited to work to get him elected.  Perhaps Sting has a better chance because he was cooler and a better songwriter.  Then again, Diana Ross, who was legitimately one of the biggest stars of the '70s, hasn't been inducted as a solo performer, so it may take a while.

  

The Last Great Stones Song?

WXRT in Chicago had 1986 for its flashback year on Saturday morning and played "One Hit (To the Body)" by the Rolling Stones.  I'm sure "Dirty Work" is properly disdained (the band's Miami Vice-esque wardrobe on the cover photo is probably a dead giveaway), but I've always kind of liked the song.  Perhaps it has something to do with the otherwise engaged Jagger having little input - Ron Wood came up with the song and opening acoustic intro (and even got songwriting co-credit unlike Mick Taylor), Jimmy Page provided the guitar solo, Kirsty MacColl and Bobby Womack are on backing vocals, and Russell Mulcahy directed the video.  I know it didn't chart highly, but someone must have liked it because I think it made the top 10 of DC 101's year-end countdown.

The Most Obscure Rock and Roll Hall of Famers

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  I honestly know absolutely nothing about them.  Then again, I'm probably not alone because none of their albums cracked the Top 50.

Rock Hall 2024

In looking at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees for 2024, I think all of them probably should eventually be inducted.  Well, except for Peter Frampton.  Here's how I would order them:

1.  Mariah Carey - I have no idea why the hall makes pop/r&b megastars like Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston wait a decade or so to be inducted, but I guess it ultimately doesn't matter much.

2.  Kool and the Gang - 9 #1 hits on the r&b chart from '74 to '85 including "Ladies Night," "Celebration," and "Cherish."

3.  Mary J. Blige - even though I have to admit I can't name any of her songs.

4.  Cher - hurt I think because her singing career had such distinct phases often years apart - Sonny and Cher in the '60s, extremely successful solo singer in the early '70s with songs like "Half Breed" and "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" that went to #1 and haven't been heard on radio since then, late '80s comeback where she cavorted on a battleship for "Turn Back to Time," and then that "Believe" song.  I think that's a solid resume even if her acting career and then being a diva overshadowed it.

5.  Oasis - Perhaps they'll kind of be the equivalent of Depeche Mode in being the one inductee to represent all of '90s Britpop.

6.  Sade - the quintessential VH1 act.  I'm amused that in the '80s we were told the name was pronounced with an r as SHAR day, which we eventually realized was a hypercorrection, and not told that the group was also called Sade.  Like Alice Cooper.  Or Winger.

7.  Sinead O'Connor - it kind of sucks that she did the only truly courageous thing in the history of SNL and then Lorne Michaels allowed Joe Pesci and Madonna to do incredibly unfunny bits about it.  Although Sinbad O'Connor was pretty funny.

8.  A Tribe Called Quest

9.  Eric B and Rakim - the order of these last two could obviously be flipped.

10.  Dave Matthews Band - I mean, they have to get in eventually, right?  Having gone to UVa in Charlottesville in the early '90s, I walked/drove by two of their concerts.  If they get inducted, I'm counting that as attending in addition to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis (triple bill at Wolf Trap in the late '90s), Willie Nelson (2x, the first when he played in the outfield of Richmond's Triple A baseball stadium while we sat behind home plate), Bo Diddley (Alameda County Fair), and Prince.

11.  Foreigner - arena/corporate rock has to be the most disdained genre among hall voters, even more than metal.  Foreigner's first four albums each sold at least 5 million copies in the US and the next one had "I Want to Know What Love Is."

12.  Ozzy Osbourne - I also worked security at Ozzfest at Nissan Pavilion back in the day.  The crowd ripped up the grass on the lawn.  Not that I care but is he more deserving of induction as a solo performer than Phil Collins, Sting, or even Don Henley?

13.  Jane's Addiction

14.  Lenny Kravitz - obviously not very innovative but seems kind of like Sheryl Crow in that he'll probably eventually get in because people like him and he'll show up to help out at these kind of things.

15.  Peter Frampton - apart from the big live album, why is he nominated?

"Patty Hearst Heard the Burst"

It's the 50th anniversary of the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, just south of campus on Benvenue Avenue.  Perhaps it could have been prevented (if she wasn't in on it) had she lived in my more open West Berkeley flats neighborhood.  At the very least, my apartment complex was right off Hearst Avenue.