Showing posts with label Deep Purple. Show all posts

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Greatest Snubs

image from earthsmightiest.com

With the announcement of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2015 nominees, it is time once again to commence with the whining, complaining, and Hall bashing. Blogs and social media everywhere will light up with people griping that the Hall is worthless because their favorite band has not been enshrined.

These are just personal opinions. Dave’s Music Database has consolidated more than 50 lists (see resources at bottom of page) to determine just who is getting overlooked most. Here are the results:

The Moody Blues
Cheap Trick
Deep Purple
Chicago
Journey
Electric Light Orchestra
Yes
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble *
The Cure
Iron Maiden
The Cars
T-Rex
Bon Jovi
Joy Divison
Def Leppard
Judas Priest
Depeche Mode
Motorhead
The Smiths *
The Doobie Brothers
Pat Benatar
Warren Zevon
Boston
Roxy Music
Jethro Tull
Joe Cocker
Dire Straits
Devo
Peter Frampton
Kraftwerk *
Todd Rundgren
Bad Company
Replacements
Thin Lizzy
Steve Miller Band
New York Dolls
The Zombies
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts *
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Duran Duran
The Guess Who
Gram Parsons
MC5
Foreigner
Chic *
King Crimson
The B-52’s
Styx
The Monkees
Steppenwolf
Big Star
Pixies
Scorpions
Motley Crue
Sonic Youth
Dick Dale
Black Flag
Kate Bush
Nick Drake
Barry White
New Order
Jimmy Buffett
Three Dog Night
Procol Harum
The Runaways
Tommy Janes & the Shondells
Afrika Bambaataa
Whitney Houston
Dead Kennedys
Love
Blue Oyster Cult
Slayer
Joan Baez
X
Los Lobos
War
INXS
Janet Jackson
Meat Loaf
Eurythmics
J. Geils Band
Television
Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘N’ Roll Trio
Willie Nelson
Toto
Brian Eno
Weird Al Yankovic
Captain Beefheart
Ozzy Osbourne
Carole King
Soundgarden
Commodores
Little Feat
Carpenters
Harry Nilsson
The Jam
The Buzzcocks
The Spinners *
The Clovers
Grand Funk Railroad

* 2014 nominee

Resources and Related Links:

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Albums to Look Forward to in 2013

image from ps23bronx.org

Here are some of the major album releases for 2013. Check the “Resources and Related Links” at the bottom for even more complete lists. I am highlighting releases from major acts and those with at least one album in the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time.

Jan. 14: New Order Lost Sirens
Jan. 21: Adam Ant Adam Ant Is the Blueback Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter
Jan. 29: Justin Bieber Believe Acoustic
Jan. 29: Andrea Bocelli Passione
Feb. 2: My Bloody Valentine MBV
MBV - the first album in 22 years from My Bloody Valentine
Feb. 4: Josh Groban All That Echoes
Feb. 10: Tim McGraw Two Lanes of Freedom
Feb. 18: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Push the Sky Away
Feb. 25: Atoms for Peace (Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea, et al) Amok
Feb. 25: 50 Cent Street King Immortal
Feb. 25: Johnny Marr The Messenger
Feb. 26: Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell Old Yellow Moon
Mar. 4: Dido Girl Who Got Away
Mar. 4: Jimi Hendrix People, Hell and Angels
Mar. 4: Stereophonics Graffiti on the Train
Mar. 5: Boz Scaggs Memphis
Mar. 11: Bon Jovi What About Now
Mar. 12: David Bowie The Next Day
Mar. 12: Eric Clapton Old Socks
Mar. 15: Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience
Mar. 18: Suede Bloodsports
Mar. 18: Eric Woolfson Somewhere in the Audience
Mar. 19: Black Crowes Wiser for the Time (live album)
Mar. 19: will.i.am #willpower
Mar. 22: Depeche Mode Delta Machine
Mar. 25: Simple Minds (compilation)
Mar. 25: Wire Change Becomes Us
Mar. 26: Lil Wayne I Am Not a Human Being II
Mar. 26: The Strokes Comedown Machine
March: Mariah Carey – TBA
Apr. 1: The Flaming Lips The Terror
Apr. 2: New Kids on the Block 10
Apr. 2: Various Artists: The Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver
Apr. 8: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark English Electric
Apr. 16: Fall Out Boy Save Rock and Roll
Apr. 22: Avril Lavigne Hello Candy
Apr. 23: Michael Bublé To Be Loved
Apr. 30: Iggy & the Stooges Ready to Die
April: Janet Jackson – TBA
May 7: Goo Goo Dolls Magnetic
May 7: Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City
May 27: John Fogerty Wrote a Song for Everyone
May: Daft Punk, Lady Gaga – TBA
June 11: Black Sabbath 13

The following acts are expected in 2013, but no release date has been announced:

AC/DC
Christina Aguilera
Alice in Chains The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Backstreet Boys
Justin Bieber Believe 2.0
Jimmy Buffett
Deep Purple
Eminem
Nelly Furtado
Iron Maiden
Limp Bizkit
Jennifer Lopez
Megadeth
Nicki Minaj
Kylie Minogue
Motörhead
Pearl Jam
Katy Perry
Queens of the Stone Age
Sigur Rós
Britney Spears
The Vines

Black Sabbath will release 13, their first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978

Resources and Related Links:

TheFourOhFive.com: Upcoming Album Releases 2013
Metacritic: Upcoming Album Release Calendar
Wikipedia: List of albums released and scheduled for release in 2013
DMDB’s Top 1000 Albums of All Time

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 Nominees

image from RockHall.com

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has nominated its class of 2013. Over the next couple months, the Hall’s voting body of roughly 600 musicians, industry types, and journalists will vote to determine which of them will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on April 18, 2013. Here are the 15 nominees:

Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Chic
Deep Purple
Heart
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Albert King
Kraftwerk
The Marvelettes
The Meters
Randy Newman
N.W.A.
Procol Harum
Public Enemy
Rush
Donna Summer

You can read about each nominee at RockHallcom. In an interesting move, the Hall has added a way for fans to vote, although their voice will be minimal. Fans can vote at RollingStone.com and the top 5 vote getters will be entered as one of the 600+ ballots. Results will be announced in mid-December.

Rush finally gets long overdue nomination; image from progarchives.com

So who should go in? After last year’s class of nominees was announced, I tapped 39 lists arguing for who deserved inclusion. Based on that list, here’s how this year’s crop ranks:

Rush (2)
Deep Purple (5)
Heart (12)
Kraftwerk (39)
Public Enemy (47)
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (53)
Chic (55)
Procol Harum (81)
Randy Newman (86)

Not ranked: Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Albert King, The Marvelettes, The Meters, N.W.A., and Donna Summer.

As always, there will be plenty of debate regarding who didn’t get nominated – namely, KISS. In another blog post last year, I argued on behalf of KISS, Gram Parsons, Rush, Joy Division, and Deep Purple. I’m grateful that the Hall has listened to me and included two of my suggestions. ;)

Frankly, though, if that top 5 (Rush, Deep Purple, Heart, Kraftwerk, Public Enemy) were this year’s inductees, that would be an awesome class. There’s some nice diversity in terms of genre, race, and gender. We’d have a newbie (Public Enemy) and some long overdue nominees. Don’t hold your breath, though. Based on the Rock Hall’s past trends, I’d say Heart and Public Enemy have good shots among this class, but the other three slots are likely to go to the pet projects of Hall nominating committee members, meaning the other slots might well go to Chic, Albert King, and Donna Summer. They aren’t horrible picks, but they certainly aren’t more worthy than Rush and Deep Purple. We’ll see what happens.

Resources and Related Links:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The 2013 Nominees, 4 October 2012
RollingStone.com: Rush, Public Enemy, Deep Purple Nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by Andy Greene, 4 October 2012
Dave’s Music Database blog: The Top 100 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Hopefuls, 22 October 2011
Dave’s Music Database blog: And This Year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Should Be…, 28 September 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

And This Year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Should Be...

image from abcnewsradioonline.com

September 27, 2011: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees for the 2012 class. See the DMDB blog entry And This Year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Are… for details on who was nominated and who looks to be the best bets to get in. Of course, the new roster of nominees stirs a long-standing frustration over who keeps getting passed over. Heck, this subject served as the first DMDB blog entry, How to Get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in January 2009.

So who has been unfairly overlooked? If the DMDB was in charge of the 2012 inductees, these would be the five to get in. Note: click on acts’ names to see their entries in the DMDB music makers’ encyclopedia.

Kiss

In February, I wrote a blog entry entitled Why Kiss Belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m actually not a Kiss fan, but my argument is that it is impossible to overlook a band that is the embodiment of rock and roll. The popular criticism is that the band uses elaborate stage shows to mask an absence of substance. They may appeal to the crotch, but not the head. Any self-respecting adult would have long ago purged their collections of any traces of the group. Uh, note to the Rock Hall – apparently you’ve forgotten how much of rock and roll is about music which appeals to young adults because it is all about sex and over-the-top showmanship. By the way, once Kiss gets in, make way for the New York Dolls, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. That also opens the door to hair bands. Most worthy of induction are Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.

image from omg.yahoo.com

Gram Parsons

Earlier this month, I wrote a blog entry about Parsons (Country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons died: September 19, 1973). That offers a brief overview of Parsons’ contributions. To sum it up here, writer Radley Balko argues that “Parsons may be the most influential artist yet to be inducted in either the Rock and Roll or Country Music Hall(s) of Fame”. The man who has been called “The Father of Country Rock” has four DMDB top 1000 albums – his own G.P. and Grievous Angel as well as The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo and The Flying Burrito Brothers’ Gilded Palace of Sin. Groups like the Eagles and Poco owe their very existence to the foundation he helped build.

image from aquariumdrunkard.com

Rush

Rufus over Rush? The Hall has rightly acknowledged many R&B acts who have significantly shaped rock and roll. In its first two years, the Hall inducted Ray Charles, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Louis Jordan. However, years after the R&B base has been more than acknowledged, the Hall continues to hail R&B acts (the 2012 nominees include Rufus, The Spinners, War, and Donna Summer) at the expense of acts which have been rock first and foremost. This is glaringly apparent when it comes to progressive rock. The Hall has an obvious bias against it, having only inducted Genesis from the genre. Still failing to receive acknowledgement are Rush; Yes; King Crimson; Jethro Tull; The Moody Blues; and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. All of these acts are worthy, but if I could only pick one, I’d go with Rush as the act who best transcended the genre to appeal to hard rock and heavy metal audiences as well.

image from photobucket.com

Joy Division

The Cure gets a nod this year and I think they are worthy of Hall induction – but not before Joy Division. These two groups most define the genre of goth rock, but Joy Division got there first. In a previous blog entry, I called them “one of the most important post-punk bands for creating the template for goth music” (Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart charts: June 28, 1980). They only released two studio albums and gained a much wider audience in their re-incarnated-as-New Order form, but in launching goth rock, Joy Division also laid the platform on which much of ‘80s alternative rock – including The Cure – was formed. While we’re focused on groups who laid the foundation for the alt scene, The Smiths and Sonic Youth belong on the short list of acts which should be ushered in right after Joy Division.

image from sillything.altervista.org

Deep Purple

There’s still plenty of others worthy of Hall attention. I seriously considered giving this fifth spot to an artier, influential band like Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, Big Star, or Captain Beefheart. There’s also a serious case to be made for Stevie Ray Vaughan, that rare artist who moved an entire genre (the blues) forward while paying homage to its roots. However, the biggest and baddest act left deserving of enshrinement is Deep Purple. This would give the 2012 class a real dose of something the Hall has too long neglected – ROCK AND ROLL. What rock fan wouldn’t salivate at the idea that Deep Purple, Kiss, and Rush could all share a stage that night? The idea of a post-jam celebration including “Hush”, “Rock and Roll All Nite”, and “Tom Sawyer” just boggles the mind.

image from sonicabuse.com

Resources and Related Links:

Saturday, February 11, 1989

50 years ago: Larry Clinton took “Deep Purple” to #1 – for the first of two times

Deep Purple

Larry Clinton with Bea Wain

Writer(s): Peter DeRose/Mitchell Parish (see lyrics here)

First Charted: February 4, 1939

Peak: 1⁹ US, 1⁷ HP, 1⁸ GA, 1⁸ SM (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Peter DeRose wrote “Deep Purple” as a piano composition. It was published in 1933 and the following year it was arranged for orchestra by, depending on the account, either Domenico Savino ^TY1 or Paul Whiteman. ^WK Whiteman said, he was “making a lady out of jazz.” ^WK When the song became a hit via sheet music, Mitchell Parish added lyrics in 1938.

In 1939, five versions of the song charted, including top 10 hits by Jimmy Dorsey and Guy Lombardo and top 20 hits by Bing Crosby and Artie Shaw. ^PM The biggest version, however, was the one by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra featuring Bea Wain as vocalist. ^PM That year the song was the #3 jukebox selection of the year. ^TY1 A decade later, Paul Weston’s instrumental version hit #20. ^PM In 1957, The Dominoes revamped the song as a doo-wop hit. The 1976 version by the brother-and-sister act of Donny and Marie Osmond was a #14 hit. ^HT

They weren’t the only siblings to have success with the song. Nino Tempo and April Stevens took the song back to #1 in 1963. ^HT The brother and sister had worked separately before meeting Ahmet Ertegun and signing with Atlantic Records. The pair had gone into the studio to record “Paradise,” but with 14 minutes left of studio time, Ahmet encouraged them to tackle “Deep Purple.” Nino was supposed to sing the second chorus, but when he couldn’t remember the words, April spoke them. The “narration” stayed in and became part of the song. ^FB

The sentimental ballad was a favorite of Babe Ruth, who even had DeRose play the song at his birthday parties for roughly a decade. ^WK In addition, the song provided the heavy metal group Deep Purple with their name. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s grandmother kept asking the group if they would perform the song because it was her favorite. ^WK

Resources:

DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Larry Clinton
^FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 139.
^DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 46.
^TY1 Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. Quill: New York, NY. Page 97.
^PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 491.
^HT Joel Whitburn (2009). Top Pop Singles 1955-2008 (12th edition). Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 1125.
^WK Wikipedia.org

First posted 2/11/2013; last updated 2/27/2023.

Saturday, May 26, 1973

Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” charted