Singer-but-not-songwriter

 Insane as it may seem, there is a book titled How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll. Also, the song “American Pie” insists that “the music” died when Buddy Holly did. In 1959.

In the book, the author explains that rock was written by pros and sung by teenagers who could sing but not write songs. That has been the template for pretty much forever, with one group of people composing and another group performing. True for pop, jazz, gospel, and much of classical. Even much of folk music was performances of traditional, older material. Some people did perform their own work, of course, but the real idea was to hand that part of the job to the experts-- the same why an architect did not build the house, nor did the carpenters ink the blueprints. Two separate jobs.

Then along came The Beatles and ruined everything by knowing how to sing and write their own songs! Now, neither those non-singing composers nor those non-composing singers could get work!

Well, the Rock Hall kinda wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, they honor those Brill Building songwriters who, pre-Beatles, wrote and composed the rock music of the 1950s, as Ertegun (previously “Non-Performer”) winners.

On the other, they almost entirely induct Performers who write their own material. Only maybe 20 or so— of 200+ acts inducted as Performers— predominantly performed what was handed to them.

So… where are the rest of those? All those non-singing songwriters wrote all those songs for someone to sing. If it was OK to write but not sing... why is not OK to sing but not write?

And it’s not true that all of such acts are pre-Beatles. Some of them are Motown acts. Even some major rock acts were more vocal interpreters than writers.

Which is fine. It’s just strange that not being able to write songs doesn’t disqualify you from being inducted…

…until it does.

Update: Tina Turner, who to my knowledge did not pen her hits, was Inducted in 2021.  

Longshots and Critical Darlings

In linguistics, there are two main schools of thought. Prescriptivists would say that “alright” is unacceptable, since it should be “all right.” Descriptivists would say “alright” is… fine, because so many people have used it for so long, it has become acceptable. 

So the question is… what is the purpose of the Rock Hall? To tell people which rock acts are important, or to reflect which acts the people themselves already think are important?

Since its very inception, the Rock Hall has been about prescription, not description. It is run by experts, we are told, who really know which acts are really important for us to know about and listen to.

And that’s fine. After all, the acts that are on the radio and loudspeakers in public places and in superhero movie soundtracks… you already know about those. They are easy to find out about. You don’t have to attend a class or visit a museum— just sit down, turn on the closest music-playing tech, and there they are.

If museums serve a function at all, it’s to educate. And that means telling you things you don’t know, and can’t learn from the TV and radio.

If they serve another function, it’s to preserve history. In pop-culture, “history” is last week. Come on, name last year’s winner for Best Picture at the Oscars.

There is a story about a boy on an archaeological dig in the Middle East. He excitedly shows the dig’s leader a pottery shard he found, with some writing on it. “Nice,” says the leader. “That’s 200 years old.” The boy gets even more excited, until the leader says, “You can keep it. We’re looking for things that are 2,000 years old.”

But this not rock science, it’s rock music, which has been around less time than some people still living. Still, even music that’s 25 years old is… “old” in music terms.

Once, in the mid-’00s, my own wife referred to a 1980’s song as “old.” I took umbrage; I listen to that era’s music, but also jazz and blues from the 1930s, folk music that’s even older, and classical that’s older yet. “No,” I said, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic is an ‘old’ song. That song on the radio is younger than you, and I am not married to an ‘old’ woman.”

So it’s important to tell people about music they don’t know, whether it’s because it was always obscure, only popular among a certain group of people, or— gasp— made before they were born!

On the other hand, if the Rock Hall did not induct bands people know, they wouldn’t sell any tickets. It’s a balance.

There is a book I have called The Rock Snob’s Dictionary. I suppose I am to a degree a musical snob. But because I am, I can introduce my kids to music their friends can’t. I know what songs the songs on the radio sampled, or plagiarized, from. When my kid doesn’t recognize, say, a sitar in a song, I can tell him that’s what it is.

It’s the job of the experts in the Hall to tell us what, and who, we don’t know, not to just echo what’s popular. “Fame” runs both ways. It can be a “hall of the already-famous,” or a “the famous-because-they-are-in-the-Hall.”

A TV station once advertised the reruns they broadcast by saying, “If you haven’t seen an episode, it’s new to you!” even if it is, you know, old. And education is about what’s new to you, even of it is “already knew” to others.

So there should be at least one inductee every year that makes people go, “Who?” Because the next step after that can be, “Well, if they got in, they must be pretty good! I’m gonna go check ’em out.” Which is when the preservation and education happen.

And that’s pretty damn alright.

Update: Todd Rundgren got Inducted in 2021. 

New Wave, one last time

I know… I already spoke about New Wave bands when lamenting the Rock Hall’s bias against synth-led bands. And I already said that, when the Hall’s nominating committee changes generational hands and Generation X takes over, ’80s bands will be indicted in droves regardless.

But I still think I have to make the case for New Wave bands. It’s hard to tell through all the computerized sounds, but musically, I think New Wave is the second coming of sock-hop music. It’s simple and fun, and it’s got a good beat you can dance to.

Still, those computerized sounds put some people off. Some feel that electrified guitars can make rock music… but electrified pianos can’t.

Yeah, I know, they are not just electric (amplified with electricity) but electronic… and computerized.

But… so what? When computers, synthesizers, and the sampling of sounds (not to be confused with “sampling,” which refers to reusing a phrase of existing music) made it into the studio, it just created a new playground for music-makers to explore. Is a kitchen table made with newly invented tools and materials no longer a table?

After all, the same was true of the studio itself altogether, when feedback, reverb, doubling (having a singer harmonize with themselves), and other then-new effects could be introduced to a song, during or even after recording.

New Wave is going to get into the Rock Hall, sooner or later. It’s time to realize that this genre is part of rock history, that it defined a generation… and that it’s pretty good music at that.

It would be nice if some of New Wave stars made it into the Hall while they were still alive to accept the honor in person, though. Some of them are... getting up there. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-new-wave-brought-rock-n-roll-180952447/

Update: I thought we would have to wait until all the Boomers were off the Nominating Committee, but I have seldom been happier to be wrong.

In 2021, The Go-Go's got Inducted, as did Tina Turner as a solo act. LL Cool J got in, also, but with an Award for Musical Excellence even though he if very much NOT a sideman. 

And then in 2022, Duran Duran and the Eurythmics got Inducted, as did Pat Benatar and Lionel Richie as a solo artist. So look for much more of the same-- Devo did not get in, but they did get their third nomination. Whip it good, as they say, it's not too late.