Songs Of Proof: The Class Of 2016

Getting to the final stretches, we've come now to the Class Of 2016, the first of three classes that have a lot of hobbyists worried, regarding trends, goals, and vision on the part of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  And yet, a lot of people are excited.  There are those who don't like the lack of stylistic diversity, those who are even going so far as to say the Hall is showing its true racist and misogynistic colors, those who think the Hall is kowtowing a little too much to the populist sentiment, and those who are praising the Hall for finally doing justice to the arena-packing titans of guitar rock.  Despite the differences in opinion, there is one thing that everyone agrees about these three classes: they are the most recent classes to be inducted.

In all fairness, there is also a fair amount of consensus that these three classes are signals of a dam busting.  There's also general agreement that these classes are filled with inductees who are at least fairly deserving of the honor.  This particular ballot also came saddled with the scandal of the horrendously hacked ballot, where the top five recipients of votes in the fan vote all seemed to spring up overnight to take the lead, and whose vote totals all went up in almost identical increments every time one refreshed the voting results page.  The Hall denied any and all shenanigans about the vote being hacked, but curiously enough, they did implement daily voting limits from IP addresses.  It seems a ridiculous path to travel to secure what is in the end only one vote, but what some won't do.  And the inductee results didn't fall the way that the hacker hoped either, as only three of the five got inducted this year, plus a fourth classic rock staple, and a rap act.  When the class was first announced, I nicknamed it "French vanilla ice cream," so now let's take a lick at--er, look at--this class and salute them with some songs.


Bert Berns:  Amidst the controversy of the hacked fan vote is also the controversy of a conflict of interest.  The announcement of Berns' induction was very closely tied to the news of the Broadway musical based on his work, backed very heavily by, among others, Little Steven, who is on the Nominating Committee for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and almost certainly served on the subcommittee that determined the Ahmet Ertegun Award inductee this year.  Whatever claims of impropriety may fly, Bert Berns was a songwriter who I'd heard of years before his induction, and was a co-founder of Bang Records, the last co-founder to be inducted (both of the Erteguns and Jerry Wexler were the other founders).  Many of Berns' works are lesser-known R&B records that history and the Oldies radio format haven't been quite so kind to, but a few of his compositions have held up quite nicely over time.  Additionally, Berns is at least in part responsible for bringing the United States a solo Van Morrison and elevating Neil Diamond from staff songwriter to singing superstar.  It is a sincere hope of mine that one day, his occasional songwriting partner, Jerry Ragovoy, will also be inducted.  Meanwhile, for Bert Berns, the selection is the pop-rock interpretation of his R&B original, "Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys, who were also on Bang Records.  This song was chosen partially because it's such a well-known and fun song, and also because "Twist And Shout" has already been used to salute the Isley Brothers in the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame.

Cheap Trick:  Even though it ultimately doesn't matter what took so long once an artist is inducted, it's still sometimes fun and productive to wonder what in particular kept an artist out for as long as they were.  In the case of Cheap Trick, it could possibly have something to do with the lighthearted feel to many of their best-known and best-loved records overshadowing their talent.  Much like the Coasters, whose humorous subjects masked their tight harmonies and driving R&B, Cheap Trick's bounciness and ebullience of delivery might have made some decide they weren't serious musicians.  Maybe they just didn't do enough abstract or socially conscious records.  Or maybe "The Flame" just didn't sit well enough with the movers and shakers at the Hall.  Whatever the reason, it was easy to take their nomination for granted, and just glaze over them in favor of other acts on the ballot.  Even I ranked them thirteenth in merits and seeded them ninth in my official prediction.  But voters for the Hall as of recent tend to slot one vote for an act that is purely a pleasure to listen to, and for this year, Cheap Trick fills the spot.  That's not to say they weren't influential, but the pleasure derived from listening to their records may have been a contributing factor to what made them influential, as opposed to new and flashy tricks and licks with their instruments.  Because of that, I think it's perfectly acceptable to use my favorite song by them in this set, simply because I like it best.  And that's why it's "Dream Police."

Chicago:  As deserving and overdue as Chicago was for their nomination and induction, I kind of didn't want to see them make it.  Part of it was out of frustration with the hacked fan vote, even though Chicago's first-place finish was indeed legitimate, and also because of a fellow hobbyist who concocted the conspiracy theory that with former Illinois senator Barack Obama as president, the universe finally let the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup, the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series after over a century of disappointment, and that Chicago would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  And even though the rest of the hobbyist circle wanted to give this member a refresher on the difference between correlation and causation.... dammit, that's exactly what happened!  This juggernaut of the '70's simply could not be held back once nominated.  Their style of jazz-rock that first electrified audiences with "Beginnings," "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is," and "Feeling Stronger Every Day," soon gave way to smoother sounds and attempts at blue-eyed soul.  Some suspect this later era is what took so long for Chicago to be nominated, that they went soft way too early in their career, making lesser-grade music.  I don't think their later stuff is entirely terrible.  Even the oft-ridiculed, "You're The Inspiration" could have become a soul classic if it had been interpreted by Stylistics, the Delfonics, or maybe even covered in the early '90's by Boyz II Men.  But it's their early stuff that people think of when they talk about the music that made them worthy of induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  I first thought about using "Make Me Smile," because it's such a great song, and after Peter Cetera refused to attend the induction ceremony, it was seriously tempting to revert back to it, but Peter is an integral and inextricable piece of their legacy, so it had to be a song with him in it, and that helped secure the surety of "Twenty-Five Or Six To Four" as the song to pay homage to his band.

Deep Purple:  "Smoke On The Water" is the song being used for Deep Purple, simply because it's a rite of passage for a budding guitarist.  Whether you want to play lead or bass guitar, this is a song that has to be in your arsenal at some point.  So much so, that it wrongfully caused Deep Purple to be written off as a one-trick pony for so many years, keeping them out of the Hall.  Can you imagine a Hall where "Smoke On The Water" was inducted in the Singles category, and thus used to skirt any further discussion of Deep Purple?  I'll let you all sit and pontificate on that for some time.  Of course, Deep Purple was so much than that one song, between "Highway Star," "Hush," "Woman From Tokyo," and many others, Deep Purple's case has actually proven to be quite archetypal for heavy metal bands: to be known for one major song that fared pretty well, and have a deep and riveting catalog for those who dared to go sonic-spelunking.  Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple is considered one of the three major founding heavy metal acts, and with Jon Lord's organ work, which even today is atypical for metal outfits, they are considered to have had some ties to the world of prog-rock as well.  Perhaps the most telling piece of evidence to speak to this band's merits and credibility is that even music critic, former Nominating Committee member, and longtime barricade against Deep Purple's induction Dave Marsh conceded that when he sat down again and gave Deep Purple's music a more thorough listening, even he became convinced of their musical prowess and cheered for their induction once they broke through.  I'm not sure, but I think this is the heavy metal equivalent of a sinner accepting Jesus as their savior on their deathbed.

The Steve Miller Band:  I don't care what anyone else says, it's the Steve Miller Band.  That's what the legendary music is credited as, so that's what they inducted.  If Steely Dan can be inducted with just two members, if a future Nine Inch Nails induction would most likely be only Trent Reznor, if a theoretical induction for the Turtles could be justified with only Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (though I hope not!), if a theoretical induction for Paul Revere And The Raiders could be justified with only Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay (again, hopefully more than just these two!)--then we can say the Steve Miller Band has been inducted even if the eponymous member is the only member who was inducted.  Of all the classic rocks inducted this year, and of all the ones that were on the ballot for this class, this one seemed to be a rather hard sell, perhaps because Miller was nominated as a soloist, perhaps because his guitar solos weren't rip-roaring, showboating displays of flying fingers, distortion pedals, and body angling to make them look even more difficult; perhaps because his music had a cooler feel than a harder drive.  Whatever the reason was, it's also worth noting that of all the classic rock acts from this ballot, his was also the most rooted in the blues, where rock and roll music's DNA is most often credited as having originated.  "The Joker" has a slow, bluesy drawl to its mood, as does the ethereal "Fly Like An Eagle."  Even the big hit, "Abracadabra" has a sound that still has the juice of the blues dripping off the meat, similar to records by the Yardbirds and the Animals.  "Serenade" is one of my all-time top ten favorite songs.  It's a song that brings me back to a state of evenness.  When I'm sad, it raises me up.  When I'm hyper, it helps gently and gracefully restore a sense of tranquility when it's needed.  It's great to sing along to, cathartic even.  Too bad it wasn't a hit single for the group.  Sticking to my rules a little more stringently, I chose a song with a similar feel to it, though it isn't from the same album.  "Swingtown" gets the place of honor in the playlist for the Steve Miller Band.

N.W.A.:  I often like to be a stickler for using full names at least once when referring to a musical act.  After much careful deliberation, lasting a grand total of two seconds, I've decided not to do that here.  It was actually a sad moment for me when N.W.A. did not get inducted on their first nomination.  If there was any moment when there could have been two rap acts inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in the same class, with the current way of doing business that the Hall has, it would have been 2013, with N.W.A. sharing the stage with Public Enemy.  Perhaps within twenty years, we'll reach a point where it'll be too mathematically improbable to not have two rap acts in the same class, and that wall will be knocked down.  It was even more disappointing when N.W.A. couldn't get in on their second nomination.  Or their third.  With the help of the Straight Outta Compton movie, the fourth time proved the charm.  Statistical curiosity: there are only five acts that have been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on their fourth nomination, and three of the other four were inducted in 1997, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band being the other one.  N.W.A. had the tenacity to rap about the ugly side of life that more polite circles tried to ignore.  N.W.A. put it up in people's faces and sometimes demanded change, but more often let the audience figure out that the status quo was too ugly to be maintained.  Whether it was racism, crime, misogyny, or even getting down, the common thread to the music was that the reality of everyday life was presented in the vernacular, vulgar or otherwise, without apology, without fancying it up, and without compromise--in other words, "With Attitude."  There, you got two-thirds of the full name from me..  And while I avoid saying the full name of the band, there's no escaping the full name of "Fuck Tha Police," the song that really grabbed national attention, cemented their legacy, and with Dr. Dre as the judge, has the added bonus of vocal appearances by at least four of the five members (was DJ Yella in on it too?  Maybe he could have been the bailiff or something) indicting a system that unofficially still had ideological remnants of the Jim Crow era.  It's too important not to use, even if it's not my favorite.

And with that, we come to the end of this short class.  As mentioned earlier, when the inductees were announced, it was a realization that the dam had busted, and the popular classic rock format was gushing forth.  After three classes of it, there's a lot of murmuring in the hobbyist community that the dam had better be repaired by the time the nominees for the Class Of 2019 are announced.  What I'm not hearing though, is John Q. Public agreeing with that sentiment.  Having seen lists of snubbed acts go to three hundred, some even five hundred (wish I were joking), it can confidently be said that we have not satiated the rabid rockists' collective blood lust either.  Will it continue?  That's for another post.  Meanwhile, the point of mentioning it is that because we didn't really anticipate the busting through of classic rock, I only went 2/5 in my predictions for this class.  In all fairness, I did predict two other classic rock acts to make it; I just happened to pick the two from the ballot that didn't make it this time around.  By 2018, we would induct the final two, and those are soon to come.  Returning to this class, and wrapping it up, do you agree with the song selections?  They are mostly obvious or semi-obvious choices, but all solid selections, in my opinion.  Feel free to weigh in in the Comments section below.  Recapping:

Bert Berns: "Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys
Cheap Trick: "Dream Police"
Chicago: "Twenty-Five Or Six To Four"
Deep Purple: "Smoke On The Water"
the Steve Miller Band: "Swingtown"
N.W.A.: "Fuck Tha Police"