41 Women Who Should Be in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: NPR

41 is an odd number...but anyway. Nice summary.

Karen Carpenter: The queen of contemplative pop, whose reputation has been rehabilitated by young critics and musicians who understand the power in her soft approach, is as influential on current pop as any screaming rocker. She released her first single in 1966.
 
Didn't Stevie Nicks have solo hits?

"Bella Donna" her debut solo album released in 1981 was a smash hit (4 X Platinum) and reached #1 on the Billboard Top 200 weekly album chart. Of the 4 singles she released from the album, 2 were duets; Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Tom Petty) and Leather & Lace (with Don Henley). #3 and #6 respectively on the "big chart" (as Harry likes to call it). Edge Of Seventeen went to #11. The album was produced by Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty.

Source: Wikipedia

Clearly, Stevie was able to "turn that corner" to success where Karen could not. Not to bring up Karen's solo project (get your hand away from the button Harry!!) but how much better would the project have been with a strong male lead doing a duet with KC (something I have harped--on many times in this forum)? Pretty damn strong IMHO. Fun Question: If we could go back in time wouldn't you swap-out Phil Ramone for Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty?!
 
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To keep on point, we all know that the duo SHOULD be in the RRHOF years ago. But the same creeps that panned all their concert and album reviews are running it, so they will probably NEVER get in. But that's OK and I believe it is OK with RC also. He has always known the score in that regard. Besides; RRHOF has achieved irrelevancy all on its own; like the Grammys, Emmys, Oscars, etc, etc, etc.
 
I don't give a lot of importance to the RRHOF, but I do think they should strive to have reasonably defensible criteria that are applied with reasonable consistency. If they decide the genre of pop music is eligible, then the Carpenters are worthy of being inducted, without question. However, lines have to be drawn somewhere about what genres should be in and out of bounds. For instance, I'm not sympathetic with the author of the NPR piece advocating for the induction of Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. They are both clearly country/Americana artists. If you let Dolly Parton in the RRHOF, then why not lots of other great country artists? Then what distinguishes the RRHOF from the Country Music Hall of Fame?
 
Elaborating on the importance of the RRHOF. My particular interest as a Carpenter's fan is to see the duo's worldwide fan base and critical appreciation grow now and into the future. I don't think what the RRHOF does or doesn't do has much affect on that. Case in point. I asked my three teenagers yesterday to rank the importance of the RRHOF on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = very unimportant and 5 = very important. The responses were two 2's, and one 3. On the other hand, all three recognize Karen Carpenter as a great singer, and two of them enjoy listening to the Carpenters somewhat regularly. My main point: I think there are more effective ways to expand the Carpenter's fan base among younger generations. These include a well done documentary about Karen that appears on Netflix or other streaming services, a feature film biopic of Karen, and placement of Carpenters songs in television shows and movies.
 
Considering the amount of blowback the RRHOF has gotten regarding Whitney Houston getting in this year but not Pat Benatar, I would say Karen (and Richard) have more chance of touring together again than they have of being in the RRHOF.

What's funny is, all those whiners keep forgetting that there's always next year. I know some rock artists have been nominated over a dozen times before they finally got in.
 
Richard and Karen don't belong in the R&RHoF, because their music simply isn't R&R. They're in a class of their own, however one may wish to name that class.
 
As usual, begin with legitimate definitions:
Rock and Roll defined as...
"a type of popular dance music originating in the 1950s, characterized by a heavy beat and simple melodies. Rock and roll was an amalgam of black rhythm and blues and white country music, usually based on a twelve-bar structure and an instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums."
Or,
"a style of popular music that derives in part from blues and folk music and is marked by a heavily accented beat and a simple, repetitive phrase structure."


So, Karen and Richard DO (at least, in part)
fit THE DEFINITION.
Whether, or not, they fit the criteria to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is
ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE.
 
The RRHOF is just one entity. There are many other opportunities for artists to be recognized.

I've always thought that R&K deserved to be Kennedy Centre Honorees. And with this year being the 50th anniversary of the release of both CTY and WOJB, I hope that the committee deciding which artists to honor will keep R&K in mind.

The awards ceremony at the Kennedy Centre is always a 1st class affair and the C's - being a 1st class act - would be a perfect fit IMHO.
 
The RRHOF is just one entity. There are many other opportunities for artists to be recognized.

I've always thought that R&K deserved to be Kennedy Centre Honorees. And with this year being the 50th anniversary of the release of both CTY and WOJB, I hope that the committee deciding which artists to honor will keep R&K in mind.

The awards ceremony at the Kennedy Centre is always a 1st class affair and the C's - being a 1st class act - would be a perfect fit IMHO.
Fantastic idea.
 
Richard and Karen don't belong in the R&RHoF, because their music simply isn't R&R. They're in a class of their own, however one may wish to name that class.
This reminds me of how they are stocked in record stores. In some stores they are put under “Rock”, “Pop”, others “Adult Contemporary”, others “Easy Listening” and still others “70’s”.
 
The RRHOF is just one entity. There are many other opportunities for artists to be recognized.

I've always thought that R&K deserved to be Kennedy Centre Honorees. And with this year being the 50th anniversary of the release of both CTY and WOJB, I hope that the committee deciding which artists to honor will keep R&K in mind.

The awards ceremony at the Kennedy Centre is always a 1st class affair and the C's - being a 1st class act - would be a perfect fit IMHO.

Above: Great idea! :)

Plus if Karen was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame it would only be right for it to "include Richard" as they were the Carpenters!
Karen was never a solo artist until her album was released 13 years after her passing. Most casual fans never even knew she recorded a solo album.
At this point Richard would be more of a solo artist than Karen, with two solo projects released while he is very much alive!
 
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