Posted on 03/07/2008 11:56:33 AM PST by GQuagmire
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and your third grade teacher have some strikingly wrong similarities They’re both bloated, dowdy and prissy fossils that are way too full of unconditional love. Oh, and they both get positively giddy over James Taylor’s chardonnay-and-brie, adult-contemporary lullabies.
The Hall of Fame induction committee has never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings or make tough decisions - like actually defining what is and isn’t rock ’n’ roll - so for 22 years it has distributed inductions like Miss Anderson handed out ribbons on diorama day.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
I also have a soft spot for their song Massachusetts.
I don’t recall what that one sounds like, but given that it’s on their first album I probably would call it saccharine. I don’t consider any of that stuff rock at it’s finest, that’s all Top 40 pap in it’s purest form, and when it comes to top 40 pap the purity has an inverse relationship to finess. It might maybe be vaguely better than Anka and Boone, but that’s like saying one sewer doesn’t smell as grotesque as another. Crappy top 40 pap is crappy top 40 pap and it all stinks.
>>Odessa was a Sgt Pepper rip off.<<
Right.
Me too!
They should change the name to the “Pop Music Hall of Fame” because that’s what it really is. Soul and R&B are fine for what they are, but they are not rock’n’roll. Pop singers are fine for what they are, but they are not rock’n’roll.
You are aware the rock is defined by music and not lyrics right? Most of the greatest rock has lyrics like ‘Ooh Baby Baby, I love you baby’ and ‘Wop Bam Boom’.
I know. I wasn't saying that they weren't great; I'm just agreeing with others who say perhaps there should be a second hall of fame called the "Popular Music Hall of Fame" or something like that if they're going to include the likes of Billy Joel, James Taylor and the Bee Gees.
But it does mean that they didn’t have a national audience or a national impact.
Because it was on the top 40 and then it wasn’t, that would be leaving. Plus during that time period a lot of the guys that had been in the top 40 left the country to go play in England because British radio hadn’t turned against them like American radio had. That too would be leaving.
The first criteria for the the ROCK hall of fame should be that it’s ROCK, the BeeGees aren’t and don’t belong. Now they have the writing skill that they should probably be in some hall or another, just not the ROCK hall. There should be a pop hall of fame that we can put them into, for those skilled artists that don’t make rock.
Are you disagreeing? Barry Gibb would say so if you asked him.
Since I have yet to say the Beatles weren’t rock I don’t see how it matters. You can be saccharine crap and still rock, which the Beatles proved.
Why are people confusing “saccharine” with “not rock”? I never said the Beatles aren’t rock, in fact I even said that inspite of the fact that I despise 90% of their catalog they clearly belong in the Rock Hall. So why are you wanting me to defend a position I never even came remotely close to taking?
Popular music has been primarily marketed to teens since about the 1940s. The lyrics mostly address their concerns.
which doesn’t make it anymore listenable or not saccharine. Crap is crap is crap, who it’s being marketed to and whose concerns it’s addressing doesn’t change that, it’s still crap.
It’s great music. The lyrics are a bonus. Do you think Broadway showtunes like Rodgers and Hammerstien are crap?
Heartbreak Hotel is not a "Gibb" song. Words wasn't recorded by Elvis until the late sixties.
There's more Rock & Roll in Helter Skelter than there is in the entire Bee Gee's catalogue.
Helter Skelter, a song where Paul McCartney manages to "out Who" the Who. ;>)
Because I think most of the posters on this thread would conclude that "saccharine" and "rock" are mutually exclusive. The Beatles, of course, had elements of both.
>>Are you disagreeing? Barry Gibb would say so if you asked him.<<
Reference?
You’re stuck in a groove.
Like I said, we have to agree to disagree.
>>Heartbreak Hotel is not a “Gibb” song. <<
Wow! Who said that it is?
I’m making an educated guess. Just about every band in the late 60s made an album of baroque and mannered pop. This was in response to Sgt Pepper.
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