Disco? Duck!

I’m going to do something semi-suicidal here. I’m going to go to bat for disco.  

Now, a couple of disco acts are in the Rock Hall, including some of the biggest of this short-lived genre. But several more still deserve to get in, and there feels like maybe there is a pushback, a sense of, “OK, that’s enough; we’re done, here.”

Uh, no. Disco, despite active attempts to kill it (including public burnings of its LPs!), will not die.

Disco has “remained a key influence in the development of EDM, house, hip hop… the style has had several revivals since the 1990s, and the influence of disco remains strong across American and European pop music,” and I almost never quote Wikipedia like that, but if I didn’t, you wouldn’t believe me.

Disco has changed, morphed, and evolved, but it has never really gone away. Think of it like sugar. No matter how many substitutes they come up with, nothing has the addictive quality of the real thing. If even a few molecules of the authentic stuff are in the mix, your body will react intensely and start craving more.

As I said, disco lasted maybe ten years— from the late ‘60s to the late ‘70s— so there aren’t an infinite number of acts worth inducting which have not gotten in. But let’s not slam the door on them yet.

My fear is that the Boomers won’t induct them because they are focused on the rest of the classic rock acts that still need induction (and they should also turn their eye to the last of the early and pre-rock pioneers). The Xers, once we take over, will want to get the New Wave and other ’80s acts in, and maybe recognize punk’s influence on New Wave but not be aware of disco’s.

And after that, the generation that will want to induct the Britney Spears, et al and boy band acts of the 1990s will be too far removed to really know how much disco influenced that whole decade’s pop music and everything that came after.

The upbeat cheerfulness, the neon color palette, the freeform dancing, the loose and comfy clothes… it goes from sock-hop (’50s) to bubblegum (’60s) to disco (’70s) to New Wave (’80s) to boy bands (’90s) to electronica (’00s). And it spread worldwide, from bands like Menudo in Puerto Rico to the Sugarcubes in Iceland, from Europop to J-Pop and K-Pop.

It’s the music of young fun (as opposed to young angst), and it’s infectious. Disco is also a time-capsule of an era in which, finally, no repression could contain the explosive fabulousness of millions of marginalized people. 

So, the next four or five years are really crucial for getting any last deserving disco acts in. Otherwise, how will our grandkids know what those mirror-covered balls are for?

https://www.quora.com/Should-disco-be-part-of-the-Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Fame

Update: Billy Preston was inducted in 2021 with a Musical Excellence induction and, if all of his music was not disco, some of it was. Same with Lionel Richie, Inducted in 2022.

2023 saw the Induction of George Michael. His music was post-disco, but (to me) clearly influenced by it. 

Folk Heroes

Folk music is in the Rock Hall. At least several of those acts that perform both folk and folk-rock, as well as those clearly-rock acts that draw heavily from folk.

Those who performed predominantly folk music, though… even some of them are in, even though they don’t necessarily rock that hard.

There are maybe a handful of folk and folk-rock acts that could, and should, still be inducted, though. And especially for those who were part of the Greenwich Village and Laurel Canyon scenes, time is running short for inducting them, um, pre-posthumously (humously?).

Folk had several major influences on rock. One was making rock socially aware. Folk music has always been tied to the news and the needs of the people, and rock can get somewhat self-involved and self-indulgent; folk music, along with blues, helped it grow a conscience.

When you want to "bring it down for a minute," you play one of your rock songs unplugged, on an acoustic guitar (now, who thought of that first?).

Folk, in the global sense, also introduced other cultures, languages, and instruments into rock.

And many rock songs began life as folk songs. Read through the titles of songs of Alan Lomax’s field recordings for the Smithsonian, and Carl Sandburg’s American Songbag book, and you may be surprised at the number of titles you recognize from your classic rock stash.

For the most part, the Rock Hall has done right by folk music, inducting such acts as both Early Influences and more recent ones as Performers (it needs to follow the same pattern with blues.) With the induction of, as I said, perhaps a half-dozen more acts, the Hall can comfortably say it incorporated the acts we could reasonably expect to be included.

I can also think of a few, who, if added, would really show that the Hall knew its stuff. These are the ones that true folk fans and critics know are a big deal, even if they aren’t household names.

http://www.thefolkmusichalloffame.org/

Update: Carole King got in as a performer in 2021, which makes her the first in twice, but in two categories. 2022 saw the induction of Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten as Early Influences. Is Belafonte a "folk" musician, though? Yes, world music is a folk idiom, and he performed (and preserved) traditional songs on acoustic instruments. Just because the folks aren't white doesn't mean the music isn't folk, folks.

Can You Rock Too Hard?

This is not a post about what counts, or does not, as “heavy metal.” But even by the widest, loosest definition of the term, it would be hard to argue that the genre has gotten its due from the Rock Hall, in terms of the number of metal bands inducted.

Sure, some acts simply do not rock hard enough to get in. But it is mystifying to consider that some acts seem to rock too hard.

Punk has the same issue. There are, at best, a half-dozen such acts in. This is even baffling-er, for while metal has a hard time pleasing rock critics, punk (and its makers) is often fawned over by them.

One of the things that make music “rock music” is that it makes someone twice your age bang on your door yelling, “Turn that crap down!” (Which is another good argument for why rap belongs in the Rock Hall).

There is little music, these days, that evokes that codger-ly rage. But metal and punk still can.

As someone who is eligible for an AARP card, I think it’s OK for me to say that keeping metal and punk out of the Hall reeks of “Get off my lawn”-ism.

If they are going to raise their cane at you, raise some Cain right back, you noisy kids. Someday, you’ll make it past the lawn and right up into the Hall.  

https://wmmr.com/2020/01/17/the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-has-a-heavy-metal-problem-2/

https://ew.com/article/2001/12/27/punk-rock-enters-hall-fame/

Update: Randy Rhoads was inducted with a Musical Excellence award in 2021... and that's fair, he was mostly an accompanist, which is what this award is for. But then in 2022, Judas Priest were also inducted... also for Musial Excellence. Even though they are a whole band, you know, not a bunch of sidemen. Still, they were graciously overjoyed at being in the Rock Hall, despite what I consider getting the Miss Congeniality sash. 

In 2023, Rage Against the Machine got in after multiple attempts. I feel the Induction is deserved, but wonder if the holdup was over concerns of conflict of interest, since the band's lead singer is very active in the Hall's nomination process. 

Country Music in the Rock Hall?

Some country musicians are in the Rock Hall, mostly as Early Influences. And… that’s fine. County music has its own Hall of Fame that predates the Rock Hall by decades (it was chartered in 1964). As of 2017, 11 acts are in both Halls.

So it’s not like country musicians don’t get recognized (also, they have the CMAs and other recognitions).

I can only think of one or two acts who are solidly “country” whose appeal is wide enough to get into the Rock Hall, and a handful of country-rock acts who aren’t in who could or should be.

But, unlike rap artists, no country acts seem to be clamoring to get in, and none of the country fanbases seem to be banging down the doors for their pet act to be inducted, either. One wonders if that would make them seem less “country” to others who care.

That said... this article pitches 11 more country musicians to add:
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2017/02/11_country_artists_to_consider.html

Update: One of the biggest entertainment stories of 2022 dealt with this! Dolly Parton was nominated. She declined. Then she found out that non-rock acts are regularly inducted, so he said: OK, induct me if you want. Throughout, the Hall never changed its tune-- she was nominated and would stay so, despite her initial wishes to the contrary. Spoilers: she was inducted. Her reaction was pure Dolly: "I guess I'm a rockstar now!"

2023 saw the Induction of Willie Nelson. I did not see as much of a fuss about this being made as with Dolly, which in a way in a shame-- but in another way means she normalized the idea, big time. 

So that's 2 more from the above link's list. I looked at it again and of them, and I can see, getting in: Garth Brooks (sheer popularity), Merle Haggard (rock attitude), Patsy Cline (as an Early Influence), and Glen Campbell (for Musical Excellence-- he was a sideman first, a member of the storied Wrecking Crew, and certainly the breakout star from among that bunch of talented people.)

Not on the list is Vince Gill, who has toured with the Eagles since Glen Frey's passing. 

Getting the Blues (Inducted)

Plenty of blues artists are in the Rock Hall, and plenty more should get in… and will, as long as the Early Influences category is still offered (whether they are "running out" of such potential inductees will be discussed in a later post).

But what about those blues players who were not, well, “early”?

The blues dates back to at least the 1920s, which means it had a 30-year head start on rock music. 

But the blues did not stop when rock started in the 1950s! Many of the blues acts that were playing at the time kept right on playing. Still, as long as they pre-dated, say, the 1960s, they likely remain thought of as “early” influences.

However, some blues acts only began in the late 1960s. Or in the 1970s. Or even in the 1980s and later. Hardly “early” anymore, by that point. (As of 2020, any act that debuted in 1995 or before is eligible for induction.)

And, well, what about them? What about the blues acts that co-existed with rock but did not pre-date it?

Some Inductees have been a hard sell to the public, in terms of them counting as “rock” and therefore eligible for the “Rock” Hall. But blues? Even non-“early” blues should be an easy sell for Rock-Hall inclusion.

One of the blues’ biggest causes of, well, the blues, is that it is seen as archaic, a relic of the past. This makes it hard to sell tickets, gain radio airplay, and entice new blood into the genre.

By only inducting blues acts that are “early,” the Hall feeds into that problem, even if unwittingly.

But by inducting blues acts that debuted in the mid-’60s and after, the Hall would shine its huge spotlight on this venerable genre. It would show that the blues is still vibrant into its second century, and necessary in the new millennium.

And it would show that the Hall itself—willing as it is to embrace disco, rap, and whatever Nine Inch Nails is— hasn’t forgotten rock’s basic roots in the blues, and is dedicated to making sure the blues remains healthy and vital right alongside rock.

As one blues Inductee sang: “Blues had a baby and they named it rock ’n’ roll.”

And as the Bible says: “Honor thy father and mother.” 

This article is the most recent I could find about blues artists in the Rock Hall... and it's from 2014.
https://vpm.org/listen/articles/623/blues-inductees-to-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame

Update: Charley Patton was Inducted in 2021 as an Early Influence.