Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010

The newest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were inducted last night in New York, and the 2010 class is a diverse one. The new inductees' music covers several genres of rock and roll music: pop, ABBA; progressive rock, Genesis; British Invasion pop, The Hollies; reggae, Jimmy Cliff; and punk, Iggy Pop and The Stooges. In addition, media mogul David Geffen was included for his contribution as a music producer and industry executive, as well as songwriters Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman, Otis Blackwell and the teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.
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(barry mann and cynthia weil, with carole king in white dress; the stooges)
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(ABBA; the hollies)
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The message boards across the internet lit up yesterday with posts about who should and should not be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ABBA, in particular was singled out for venom, who many felt was too "pop" to be included in a "Rock and Roll" Hall of Fame. To us, this is a completely silly argument. "Rock and Roll" is simply a semantic umbrella underwhich many types of pop music are found, from pop to soul to punk to rap to metal to new wave to grunge, etc., etc., etc. To say that there is only one type of Rock and Roll is ridiculous. Elvis Presley is the "King of Rock and Roll", and most of his music was certainly pop, as was the Beatles'. The Rolling Stones, who are arguably the greatest "Rock and Roll" band of all time had countless hits which are clearly more pop than harder edged rock.
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(jimmy cliff; ellis greenwich and jeff barry)
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Unfortunately Ellie Greenwich died a few months ago, (see our post on her death), but her legacy as one of the greatest pop songwriters of all time is assured. One of the famous Brill Building songwriters of the 1960's, Greenwich wrote, among other monster hits, "Be My Baby", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader of the Pack", "Chapel of Love" and "River Deep, Mountain High".
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(the hollies; genesis with phil collins in beard)
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Graham Nash was the original lead singer of The Hollies, scoring a string of hits in Britain, and hitting the American charts with "Bus Stop" and "Carrie Anne". Nash later left the group to found Crosby, Stills & Nash, afterwhich The Hollies scored hits with "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", "The Air That I Breathe" and "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress". Upon accepting his award last night, Nash joked that "he couldn't believe the group had the nerve to have three number one hits after he left the group."
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(david geffen; genesis at last night's ceremony)
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(iggy pop at last night's ceremony)
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Undoubtedly one of the highlights of last night's ceremony was Iggy Pop's performance. We haven't seen it yet, the only network to air the ceremony was Fuse, which we don't have on our cable system, but we can only imagine what it must have been like from what we've read. As Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day was giving testimony for The Stooges, Iggy Pop was behind him, getting ready, wasting no time in unbuttoning his shirt. Soon after, Iggy, one of rock's all-time greatest showmen, took the stage to perform, strutting, rolling and growling in classic Iggy Pop fashion, proving why punk became such a force in music and the counter-culture, and why no one could have lead the way any better than Iggy Pop.

Ellie Greenwich 1940-2009

They say "it comes in three's", and the summer of 2009 has proven that cliche true as we've lost three of our greatest legends in pop music. First was Michael Jackson, and we thought no other loss could eclipse his in importance. Then came the news that one of the greatest pioneers of rock music, maybe the most important, Les Paul, was gone. Les Paul developed the "solid body electric guitar" which made the sound of rock and roll possible, and he also invented and/or improved recording techniques which defined the way music is produced to this day, including "overdubbing" and "multi-track recording". (If you think Paul's contributions aren't important, try to imagine a Britney Spears song without voice modulation. Eee-yow!) Paul was also a popular performer, who along with his wife, Mary Ford, scored several Top Ten hits.


And finally, on August 26, we lost our third legendary star, singer/songwriter Ellie Greenwich. Greenwich is not a household name to anyone under the age of 40, but everyone knows her work. Discovered in New York's famous Brill Building by none other than Lieber and Stoller, ("Jailhouse Rock", "Hound Dog"), Greenwich later was given her own office and became one of the most successful of the famous Brill Building superstar songwriters, co-writing some of the 1960's biggest hits, including "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You" (The Ronettes), "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron" (The Crytals), "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" (Darlene Love), "Chapel of Love" (The Dixie Cups), "Leader of the Pack" (The Shangri-Las), "Hanky Panky" (Tommy James & the Shondells), "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy" (Manfred Mann), and "River Deep, Mountain High" (Ike and Tina Turner). Many of these songs were listed in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and over the years, when asked to name "the most perfect pop song of all time", many music critics have chosen "Be My Baby".

(l. to r. - The Ronettes and The Crystals)

Greenwich's main songwriting partner was husband, Jeff Barry, with whom she also recorded singles and an album under the name The Raindrops, with Greenwich providing all the female vocals through overdubbing, (thank you, Les Paul!), and Barry singing backgrounds.

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The couple also discovered Neil Diamond and produced many of his biggest hits. Greenwich and Barry were inducted into The Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1991, but shockingly, they are not yet members of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Something tells us that status will probably soon change.

(Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry)

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(The Raindrops: Greenwich, Barry and Laura Greenwich)

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Interestingly enough, the combined careers of Ellie Greenwich, Les Paul and Michael Jackson cover all aspects of the music industry: performing, writing, producing and technical innovation. Can you imagine what would have happened if the three of them had ever teamed up? Also, the three cover the span of the modern rock era, Paul earning his greatest fame in the 1940's and '50's, Greenwich in the 1960's, and Jackson in the 1970's, '80's and 90's. These three titans of the music world will be sorely missed, and you can count on the fact that very few others with their breadth of talents will ever emerge again.