The annual induction ceremonies for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were held this week. Now, there are some who feel this is the antithesis of what rock is about - rebellion, revolution, sex, drugs, and...well, rock and roll, not some corporate, black tie event at a four star hotel with a VIP list and goodie bags with a five figure value for the recipients and presenters. That's the Oscars, not rock and roll (or rock n' roll, if you prefer).
Personally, I don't have a problem with the concept of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Everything else has a Hall of Fame, including virtually every other musical genre, so why not rock and roll? The problem is who is behind the scenes, specifically Jann Wenner.
Jann Wenner is the founder and publisher of Rolling Stone, a magazine that was once the voice of modern, i.e. from the Sixties to the present day, rock. In its day, Rolling Stone was the vanguard of the rock and roll counterculture, covering all it involved and stood for. For a prominent member of that counterculture, being honored with the cover story was akin to a Catholic receiving a blessing from the Pope himself. Those of us of a certain age even remember a song by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, "The Cover of the Rolling Stone." Dr. Hook did indeed make the famed cover, and legend has it all the band members did "buy five copies for (their mothers)" as the lyric went.
But, as Saint Zimmerman once put it, the times they are a-changing. For at least twenty years (and that's being kind), Rolling Stone has been at best irrelevant, and at worst a bad joke, at least in terms of rock journalism (an oxymoron, as the late Frank Zappa would remind us). These days, Rolling Stone is in the middle of a crisis - whether it's of the identity variety, midlife, or perhaps a combination of both remains to be determined. Rolling Stone can't determine whether it wants to be Tiger Beat (for example, a recent "High School Musical" cover story) or a house organ for MorOn.org (read any article about any Republican or anything related to the war in Iraq).
It hasn't been that long ago that I was covering a register shift at work when a young customer was purchasing what was the then-current issue of Rolling Stone, one which had whatever the prefab pop flavor of the week was (I believe it was Justin Timberlake) on the the cover. The next customer in line was a gentleman about my age who, when he got to the register, looked at me and said, "You know, some of us remember when it meant something to make the cover of Rolling Stone."
So what does this mean in terms of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? It means that the nominees no longer have to have any connection whatsoever to rock and roll in order to be eligible. Jann Wenner is pulling the strings like some perverted puppetmaster, and he has the final say over who gets nominated and therefore inducted. And since Wenner no longer cares about rock and roll but his focus is on pop culture celebrities (and left wing politics), anyone with a "musical" career who is on his "A" list has a shot at nomination. Mark my words - if Britney Spears is still alive when she's eligible for nomination in 2024 (highly doubtful), Jann Wenner will make sure she's the first member of that class of inductees.
The most prominent member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2008 is Madonna. Yes, the "Like a Virgin" pop tart who was on MTV every five minutes back in the 80s. Whether or not you care for her music, you have to give her credit - she's been smart enough to keep her career alive by keeping things fresh, constantly changing her image and keeping people guessing. Note the key word here is image, not music. I couldn't tell you what she has sounded like since I left radio in 1990 - I'm not a fan and don't listen to radio stations whose formats would incorporate what she does - but if you're exposed to enough entertainment news (another oxymoron there) you'll inevitably run across whatever her latest incarnation happens to be. And that makes her very, very smart. When the average musical entertainer of virtually any genre now has the career lifespan of a fruit fly, it says something about her that she's savvy enough to stay in the game for more than a quarter century. It does not, however, make her rock and roll.
So what lit the fuse on this screed? Not that Madonna is now a member of an institution to which, in theory, she shouldn't have even been considered for in the first place. No, I recognized the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the sham that it truly is some time ago (if Lester Bangs wasn't already dead, this would've done him in), so this shouldn't come as a surprise. What prompted this post was when I read who performed in Madonna's stead at the induction ceremony - Iggy and the Stooges.
That's the same Iggy who was once known for such antics as throwing up on stage, smearing himself with peanut butter, stabbing himself with pencils, rolling around on broken glass and in the resultant blood, sometimes all in the course of a single show - not the kind of performance you're likely to witness during a matinée at the Bubba Joe Jim Bob Jr. Theater in Branson, Missouri. The same Iggy and the Stooges who recorded Raw Power and Fun House, two of the most brutal, violent, beautiful masterpieces of American pre-Ramones punk music ever. The current incarnation of the Stooges includes bassist Mike Watt, who made his bones anchoring the rhythm section of the Minutemen, one of the greatest of the 80s era American punk bands and perhaps the second best to embody the decade's DIY ethic, number two only to the legendary Black Flag. And this is the band that performed in Madonna's place? Performing not one, but two of her songs? I don't know what it says about Madonna, Iggy, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or any of the above. I only know that it makes me realize that if rock isn't dead, it sure as hell has a foot in the grave. I shudder to think what's next - Nike using Beatles songs to sell sneakers? Songs by the Who used for television themes? Wait, what's that? Oh shit, does anyone have the number for Jack Kevorkian?
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