We've made it to the year 1996 now. The eleventh year of inductions, and we slowly start to see a shift away from the mainstream, away from the singles. This year we have our very first inductee that never had a charted single in the U.S. (Muddy Waters never charted on the Pop charts, but he did have several on the R&B charts.) We have a man whose most celebrated music is also his most noncommercial. The psychedelic counterculture as well its prog child find induction, as well as a man who intentionally broke away from the mainstream scene, and even a man who was once questioned by the House Unamerican Activities committee for being subversive. In fact, the most mainstream of the inductees this year are probably the three R&B inductees, and one of them died in prison! "Normal" is not a word one would use to describe rock and roll as a rule, but this class really is not normal for the abnormal. But it's still a solid class, and they all have a song to pay tribute to their accomplishments.
David Bowie: Hardcore David Bowie fans are going to be absolutely piiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssed to find out that I've selected "Modern Love" to kick off this class's celebration. That which is arguably the most conventional song of his to pay tribute to Ziggy Stardust? What is arguably the most commercial song of all of his to salute the Thin White Duke? Surely, the man jests. Well, the man is serious, and don't call him "Shirley." As I said in my initial post about this whole project, sometimes I just picked a song because it's my favorite one by the artist, and such is the case here. As you will later see as well, I tend to prefer a lot of songs by second, third, and later generations of rockers that stylistically imitate or pay tribute to the great rock and roll of the early years. That can certainly be said about "Modern Love" here, and I make absolutely no apologies. Besides which, the story goes that the whole album from which this song comes was intentionally made to be as commercial as possible, for Bowie was using its pop appeal to give a big middle finger to his previous record label who wanted more hits from him, rather than experimental stuff. So this song still represents a little bit of David Bowie's rebellious fire.
Tom Donahue: Tom Donahue has a lot to do with why the majority of radio stations today are on the FM dial instead of the AM. And you might think that's grounds enough to use "FM (No Static At All)" by Steely Dan, but I did not do that. Besides which, the engineering aspects of it really had little to do with it for Donahue. His decision to go to FM had everything to do with blazing new trails and doing what he wanted to do when he darn well felt like it. Pioneering freeform radio during the late '60's and into the '70's until his death, his new take on musical exhibition provided a home for more experimental music. Entire album sides (and albums) could be played in one sitting. Songs with long musical bridges were welcome. And it could even be argued that without Tom Donahue, the proliferation of prog-rock might have been severely stunted, as it would have been left without a free-for-the-consumer medium to emanate from, reach out, and influence. Without Donahue, we might not know who Neil Peart is! Additionally, live stuff, bootlegs, controversial records, all welcome to a degree, and pop songs were probably included just because they're fun sometimes, but not because of set playlists. It would be because the deejays liked playing them. To salute this man in this set is really left up to the compiler of the playlist. When I first had the idea of a radio program, I was considering the full-length play of "Light My Fire" or the entirety of "American Pie," or something in that vein. But ultimately, it's whatever you like. You want to play the entire suite of "In The Court Of The Crimson King"? Go for it! Want to play an entire side of Hotel California? Cool. Want to play "Little Boxes" by the Womenfolk, the shortest song to ever chart on the Hot 100 to rebel against the rebellion? Genius! Myself, I chose to go with a single song, but it is a song with a long musical bridge that at one point is so frenetic, it's like the song almost completely runs away from the band. It clocks in at just under eight minutes in its entirety, is from a live album, and is a song that I fell in love with the first time I heard it. Just a different kind of thing, which is right in line with how Donahue would have it. From their Live At The Fillmore West album, Hot Tuna does the honors of honoring Tom with "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning."
Jefferson Airplane: If you're going to talk about psychedelic rock that wasn't quite so bluesy and acidic, at least not to the degree that the Jimi Hendrix Experience was, then this is a group that is going to mentioned pretty early in the conversation. There's also a bit of a question regarding whether or not this induction also included the Jefferson Starship and the Starship eras. It's certainly an interesting thought. Only the original members of the Airplane are inducted, but then again, the core of the other two eras were members from Airplane as well. On the other hand, the inducted entity was pretty short-lived with a limited catalog. This is all part of the fun stuff with the Hall's lack of transparency. I personally feel that only the Airplane part is inducted, as evidenced by the corporate induction of Parliament/Funkadelic the next year, as well as the joint induction of Small Faces/Faces in 2012. So the question is, is there any hope for Jefferson Starship or Starship? I personally would be fine with inducting Grace Slick three times to recognize all three eras. I doubt it will happen though. In any event, the choice for Jefferson Airplane is "Somebody To Love," which may be their least controversial record, but is one that musically speaking really gives an otherwise firm handle on what this group brought to the evolution and perpetuation of rock and roll music. Some would prefer "White Rabbit," and that would do just fine too, but I went with "Somebody To Love" as psychedelia is as much, if not more, tied to the idea of needing and spreading love as it is to the pastime of tripping balls.
Little Willie John: Inductions like this one actually kind of make me glad that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is not that big on transparency, and that the proceedings are kept mostly away from John Q. Public. This is a man whose contribution is immense, but would not be able to get inducted in today's Rock Hall atmosphere. Just couldn't happen. When giants like James Brown and Stevie Wonder herald you as a major influence, then someone should perk up and take notice of your work. Among the tragedies of his life, which included dying behind bars, is that his big hit "Fever" is now more tied to jazz chanteuse Peggy Lee than to him. His original, though, is a fantastic piece of R&B, and stands in for him here, to give proper credit to his legacy.
Gladys Knight And The Pips: They were a powerhouse act of Motown, who didn't have a #1 hit until after they left the Motown family. Nevertheless, they are more remembered as a Motown act. An outfit that paid their dues for years, the smooth voice of Gladys Knight enthralled listeners, and the Pips are considered a gold standard for great vocal work and superb work in backing up the lead. I sometimes wonder if they would have even been considered though, if they had never been on Motown. My choice to use their version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" speaks to that question, but either way, they're a deserving act who had to be nominated several times before they got their due. But at least they made it in. (Vocal Group Hall Of Fame Song Of Proof: "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me")
Pink Floyd: The first prog-rock band to be inducted, and for fourteen years, the only one. One of the few prog bands I like, as well. Though some of their songs lose my interest, overall, I find them neither boring nor annoying. Amazing stuff, it's no wonder they were inducted pretty quickly. My introduction to them was in the late '80's, when the demand for the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and its eventual demolition, were laid to the soundtrack of "Another Brick In The Wall," and really the whole album of The Wall. However, their epic achievement which speaks to the band's longevity, is the nearly fifteen-year run of Dark Side Of The Moon on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. And the best-known song from that album, "Money," is used to represent Pink Floyd here.
Pete Seeger: The most glaring case of Front Man Fever in the Early Influence category, in my opinion. It's a bit of a paradox though. Pete Seeger's solo career was significant in terms of its influence, but it really doesn't much qualify as "early." His work as the leader of the Weavers led the whole group to be investigated, and as a group, they gave us some well-known versions of standards, and are really a pinnacle of folk music in their own right. Yet, they weren't nearly as influential as Seeger solo. It is a fond hope of mine that the Weavers will be inducted as an Early Influence outfit someday as well. Meanwhile, the search for an appropriate song for Seeger as a soloist led me a little bit away from the "early" part, and I first selected his version of "Putting On The Style," which has a very pre-rock feel to it, and gives a good sense of what subsequent folk singers and folk-rockers learned from him. However, after further research and learning of his work even before the Weavers, I have changed his Song Of Proof to "Talking Atom (Old Man Atom)". (Vocal Group Hall Of Fame Song Of Proof for the Weavers: "Goodnight Irene")
The Shirelles: The Shirelles are a group that I include among those "amazingly good calls" by the Hall. This girl group was not associated with Motown, Stax/Volt, Chess, or Atlantic, and yet they still got inducted. One of my favorite girl groups of all time, their amazing catalog gave us so many euphoric, euphonious melodies. Rather than going with the more obvious choices, I originally wanted to use "Boys" for its great rhythm. However, I discovered that it was not a hit at all, primarily because it was a B-Side. It's one of their most remembered songs, possibly because the Beatles covered it, but never a hit on any singles chart. And even though it'd probably be justifiable to use that one for the Shirelles, they had way too many crossover successes to not use one of those. And when I heard how well "Boys" and the next inductee's song sounded when played back to back, I made sure to use a song with a similar beat to replicate the experience as best as I could. For that, we turn to their take on the standard "Everybody Loves A Lover," which made the Top Twenty, but has been forgotten over time. It's still a great song though. (Vocal Group Hall Of Fame Song Of Proof: "Soldier Boy")
The Velvet Underground: They never had a hit single in the U.S. (though they did have one or two in Europe), and yet they were insanely influential. It's been said that everyone who bought their first album when it was first released, went on to form a band. A bit of hyperbole, but it gives you a real sense of how influential Andy Warhol's house band was. I'm so proud of my selection of "Rock And Roll" as their Song Of Proof for so many reasons, that I don't care how badly you may disparage it in the Comments below, for not choosing a song more typical of their overall style. It's a song about rock and roll itself, so the reflexive angle is a good thing to have once in awhile. As I said above, if you listen to the Shirelles' "Boys" (or "Everybody Loves A Lover") back-to-back with the Velvet Underground's "Rock And Roll," you get a real feeling for the ubiquitous rhythmic structure that is supposed to define rock and roll from a musicological perspective. Additionally, as I mentioned, this whole project (except for the most recent years) has been burned onto CD-R's that I still pull out and listen to occasionally. The Classes of 1995 and 1996 together fit on a single disc, and "Rock And Roll" is for some reason I can't completely pinpoint, just the perfect song to have as the closing track of the entire CD. It just feels natural, organic even, to end with that song. It's just so good that way. Lastly, as a member of a wider hobbyist community, this is a song that I feel speaks to all of us and our collective elan regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and rock and roll music itself. In a very real way, whether it's just figurative or perhaps literal, we can all say that our lives have been saved by rock and roll. So despite all the computations, you know you should just get up and dance to the rock and roll station that will play this song, because baby, it is alright (It is alright!).
And as I said, that song closes out the CD it's on, and that must mean it closes out the look at the Class Of 1996. It's a class marked by decided shifting, and yet it all fits. What songs would you have chosen? I'm especially curious to hear what you would all choose for Tom Donahue, since it's entirely about what you want there. Discuss it in the Comments below. Recapping:
David Bowie: "Modern Love"
Tom Donahue: "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning" by Hot Tuna
Jefferson Airplane: "Somebody To Love"
Little Willie John: "Fever"
Gladys Knight And The Pips: "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
Pink Floyd: "Money"
Pete Seeger: "Talking Atom (Old Man Atom)"
the Shirelles: "Everybody Loves A Lover"
the Velvet Underground: "Rock And Roll"
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