Uncovering the Next Generation's Hall of Fame
Roger Friedman's Latest Rock Hall Screed
The Dave Clark Five finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Thursday morning, one year after their real induction was stolen from them. Other inductees are Madonna, Leonard Cohen, the Ventures and, at long last, John Mellencamp. The latter nominee has been pushed and pushed by Jann Wenner year after year. It’s probably best just to get it over with.Gamble & Huff are being inducted this year as "Non-Performers," a category where the 600+ member Voting Committee has no say in the selection. It's unclear who chooses the recipients in the Early Influence, Non-Performer, Sideman, and Lifetime Achievement categories. If anyone has any information on this, let us know.Passed over were ridiculous nominees such as Donna Summer and Afrika Bambaattaa.
Madonna, who has nothing to do with rock, got in, however. For VH-1, which produces the show for TV, she’s the only drawing card on that bill. I’m sure the channel is already making desperate calls to Justin Timberlake and Amy Winehouse to see if they can sing (or if they know) a Cohen song.
To offset the usual lack of R&B inductees (meaning no black people), the Hall is giving a special award to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff of Philadelphia International Records for not paying royalties to their artists for many years. Check out rulings against them concerning the O’Jays (http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/05D1141P.pdf) and Billy Paul, all of whom have been reported previously. Maybe previous inductees the O’Jays will perform "For the Love of Money."
But Gamble & Huff have been coming to the dinner for years and paying for their tickets, so their time has come. Still not in, and never will be: Billy Preston, Chubby Checker, Hall & Oates, Chicago, The Moody Blues, Todd Rundgren, Mary Wells, a dozen or so DJs who made rock 'n' roll history, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Bad Company and so on and so forth…