It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me!

The discussion at hand:  The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and it's inductees

In general, and getting directly to the point, the R&R Hall of Fame has become a joke, and a bad one, at that. Politics and money supersede hard work and dedication to the music.

With that thought in the forefront, let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that the people responsible for the fiasco are legitimate and that their actions and intentions are good. (Even though a few of us know they really are not (good).

On the surface, John Mayer and Jennifer Hudson singing at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Inductions does seem to be a bit out of place.

From a purely personal standpoint and of my own opinion, as a fellow musician, I have to say that I DO hate musical genres and categories, in general. They're very limiting.

(In the late 1990's, I busted Sam Goody Music stores for placing ALL of Tina Turner's music under "R&B", when - since she escaped the Royal Jackass, her music has been very different than "R&B". I went on to enlighten Sam Goody by telling them that the only reason they continued to place Tina's music under R&B was that #1) it's a 'black thing' #2) from her earlier music, and her history with the Royal Jackass.)

The squeaky wheel does, indeed, either 'get the oil', or it 'gets replaced' ! Either way, something is going to happen. Something is going to get done.

The moral of that saga is that Tina Turner's R&B albums are now filed under "R&B" and her later albums are under "Rock 'n' Roll"

(The same thing goes for Darius Rucker of Hootie & The Blowfish. His rock albums go under Rock....his country albums go under 'Country'. We wouldn't file his Country albums under 'Rock' simply because his earlier albums are Rock.

The full story of Jennifer & John singing at the Hall of Fame inductions is a bit different.

(One example would be that Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson are singing in honor of inductee Donna Summer, who, for obvious reasons, can't sing for herself - if you know what I mean).

When I sit down to a piano in a public space, and I play for 15 minutes, I often hear victims - er...I mean - listeners comment "I've never heard such a variety of music in such a short amount of time coming from one person!" I will play a Scott Joplin tune, followed by: Beethoven, old time tent revival gospel, Rock, Boogie, Country, Jazz, Top 40, Alternative, etc, etc.

Because each performer does what they do very well, and there is no need to change that, I would personally prefer not to listen to Sarah Brightman singing Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High", nor would I want to hear Tina Turner singing Sarah's "Fleurs De Mal". With that disclaimer being thrust forward, I do believe that anybody can sing any style that they feel bold enough to pull off.

(If you will pardon me, I have a Hammond B3 / Leslie 122 warming up. I have a couple hours of piano and organ practice (actually, music therapy!) ahead of me, and the day is quickly slipping through my fingers. he he)

https://rockhall.com/event/induction-2013/

- Michael