do they deserve to be inducted?
yes. goddamn yes.
will they be inducted?
no. probably not.
a shame?
doesn't really matter, because i've still got my records.

Posted by laserbeard on Tuesday, 08.29.06 @ 22:56pm

Blondie made it, making Pavement's induction into the Hall a no-brainer. They will be inducted and play live together. It's only a matter of time.

Posted by Jackals on Monday, 04.23.07 @ 15:25pm

Well, they did influence some underground bands...but frankly, their fanbase is full of ignorant elitists who think listening to Pavement makes them cool. Plus, the field for this year already includes NIN and Nirvana plus a backlog of artists...if they even have a chance at getting in, it's going to be a good 10 years.

Posted by maplejet on Tuesday, 06.5.07 @ 12:06pm

"their fanbase is full of ignorant elitists who think listening to Pavement makes them cool"

anon?

Posted by liam on Monday, 11.12.07 @ 15:24pm

Alright, moving on from that Anon-rams-the-car-into-a-ditch-debacle...... I am asking for those in the know to explain what I am missing with Pavement.
I have given this band my '3 plays test': I've played "Slanted & Enchanted" beginning to end 3 full times, and I still don't like their sound.

Sometimes a cd/artist won't grab me immediately, but by the 2nd or 3rd listen I start to get it and discover something interesting, hopefully aluring.

Pavement escapes me. What do those of you who enjoy them find in them?

Posted by shawn on Wednesday, 11.21.07 @ 08:12am

No help in understanding Pavement's alure? No support for Pavement?
Huh.

Posted by shawn on Friday, 11.23.07 @ 09:40am

A 56% likelihood is so ludicrous as to be juvenile fanboy fantasy wishlist stuff. Please - get real.
This stat, as I read it, is measuring the likelihood - not even a nod for deservability. Ridiculous. Show me the signs that fucking Pavement is among the top chances for induction.

Posted by shawn on Friday, 11.23.07 @ 09:43am

Well they're one of the earliest and THE most well-known and imitated lo-fi band, lo-fi becoming very prominent as the '90s progressed. You're not "missing" anything, it's just simply not your cup of tea. Nothing wrong with that, but your last post seems like a harsh argument against no one. Why so bitter?

Posted by William on Friday, 11.23.07 @ 10:25am

"Why so bitter?"

Just irritated a bit at this site's guesstimates for induction chances (I'm reading as actual likelihood, not merit), as they seem like silly wishes. What would make someone really think that a lo-fi pioneer like Pavement is more likely than Steve Miller or Alice Cooper or Genesis? Nothing this Rock Hall has done would steer me to sincerely believe they will take a serious look at a band on the periphery of the mainstream. They've also got My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., Pulp all rated too high for CHANCES - again, I don't comment here about these bands' talent or importance.

Also, Pavement's sound, I think, has frustrated me. I almost always can find something intriguing about an artist. On first listen to King Crimson's "In the Court.." I had a hard time. Then on 2nd listen, I heard layers that interested me. 3rd time, I started to appreciate it.
The Replacements "Let It Be":
1st listen: liked it mostly
2nd: started to "get it"
3rd: started to love it

I was fishing for someon'es deeper insight on Pavement because they just seem obnoxious - like Dinosaur Jr. they have that buzzzing chain saw hum going on beneath almost everything, but I could abide that -- its the vocals that I can't tolerate. Lazy in a word. Annoyingly lacadasical, apathetic -- sounds like Malkmus is constantly suffering from low blood sugar, or he's so fucking hip that he can be vocally aloof. I just can't stand it.

Posted by shawn on Friday, 11.23.07 @ 21:36pm

"Why so bitter?"

I know, I have been wondering the same thing...

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, 11.23.07 @ 22:54pm

Anon, has there ever been someone who less deserves to be smug than you? Shut your cramhole, you fucking troll.

Posted by shawn on Saturday, 11.24.07 @ 08:49am

The bitterness continues on....and such nasty language...

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 11.24.07 @ 12:04pm

Blah-blah-blah-der-de-blah, anon.......

Could you please contain your sanctimonious drivel to one page? If I give you the Rush page to say whatever you want and promise not to challenge or beat on you there, will you shut your trap?

Posted by shawn on Saturday, 11.24.07 @ 16:37pm

If Pavement gets in before the Fall - one of their biggest influences - I'll be.....a bit cross.

But just a bit

Posted by liam on Monday, 01.14.08 @ 11:02am

The Fall > Pavement

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 08:16am

Pavement = sucks

Posted by Blue on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 09:34am

I'm not a Pavement fan at all, and I tend to go with Mark E. Smith's line of thinking (that they are a Fall rip-off). I don't think this band had an original idea in its collective body.

I love it when Pitchdork totally overrates an album and/or artist.

You know, like giving In The Aeroplane Over The Sea a 10.0 when in actuality it deserves about 7.5

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 11:44am

Shawn, have you tried MBV or Cocteau Twins yet?

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 12:03pm

"You know, like giving In The Aeroplane Over The Sea a 10.0 when in actuality it deserves about 7.5"m-Liam

Don't care for songs about 2-headed boys trapped in jars of formaldehyde, huh?

I really like that album - what is it you find less than 10.0 Liam?

Pitchfork originally rated it 8.7 - still very high. It is a bit surreal and all over the place, but I like its intimacy and originality a lot.

Posted by Blue on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 12:09pm

No, not yet Liam. Haven't been seeking out the new music experiences I was a few months ago - got to get back to that. Thanks for the reminder; I'll try those two and Charlatans UK in the next week.

Posted by Blue on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 12:16pm

Vocals, vocals, vocals.

It's always sounded like this hideous hybrid of MBV and the Beach Boys.

I don't hate the album, and I don't love it. Listening to it now, I'd be happy giving it between 7.7 and 8.7

I think Pitchfork got it wrong on alot of albums; OK Computer, London Calling, Imagine and many others getting far too high.

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 12:18pm

You'd probably be better getting The Stone Roses LP before anything by the Charlatans; it's far better.

I'd recommend Head Over Heels by Cocteaus first.

MBV isn't like Pavement or Dinosaur Jr., and they're much more comparable to Sonic Youth.

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 12:22pm

"I think Pitchfork got it wrong on alot of albums; OK Computer, London Calling, Imagine and many others getting far too high."

Do you attribute that to the reviewers' personal tastes, or something more underlying?

Posted by Blue on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 13:10pm

I think there's definitely something underlying, and I doubt that I'm the only one.

Albums by artists such as Pavement, Sufjan Stevens and Neutral Milk Hotel all receive radically too high ratings. Me thinks that this has something to do with either pressure fom the hipster community, or Pitchfork is trying to grasp for commercial success.

However, I believe that the Best Albums list for each decade are all completely wrong. I'd go on, but it may take some time....

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 13:23pm

Oooh, you should try some XTC too!

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.22.08 @ 14:17pm

Actually, I think I like Pavement more than I remembered. I got my copy of Slanted & Enchanted back in '93 (a year late...I know) and I actually loved it. It was one of the first 'contemporary' alternative albums I ever got (I had some records by The Flaming Lips and Ween...everyone was ignorant once!), and I got it on after reading a review in some music magazine (Melody Maker or NME, one of the two).

I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed the lo-fi of it, and I still do listening to it now.

Still, I stand by my statment that The Fall are better than they are, and I HATE that cover of The Killing Moon they did.

Posted by Liam on Saturday, 03.29.08 @ 15:24pm

Hi,

I'm a damn big Pavement fan but not really a fan of Slanted and Enchanted. Any skeptics should give their middle 3 releases a listen. (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, Brighten the Corners) and then reconsider.

Posted by Me on Wednesday, 10.1.08 @ 12:38pm

Yes, for being a primary template of American indie music and culture post-Nirvana alone makes them worthy.

Slanted and Crooked are their only great albums but they all have their own charms. Stephen Malkmus still makes good, occasionally excellent records.

Just curious, for those of you still pandering the Fall rip-off thing...have any of you actually listened to the band? They grew out of that pretty quickly. That said, count me in for The Fall's inclusion too.

Posted by Jonas on Tuesday, 12.16.08 @ 04:02am

Pavement are mediocre at best and if they make the hall of fame its a travesty...Malkmus is a template for a hipster nothing more, he has a truly awful voice, even fans admit their lyrics aren't really about much, and musically 'they haven't got an original bone in their bodies'... there's something so smug about pavement fans..when someone says they're into pavement they say it in a particular tone of voice

Posted by Sam on Thursday, 12.18.08 @ 16:54pm

just because you dont like it now doesn't mean you won't love them later i suggest crooked rain crooked rain it's easier listening than slanted enchanted. but i do feel pavement is one of rarest talents and they deserve way more than alice cooper or bloody valentine in my opinion they made some perfect records

Posted by brian on Wednesday, 12.24.08 @ 07:27am

If Pavement doesn't get in, then the Hall of Fame loses all of its credibility for me. And unlike a lot of people here, I never considered Pavement hipsters or part of a scene - they were the complete opposite of that. Just 5 guys having fun and playing great music.

Posted by Wil on Thursday, 01.15.09 @ 15:07pm

Pavement should definitely be inducted. Look at all their album reviews on Rolling Stone. Look at the reviews for the reissues. Look at how many of today's bands they've influenced...they helped spawn the entire indie movement.

More importantly, it would provide them an excuse to reunite.

Anyone who's listened to Slanted and Enchanted and doesn't "get" them can easily move on to Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, etc. Pavement isn't solely defined by Slanted and Enchanted and they evolved over the decade.

Posted by Stocktonian on Saturday, 01.24.09 @ 10:27am

They shouldn't be inducted at all. They're not that good and not overly influential. Malkmus is as full of himself as his fan base is. I could go on with a list of more worthy indie / lo-fi artists.

Seriously though, if anyone from the lo-fi movement deserves in it would be Guided By Voices. That ain't gonna happen, so you might as well let it die.

Posted by Sam on Wednesday, 04.1.09 @ 12:10pm