Showing posts with label Freddie King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freddie King. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

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A slate of 11 inductees were announced for the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Performer inductees were selected from more than 500 voters from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2012 in Cleveland (where the Hall is based) and air on HBO in early May. The ceremony is open to the public. Here’s a breakdown of the nominees:

Beastie Boys
Induction category: Performer

“The Beastie Boys (Adam Yauch, Mike Diamond and Adam Horowitz) are among the pioneers of rap. The first white act to make real inroads in the emerging genre, they were known initially for boorish party music, but would develop into a group critically acclaimed for its musicality, experimenting with different soundscapes, even producing an instrumental album.” EW “Their 1986 debut album Licensed To Ill – a supremely bratty, hard-punching, pitch-perfect mix of rap and hard rock – was hip-hop’s first number one album.” RH “The single ‘(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)’, became a teenage party anthem of the 1980s.” RH 1989’s Paul’s Boutique “was one of the high points of hip-hop’s golden age of sampling” RH and throughout the ‘90s, the group fused hardcore punk and funk into their sound. The trio are still active, having released Hot Sauce Committee Part Two just this year.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



Donovan
Induction category: Performer

“The first British folk troubadour who truly captured the imaginations of early Beatles-era fans on both sides of the Atlantic, Donovan Leitch made the transition from a scruffy blue-jeaned busker into a brocaded hippie traveler.” RH He “became a Dylan-esque visual presence” RH with songs like “Catch the Wind” and “Mellow Yellow” and “ignited the psychedelic revolution virtually single handedly when the iconic single ‘Sunshine Superman’.” RH

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



Tom Dowd
Induction category: The Award for Musical Excellence

Dowd was a scientist whose “dreams of becoming a nuclear physicist research specialist were sidetracked when he began using his engineering knowledge to work as a freelancer for various New York record labels.” RH He became an Atlantic Records staff engineer and producer in 1954 and embraced technological innovations like the use of stereo and eight-track recording machines. RH “At Atlantic, he recorded, and occasionally produced, artists such as Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding.” RH “In later years he helped to create the signature sound of the Allman Brothers Band, Cream, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, Bette Midler, Chicago and the James Gang.”

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.

Guns N’ Roses
Induction category: Performer

Guns N’ Roses emerged in 1987 with their debut album Appetite for Destruction which spawned the #1 “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and the top ten hit “Welcome to the Jungle”. The latter referenced the “gritty realities” RH of the group trying to make it “as just another long-haired band trying to make it on the L.A. Sunset Strip club scene.” RH Frontman Axl Rose, guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler “established themselves as one the most dynamic and explosive hard rock bands in history. In many ways, they became the Rolling Stones for a new generation.” RH However, after their pair of Use Your Illusion albums in 1991, which sported memorable songs like “November Rain” and “You Could Be Mine”, internal strife ate away at the band. A covers album followed in 1994, but then everyone jumped ship except for Rose, who put together a new lineup and finally released an album of new material 14 years later.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



Glyn Johns
Induction category: The Award for Musical Excellence

Born in 1942 in Epson, England, Johns started out as a performer and then became “an apprentice to the producer Shel Talmy, who worked with the Who and the Kinks. By 1965, Johns was engineering Rolling Stones’ recording sessions, including 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request and 1968’s Beggars Banquet.” RH “By 1971, Johns had hit his stride as a producer, with Who’s Next by the Who, the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers and the Faces’ A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... to a Blind Horse to his credit. He produced the Eagles’ first three albums and is arguably responsible for creating that group’s distinct Southern California sound.” RH He has also done producing and engineering work for Traffic, Procol Harum, Spooky Tooth, The Move, Steve Miler Band, The Band, Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Jimmy Page, John Hiatt, and David Crosby. In 2011, he worked as “mixer, engineer and producer of Ryan Adams’ 2011 album, Ashes and Fire.” RH

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.

Freddie King
Induction category: Early Influence

Guitarists Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, and Carlos Santana “have all acknowledged their debt to Freddie King (1934-1976), the “Texas Cannonball.” RH Classics like “Have You Ever Loved a Woman” and “Hide Away” have become “part of the DNA of modern electric blues.” RH The Texas-born King and his family went to Chicago in 1950 and he started learning his craft from bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Jimmie Rodgers. King found chart success with six R&B hits in 1961, including four top tens. In the late ‘60s and ‘70s, he “thrived on rock, jazz and blues scenes and at festivals” RH and right up until his death was influencing acts like “Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan and the next generation of disciples who would take electric blues into the ’80s, ’90s and beyond.” RH

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



Don Kirshner
Induction category: Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award

He started out as a songwriter working with Bobby Darin and went on to work at the famous Brill Building in New York during its heyday. He was pivotal in creating The Monkees and The Archies and later hosted Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, a live television music show which aired from 1973 to 1982. Kirshner died of heart failure on January 17, 2011.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.

Cosimo Matassa
Induction category: The Award for Musical Excellence

New Orleans R&B historian Jeff Hannusch has written that “Virtually every R&B record made in New Orleans between the late 40s and early 70s was engineered by Cosimo Matassa, and recorded in one of his four studios.” RH Some of the artists who “helped give birth to rock and roll” RH recorded at Matassa’s New Orleans’ studios, including Fats Domino, Little Richard, Lloyd Price, and Professor Longhair.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.

Laura Nyro
Induction category: Performer

The Bronx-born singer/songwriter and pianist (1947-1997) began recording as a teenager. During the ‘60s, other artists scored hits with her songs, among them Blood, Sweat & Tears with “And When I Die”, The 5th Dimension with “Wedding Bell Blues”, and Three Dog Night with “Eli’s Coming”. In the early ‘70s, Barbra Streisand “charted three consecutive times with Nyro songs” RH and in 1971 Nyro recorded with the vocal group Labelle. Elton John has said, “The soul, the passion, the out-and-out audacity of her rhythmic and melody changes was like nothing I’d ever heard before.”

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



Red Hot Chili Peppers
Induction category: Performer

With its “fusion of metal and rap” RH the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed in 1983 “in the sin-and-glamour capital of America – Hollywood, California.” EW “Singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Michael Balzary AKA Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons were high school pals who combined their passions for Jimi Hendrix, Seventies R&B and hardcore punk with sexual exuberance and local skateboard culture.” RH By the group’s 1991 breakthrough album BloodSugarSexMagik, the Peppers had endured the 1988 drug-related death of Slovak and welcomed new guitarist John Frusciante. With songs like “Give It Away” and the #2 pop hit “Under the Bridge”, the group became one of the core groups of the ‘90s alternative rock scene. Kiedis and Flea, along with drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, released the Peppers’ tenth album, I’m with You, this year.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



The Small Faces/The Faces
Induction category: Performer

The Small Faces formed in London in 1965 at the peak of the British Invasion. They consisted of singer Steve Marriott, bassist Ronnie Lane, organist Ian McLagan, and drummer Kenney Jones. They “set the standard for Sixties soul-inflected pop and English psychedelic romanticism” RH before Marriott quit in 1969. Then Jeff Beck Group alumnis Rod Stewart and Ron Wood were enlisted and the group was reborn as The Faces. They “made joyful roots music with arena muscle, cutting their own immortal body of work” RH before breaking up in 1975. The two variations “have been a lasting inspiration on artists like the Black Crowes, the Jam’s Paul Weller, the Replacements and Oasis.” RH Stewart and Wood are previous inductees as a solo artist and member of The Rolling Stones, respectively.

See DMDB music maker encyclopedia entry for more.



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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Shame?

Originally published in my "Aural Fixation" column on PopMatters.com on Nov. 1, 2011. See original post here.

image from photobucket.com

In September, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 15 nominees for the 2012 class. They are the Beastie Boys, The Cure, Donovan, Eric B. & Rakim, Guns N’ Roses, Heart, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Freddie King, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rufus/Chaka Khan, The Small Faces/The Faces, The Spinners, Donna Summer, and War. An act is eligible 25 years after the release of its first album or single. The nominating committee is comprised of more than 30 critics and music experts. Then ballots are sent to 500+ music industry types (primarily past inductees). Generally the top five vote-getters are selected for induction. Those will be announced in November.

With the new slate of Hall of Fame hopefuls comes another tradition dating to the inaugural class of 1986 – the annual grousing about who didn’t make the cut. Just check out the Hall’s Facebook page. Regardless of the nature of the post, the follow-up comments are often littered with fan complaints about their favorites being overlooked.

I’m not claiming to be above such pettiness. I scrawled two blog entries on the subject – one entitled And This Year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Are… and the other was called And This Year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Should Be….

However, it’s worth asking how often a complaint must be voiced before it becomes a legitimate concern and not just mass whining. Is there any actual evidence that the complaints lodged at the Hall have any merit? Let’s break down a few of the most common accusations.

The Hall is too focused on non-rock acts.

The Hall’s website declares that an act up for consideration should have “demonstrated unquestionable musical excellence” and that factors including “an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique, but musical excellence shall be the essential qualification of induction” (Rockhall.com, Induction Process/Eligibility).

Reread those requirements all you want, but the words “rock ‘n’ roll” don’t make an appearance in the eligibility requirements. Call me silly, but having something to do with rock ‘n’ roll ought to be pretty integral. Certainly many genres have been hugely influential in shaping rock music. In its first three years, the Hall enshrined significant acts from R&B (James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Louis Jordan), the blues (Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Muddy Waters), country (Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams), and folk (Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly). Excluding any of these performers would be laughable.

However, at Chicagoland Radio and Media.com, blogger Larz lists more than 40 inductees who, while potentially deserving of induction in Halls of fame for soul, R&B, gospel, doo-wop, rap/hip-hop, and jazz, don’t fit under the banner of rock music (23 November 2010). Recent years have seen the induction of Abba (disco), Little Anthony & the Imperials (R&B), Jimmy Cliff (reggae), and Run-D.M.C. (rap). While arguments can be made about all of those acts’ importance, how does the Hall justify inducting them before rock icons like KISS, Deep Purple, Rush, and Yes?

The Hall has a beef with KISS.

No band’s omission has sparked more public outcry. Gene Simmons, the band’s co-founder, has joked about being snubbed. “There are disco bands, rap bands, Yiddish folk song bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not KISS.” Danny Goldberg, a former publicist for the group, says “It’s hard for me to understand what definition of rock and roll…would exclude KISS.” (cityscoopsny.com, Why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Misses the Point About Rock & Roll, by Larry Getlen, 2009).

Still, there isn’t an actual conspiracy, is there? Well, consider this comment from Dave Marsh, a critic, co-founder of Creem magazine, and writer for Rolling Stone, who is also on the Hall’s nominating committee (see complete list at FutureRockLegends.com, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee (2011 edition)). Getlen’s article quoted him saying, “Kiss will never be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot.”

The Hall is anti-prog rock.

Goldmine magazine asserts that of roughly 260 Hall inductees, only Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Traffic could be considered progressive rock – about on percent of inductees (Phil Marder, Goldmine Rock Hall of Fame Stop Saying ‘No’ to Yes, 2011). In its ranking of acts most deserving of induction, Notinhalloffame.com includes five proggy faves in its top 50: Rush (#1), Jethro Tull (11), Yes (28), The Moody Blues (34), and King Crimson (37). If a band has ever done a thematic album, written a song longer than eight minutes, or dared to merge classical with rock music, it’s a safe bet they won’t have to prepare any induction speeches.

Scot McFayden, who co-directed Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, says of his documentary subject, “They’ve never been a critics’ band… Rush has never been cool enough for [the Hall].” (Simon Vozick-Levinson, cityscoopsny.com, Rush documentary director on their latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame snub: ‘It’s unfortunate’, 2010).

...just not at the Hall.

The Hall is just a bunch of snobs who vote in who they like.

Marsh’s snobbish anti-KISS stance doesn’t help the assumption that music critics have disdain for anything commercially successful. Don Kirshner, a music industry vet and creator of The Monkees, called the Hall a “millionaire’s coffee club” (Getlen). That same article asserts that politics are definitely at play with some artists selected because of affiliations with the committee while others are shot down because they’ve crossed someone.

This also brings up the frequent attacks on Jann Wenner, the Rolling Stone magazine publisher who was one of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame founders. The aforementioned “Rock and Roll Hall of Shame” article accuses Wenner of ignoring and snubbing many deserving artists – including The Monkees and Chicago specifically – and genres such as ‘70s progressive rock and arena rock. Meanwhile, he lobbies for the music he personally favors which includes ‘50s New York doo-wop, ‘50s female vocalists, ‘60s soul, Motown, and old-school hip-hop. Take a gander at the list of inductees. It’s loaded with Wenner’s faves, but very little of his dislikes.

If the Hall of Fame won't see, hear, or speak of the Monkees,
does that mean they don't exist?

So how could these problems be fixed? The Hall needs to stop trying to create rock history in its myopic image. Acknowledge that rock ‘n’ roll has, first and foremost, been an art form that grew out of a rebellious spirit which gained mass appeal, but was rarely praised as a legitimate art form.

As for active changes, in his Village Voice article, “How to Fix the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” (3/9/2010), Jason Gross advocates an expansion of the nominee and inductee list, a wider voter pool, and complete disclosure about the identities of who is voting.

I suggest the Hall open up one slot of its 15 nominees to the public. Let everyday music fans decide on at least one entrant on the ballot. Then we’ll see if the voting body of 500+ music experts backs up those biases or not.

Assuming that the Hall isn’t waiting with bated breath for my suggested fixes, let’s also adopt another attitude. For those bent on rechristening the institution the “Rock and Roll Hall of Shame”, lighten up. Over the years, plenty of worthy bands initially overlooked eventually got in.

Also recognize that personal favorites are just that. Look, I’ll begrudgingly confess to Styx being my favorite band as a kid. It doesn’t mean they deserve induction just because I liked them.

As for bands like KISS who have a huge push for induction, consider this: they have gained more publicity by not getting in. Sure, it will look awfully silly if Rufus gets inducted this year while Rush sit at home. KISS fans may deck themselves out in makeup and protest in front of the museum in Cleveland.

However, rock ‘n’ roll isn’t about attending a fancy dinner, putting on a tux, giving an acceptance speech, and hoisting a trophy in the air. Save that for the Oscars. I want my rockers wardrobed in over-the-top stage outfits or dirty jeans and T-shirts. I want them to scream out songs about sex, drugs, cars, and bizarre sci-fi fantasies. I want drummers who brutalize their kits and guitarists who wail on their axes.

After all, regardless of what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says, which of these would you call rock ‘n’ roll? Neil Diamond playing “Sweet Caroline” at his induction last year or KISS performing “Rock and Roll All Night”?

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

50 years ago: Elmore James “The Sky Is Crying” hit the R&B chart

The Sky Is Crying

Elmore James

Writer(s): Elmore James (see lyrics here)

Released: March 1960

First Charted: May 2, 1960

Peak: 15 RB (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 24.78 streaming

The Sky Is Crying

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Recorded: 1984

First Charted: November 9, 1991

Peak: 2 AR, 6 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 12.06 video, -- streaming

Awards (Elmore James):

Click on award for more details.

Awards (Stevie Ray Vaughan):

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Blues singer/songwriter and guitarist Elmore James was born in 1918 in Mississippi. He earned the nickname “King of the Slide Guitar,” offering up interpretations of blues standards like “Dust My Broom,” “Crossroads,” “It Hurts Me Too,” “Rollin’ and Tumblin,’” and “Every Day I Had the Blues.” He also penned some blues classics, most notably “The Sky Is Crying” – one of his four entries on the R&B charts.

Writer Gayle Dean Wardlow wrote that “they mythical stature given to James is quickly growing to equal that of Robert Johnson.” SS Critic Robert Palmer ranks James with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and a few others as “the recorded pinnacle of Chicago blues.” SS

Music historian Steve Sullivan said specifically of “The Sky Is Crying” that it is James’ “greatest original piece” SS and is “among the most electrifying blues recordings of the postwar Chicago era.” SS Record producer Bobby Robinson said it is “a magnificent vehicle for both Elmore’s emotion-packed blues vocal and his ringing slide guitar.” WK

The song has become a blues standard recorded and performed by other blues greatest like Freddie King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, George Thorogood, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan’s version was recorded in 1984 during sessions for the Couldn’t Stand the Weather album. It was released posthumously in 1991 as the title song from an archival album and reached #2 on the album rock chart. Critic Dan Forte said, “Stevie tips his Clint Eastwood hat to two of his idols: Elmore James…and Albert King…whose influence is evident in every likc and bend.” WK

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First posted 1/14/2023.

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