[ad_1]
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ten of the most important personalities in the history of music have been honored together as the inaugural class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How can you find something wrong with that?
Our new "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Remixed" series goes back in time and revisits Rock Hall Inductions every year. Only this time we put in the acts we feel best meets our criteria of influence, cultural significance and originality.
We start with 1986 and an inaugural class that many consider perfect. And it's hard to argue. We still found a problem: where are the women?
Here is our remixed version of the class of 1986 [Note — We’re only dealing with “Performers,” leaving specialty categories like Lifetime Achievement as is]:
- Chuck Berry
- James Brown and the famous flames
- Ray Charles
- Sam Cooke
- Domino Greases
- Aretha Franklin
- Buddy Holly and the crickets
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Elvis Presley
- Little Richard
Fiction vs reality: We have barely changed one thing. The first promotion at Rock Hall included Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Domino Fats, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lewis Lee, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. To be eligible, an artist must have released his first recording in 1960 or before. They are all indisputable pioneers of rock and roll.
We have nevertheless made a major change. We thought that Aretha Franklin's status as the most influential woman in the history of popular music should have earned her a place in the class of 1986 (The Rock Hall inducted her into 1987).
Biggest debate: Because we wanted to keep the first 10 artists for the first two years of induction, we had to send someone back. By elimination, the debate was conducted between Everly Brothers and Fats Domino – the ultimate pioneers of harmony compared to the man who built the bridge between rhythm, blues and rock and roll.
In the end, the Everly brothers were removed (pushed to 1987). It was not an easy decision to make, which would certainly give rise to polarization reactions (I guess that's the goal). The other change we made was the union of Buddy Holly with his support group The Crickets and James Brown with the Famous Flames, a thing Rock Hall did not fix up to In 2012.
Wild Card: Another artist entered the discussions for the inaugural class. Muddy Waters' role as king of the Chicago blues, as well as his impact on the genres of blues, R & B, folk, country and hard-rock is astounding. Waters was the driving force behind blues rock and roll. Artists like Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, the band, Jimi Hendrix and some of the 1986 inductees probably would not exist without him.
And after: Watters and the Everly brothers top the list for our 1987 promotion (Monday, October 29th).
Source link
