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subject appears to be a white male, early 50's, pathologically tall/skinny. brain patterns show evidence of a life in alcohol - first swimming in it then running from it. fingers show wear from years of guitar playing. heart presents slow repair, through writing, from being broken by rock and roll.
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Museum Peace: Coming to Terms With the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Having been born in roughly the same year as rock and roll, 1955, I can tell you from personal experience that 50 is old. Having been reborn, at least spiritually, by certain rock and roll throughout the course of my life, I can also tell you from personal experience that the spirit of rock and roll (hello, Lester - yes I know, you don’t want to speak with me) is simultaneously both for the ages and ageless. There’s been much back and forth about the good vs. harm done by the establishment of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, OH, much of the brouhaha arising from the word (and concept) “establishment”. Isn’t rock & roll the sound of rebellion? The anti-establishment organ of a rabid youth culture, flouting all convention (usually on it’s parents’ nickel - but that’s another story), getting’ it’s motor runnin’ and headin’ out on the highway ‘cause, like a true Nature’s Child we were born, born to be wild?
Well yes and maybe no.
While it‘s all well and good to harbor feelings of rebellious solidarity and outcast identity engendered, coddled and manifested through power chords and screaming, let’s face it - our music’s been around long enough to represent more than teenage wastelands and heartbreak flashing in a pan. What we have here and now is nothing less than a legacy. A history both rich and ridiculous, but a history nonetheless and one worth getting right.
This sentiment was felt by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who 1983 came up with the idea of a permanent home for a rock and roll hall of fame. Together with attorney Suzan Evans and industry (and rock and roll is an Industry and pretty much has been since the 1st caveman got laid for howling) heavyweights like Jann Wenner and Seymour Stein, Ertegun enlisted record executives far and wide in raising funds for what was to be an immense undertaking. A non-profit organization that would enshrine the history of this music for the ages.
Quibble if you will about the ‘propriety’ of such an act, but the music has a history now and history needs to be documented. We can all argue about this inductee’s presence or absence, but the fact remains; for the story of this music to be told for posterity, and told correctly, we could do a lot worse than the I.M Pei designed building on the shore of Lake Erie. Not only does the museum contain artifacts as varied as Ringo’s drum kit and a piece of Otis Redding’s crashed plane, but it sponsors a series of Teacher’s Aids; programs that illustrate how this music is woven into the fabric of life. Programs such as the poetry of Jim Morrison and overviews of the Beat writers, Understanding Vietnam and explaining irony through pop lyrics. Yes much of rock and roll’s attraction is of the mindless, escapist, ‘shut up and dance’ variety, but to ignore rock’s power as a social and spiritual force for good is to sell it, and ourselves short.
Not only are major performers inducted like Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee, Elvis and (MY King of r&r) Little Richard - all inaugural members, Class of ‘86 a full 9 years before the actual building opened - but early influences like Robert Johnson (‘86), Hank Williams (‘87) and Louis Armstrong (‘90) get their props for contributions. Starting in 2000, the ‘unsung heroes’, the sideman started getting their due. King Curtis, Scotty Moore, James Jamerson, Johnnie Johnson, James Burton, Earl Palmer are all folks without whom this music, our passion would be impossible and it’s about time that somebody showed them their due respect.
Candidates are chosen by a Nominating Board of Rock Historians and voted on by an international body of ‘Rock Experts’ (and I’m not sure how one qualifies as one of those either, but you know you’re an establishment when you have both historians and ‘experts’) and real consensus is apparently met. There will always be carping about inductees - for my part I’m less concerned that a Hall of Fame exists than I am that neither Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music or Patti Smith is in the damn thing. Oh well, I guess that’s what makes a horse race a horse race. In any event, one criteria for induction is that the artist’s initial recording has to be at least 25 years old so you know what that means……..
Next year SONIC YOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(for a complete history, list of inductees and just a whole slew of interesting stuff about Rock & Roll and the Hall of Fame just click on the link http://www.rockhall.com/ )
Posted by: timbyrnes at 01:53 |
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