Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Although I have my personal pantheon-- and even a sort of informal ranking system-- the idea of a rock'n'roll Hall of Fame doesn't really sit well with me. Noel Murray and Keith Phipps break down some prospective candidates, and illustrate some of my problem. I mean, you've got your undeniably great, your Chuck Berrys and Bob Dylans. The equivalent of the first class of baseball's HOF (Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth) is actually pretty canonical: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Little Richard. That's pretty good, it acknowledges the music's roots in African-American culture, and it looks like something that could be built on by carefully selecting only the greatest contributors to the form. The problem is that you're always going to have your Rabbit Maranvilles. I mean, The Cure?
// posted by Bill @ 1:19 PM 
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