Funny Business

One of the major criticisms of rock music has always been its lack of respect for any authority. It openly mocks the powers that be, and is snide and sarcastic in general. It has fun, but also makes fun and pokes fun.

But sometimes when rock is being the class clown, it’s actually funny. Novelty songs have been part of all music from time immemorial, and that’s no less true of rock.

And yet, the Rock Hall has never seen fit, in its three decades-plus of operation, to even nominate a novelty act.

Granted, there are only a handful of novelty acts that might even qualify. But that just makes their exclusion all the odder.

Rock is supposed to thumb its nose at the establishment. People were worried, when the Hall was opened, that putting rock in a museum might make it codger-ly and stodgy. Did their worries come true?

Rock laughs at everything, even itself. By inducting even one novelty or parody act, the Hall would indicate that it understand this, that it acknowledges the place of comedy in rock… and that it’s not afraid to crack a smile now and then.

https://www.change.org/p/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-weird-al-yankovic-for-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame

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.