Rock Roll Hall Fame 2020

JayJayVA

Well-Known Member
  • Whitney Houston
  • The Doobie Brothers
  • Depeche Mode
  • Nine Inch Nails
  • T. Rex
  • Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie)
 
Just my two cents' worth (and you know what that'll buy you these days)...
  • Whitney Houston 👎👎
  • The Doobie Brothers 👍👍👍 (long overdue)
  • Depeche Mode 👍👍👍👍
  • Nine Inch Nails 👍
  • T. Rex 🤷‍♂️
  • Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie) 👎👎👎
I'm not really in favor of the powers that be who own/manage the RRHOF, so... 🤷‍♂️ But if a current or past band can be celebrated, I guess it's all good in the end.
 
DB and DM are very worthy. The Notorious Big Houston, just wrong. And bang a gong for T. Rex I guess.
 
Not to knock Whitney because I do love her, but Carpenters should get inducted but sadly, they have never been nominated.
 
Whitney Houston has been a lasting vocal influence on every female R&B singer to surface in the last thirty years. She should be there. Biggie is constantly cited as an influence on most rappers for the last twenty. They both belong here for sure. Their contributions to their respective genres have been immeasurable.

Ed
 
My previous point was not to take away from the artists mentioned, but to highlight that yet again the Carpenters are overlooked and dare I say, deliberately left out despite their own massive personal achievements and contributions to music, not to mention the artists who have cited the Carpenters as an influence like Madonna, Sonic Youth, K.D Lang, Shania Twain et al. Just take a look at the If I Were A Carpenter tribute album to see the range.
 
DB and DM are very worthy. The Notorious Big Houston, just wrong. And bang a gong for T. Rex I guess.
NIN I'm on the fence about. I don't know that NIN/Trent Reznor has all that much of a body of work compared to the others, although he's been a big influence in that style of music (techno/industrial) and certainly has appreciable talents that have been overlooked by many. I almost feel like it's a token addition to appease the alt-rock crowd. Depeche kind of skirts on the fringes of alt-rock, but they were very influential and helped advance the use of the synthesizer far beyond what was being done in the early 80s, and evolved from there. (And anything Martin Gore ever set lyrics to was way more memorable than the forgettable ditties that Houston used to perform.)
 
The RRHOF is bull****! Snobs one and all...Has "jumped the shark" completely as far as artistic relevance.
 
They broadcast it later on HBO every year, and it’s full of f bombs etc. Best not to go or watch if it offends, or not to your liking. I just fast forward through artists I don’t care for, or presenters and inductees I don’t want to listen to. It’s easy enough, and parts of it are usually fun.
 
NIN I'm on the fence about. I don't know that NIN/Trent Reznor has all that much of a body of work compared to the others, although he's been a big influence in that style of music (techno/industrial) and certainly has appreciable talents that have been overlooked by many. I almost feel like it's a token addition to appease the alt-rock crowd. Depeche kind of skirts on the fringes of alt-rock, but they were very influential and helped advance the use of the synthesizer far beyond what was being done in the early 80s, and evolved from there. (And anything Martin Gore ever set lyrics to was way more memorable than the forgettable ditties that Houston used to perform.)

Whitney's "forgettable ditties" were huge from a commercial standpoint - far more so than the rest of the nominees combined. We can say what we will but those tunes spoke to people or they wouldn't have purchased them. Many would absolutely say the same about Carpenters' tunes...and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong to say it in many cases. Whitney's influence was good and it was bad too. For every great singer she influenced, there were also those who picked up her melisma but didn't understand how to use it or where to use it, thus giving birth to a generation of over-singers like Christina Aguilera who just "riff" for no reason and strip any little bit of emotion out of whatever they're singing.

Ed
 
A couple of years ago, Cheap Trick and Steve Miller were both inducted. Cheap Trick reunited with their original drummer (who no longer plays with them but is still a member of their organization) and they had a great time with it. They wound up releasing one of their best albums ever, and charted higher with it than they had in years, and it caused their concert booking price to jump dramatically. (I know the last fact because I'm on our local fair board and I've been hoping we could book them here, but sadly ... too much $.)

Steve Miller, on the other hand, went on Howard Stern and went off about how the whole thing was complete corporate BS, Jann Wenner was a jerk to his group, etc. So I suppose it's like a lot of things, you get out of it what you put in.

This year, the only nominee I'm really a fan of is the Doobie Brothers. They have deserved to be in since the start. Not even considering their many hit records, but the fact that they survived a series of complete changes in musical style and made hit records in each "era" is pretty remarkable. And they're STILL out there getting it done. One of the coolest things about them has always been, they have an open door policy -- anyone who's ever been a member of the band is always welcome to perform with them. I don't think there are many other bands out there who can say that. They had a big tour with Michael McDonald on board just about to start when Covid ruined everything.

I can't stand Whitney Houston. There's not one record she ever did that I like, and her vocal style (the way she goes into hyper-bellow mode at the end of every song, like Barry Manilow) makes me want to bury my head in whatever blanket is nearby.
 
Saw the Doobie Brothers numerous times and most recently at the DTE Energy Center outside of Detroit a couple of years ago when they opened for Chicago. Very deserving recognition, a class act and they put on an excellent show without Michael McDonald. REO Speedwagon is another hard band working band that will be hopefully be inducted in the future. Was interesting watching the concert and thinking about the numerous sold out concerts the Carpenters performed there back when it was known as Pine Knob.
 
A couple of years ago, Cheap Trick and Steve Miller were both inducted. Cheap Trick reunited with their original drummer (who no longer plays with them but is still a member of their organization) and they had a great time with it. They wound up releasing one of their best albums ever, and charted higher with it than they had in years, and it caused their concert booking price to jump dramatically. (I know the last fact because I'm on our local fair board and I've been hoping we could book them here, but sadly ... too much $.)

Steve Miller, on the other hand, went on Howard Stern and went off about how the whole thing was complete corporate BS, Jann Wenner was a jerk to his group, etc. So I suppose it's like a lot of things, you get out of it what you put in.

This year, the only nominee I'm really a fan of is the Doobie Brothers. They have deserved to be in since the start. Not even considering their many hit records, but the fact that they survived a series of complete changes in musical style and made hit records in each "era" is pretty remarkable. And they're STILL out there getting it done. One of the coolest things about them has always been, they have an open door policy -- anyone who's ever been a member of the band is always welcome to perform with them. I don't think there are many other bands out there who can say that. They had a big tour with Michael McDonald on board just about to start when Covid ruined everything.

I can't stand Whitney Houston. There's not one record she ever did that I like, and her vocal style (the way she goes into hyper-bellow mode at the end of every song, like Barry Manilow) makes me want to bury my head in whatever blanket is nearby.
The RRHOF is bull****! Snobs one and all...Has "jumped the shark" completely as far as artistic relevance.

I am very disappointed by the nominees for this year. The only reason Whitney and BIG got in is so the owners will not be branded as racist as they dropped Dave Clark 5 for a rap artist years back. There are too many people that are ignored year after year. I have never watched the induction and never will. I have visited the RRHoF but it was not worth the price you pay to enter. I was hoping to see a lot about the artists inducted but was very disappointed and will not go back.
 
I am very disappointed by the nominees for this year. The only reason Whitney and BIG got in is so the owners will not be branded as racist as they dropped Dave Clark 5 for a rap artist years back. There are too many people that are ignored year after year. I have never watched the induction and never will. I have visited the RRHoF but it was not worth the price you pay to enter. I was hoping to see a lot about the artists inducted but was very disappointed and will not go back.

They got in because they were both incredibly successful and remain influential to this day on many aspiring rappers and R&B singers respectively. The RRHOF has never been an organization that could please everyone and this year is no different.

I really think they should have dispensed with the Rock N' Roll part of the name years ago and just called it the "Music Hall of Fame". That would be more accurate and would eliminate the whole "but they're not Rock N' Roll, gosh darn it all to heck!" thing we're greeted with every year when non-Rock nominees are announced.

Ed
 
I really think they should have dispensed with the Rock N' Roll part of the name years ago and just called it the "Music Hall of Fame". That would be more accurate and would eliminate the whole "but they're not Rock N' Roll, gosh darn it all to heck!" thing we're greeted with every year when non-Rock nominees are announced.
That would never work. If it were called the "Music Hall of Fame", then they'd have to let in classical, jazz, country, etc. artists, as well as artists who were successful in other parts of the world, but were largely unknown in the USA. Why not just call the hall what it really is, "The Music That Was Popular in the United States of America, from the Mid - 1950s Onward, As Long as It's Not Instrumental, Country, or The Carpenters, Hall of Fame".
 
Saw the Doobie Brothers numerous times and most recently at the DTE Energy Center outside of Detroit a couple of years ago when they opened for Chicago. Very deserving recognition, a class act and they put on an excellent show without Michael McDonald.
I saw the Doobies there about 16 years ago as well. The person I attended with was surprised they knew so many of the songs, despite not having owned any of their records. They still had the two-drummer lineup, and Skylark was their bassist. Very tight musically, a great show, and I paid only $11/ticket for pavillion seats. (Pine Knob* was giving away vouchers for free lawn seating, and I found out that for the vouchers, you could go to the box office to request an upgrade to any unsold pavillion seating available, for a minimal cost.)

* We still call it Pine Knob. Everyone I know refuses to call it by the name of that utility company whose name adorns it now. 😁

Steve Miller, on the other hand, went on Howard Stern and went off about how the whole thing was complete corporate BS, Jann Wenner was a jerk to his group, etc.
Wenner's the reason I dislike the nominations and the Hall of Fame. If there's any one person to blame for the uneven quality of nominations, he was (and perhaps still is) the most likely suspect.

I have visited the RRHoF but it was not worth the price you pay to enter. I was hoping to see a lot about the artists inducted but was very disappointed and will not go back.
Agreed. The gift shop was cool (got a 45 RPM adapter pin), but looking at instruments and clothing of dead people did nothing for me, especially since I have so little interest in much of that type of music anyways.
 
  • Whitney Houston
  • The Doobie Brothers
  • Depeche Mode
  • Nine Inch Nails
  • T. Rex
  • Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie)

Not sure what their criteria for choosing nominees is but the name of the awards doesn't seem to fit the nominees or the nominees don't fit the awards.

I don't know Biggie but a mate who's more into that style of music says he's good. I don't remember any songs by Nine Inch Nails but they're a bit more rock than the others, aren't they? Can't really remember anything about them.

Of the others, Depeche Mode seems quite a bit more interesting than the other three. At least they progressed and evolved and tried a few different things as they went along.

My impression of the Doobie Brothers is that they did a couple of interesting things in their early days but then stagnated once Michael McDonald joined - although I find his voice interesting.

Whitney didn't seem to change much throughout her career, either.

T. Rex was considered big and influential in his / their era but there were a lot of other acts around that time who didn't sound all that different from him / them. The Glam Rock thing.

The thought of Carpenters winning a Rock Hall of Fame award seems as at odds with the idea of rock 'n' roll as most of the other names, above.

Yes, maybe they need to retitle the awards and then it all might make sense.
 
Nine Inch Nails (and Trent Reznor) are more of an alternative/industrial type of group. They didn't have a large catalog but their music is considered very influential in that area. Very much a trendsetter and pioneer for that type of sound. (And those who don't understand it think it's a bunch of noise...which is what our parents thought of our records back in the day 😁). This very quiet tune, "Hurt," closes out the Downward Spiral album--a very chilling song.



"March of the Pigs" is very, very harsh and loud, strongly rooted in the alt/industrial style.



Not everyone's cup of tea, but it spawned many imitators and there's a lot of depth there when you get beyond the sound of it all. A lot of raw energy and raw emotions. Definitely not for everyone.
 
The Nine Inch Nails song & music video "Closer" which Trent Reznor says "I wanna f--- you like an animal"!!
 
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