| I really feel like the person I am today would not exist without all the failure I went through. And all the success I ever had never taught me one damn thing. |
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Hair. Mettle. Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tina Turner in Charlevoix, Mich., Aug. 31, 1985.
(Douglas Elbinger/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
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“I really feel like the person I am today would not exist without all the failure I went through. And all the success I ever had never taught me one damn thing.”
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Hall of Plenty
I'm a couple hours late this morning, my apologies, but I waited because I wanted to be able to say this: THE GO-GO'S ARE GO-GOING INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.
And my boss and friend JASON wanted to say: LL COOL J, SAME.
Hallelujah.
The class of 2021, announced this morning, is a big one by Rock Hall standards: 12 artists and one musical godfather, half chosen by the Hall's voting membership and half by special committees that were unusually busy this year. You'd have to go back to 2000, when the Hall inducted its first five sidemen, or 2012, a big year for inducting entire backing groups, to find a comparably large class. There are holes to be patched and oversights to be corrected and the work, it seems, has begun. A co-ed, cross-genre Rock Hall infrastructure package.
Then again, to paraphrase non-Hall of Famer KAREN CARPENTER, that work has only just begun. So much still to be done, and to be discussed. But first, some names.
TINA TURNER, JAY-Z, CAROLE KING, TODD RUNDGREN, FOO FIGHTERS and the Go-Go's: Cleveland, along with the Hall's 1,000 or so voters, says hello.
Also on their way in: LL Cool J, BILLY PRESTON and RANDY RHOADS, all cited separately for Musical Excellence. (Holy s***, did I just type "Randy Rhoads"? Yes I did. More below.) And KRAFTWERK, GIL SCOTT-HERON and CHARLEY PATTON, as Early Influences.
Plus CLARENCE AVANT, aka the BLACK GODFATHER, manager, producer, executive, civil rights leader and mentor to decades of artists and music bizzers. He's this year's recipient of the AHMET ERTEGUN Award.
It's hard to overstate how huge the inductions of Tina Turner, Carole King and the Go-Go's are. The Hall has displayed all sorts of blind spots over the years, but none have been blinder than its inability to recognize the contributions of women. No women were inducted in the Hall's inaugural class, in 1986, and only one, ARETHA FRANKLIN, the year after that. I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell only once before in the Hall's 35-year history have three women who aren't in the same group been inducted in the same year: RUTH BROWN, ETTA JAMES and DINAH WASHINGTON in 1993.
Signaling that it's heard the (justifiable) complaints—and possibly read the lists of exactly who's missing—the Hall gave women nearly half the slots on this year's ballot. And the voters, who aren't always attuned to the signals the nominating committee puts out, went ahead and voted three of them in. It will be the second inductions for Turner and King, who are both on plaques with their ex-husbands and who both went on to very different, very Hall-of-Fame-worthy, careers after their divorces. Recognizing them specifically as independent women is a huge signal of its own. The Go-Go's, who did their greatest work after King's emergence as the queen of Laurel Canyon in the 1970s and before Turner's solo resurgence in the 1980s, have inspired four decades of women (and plenty of men, too) to buy guitars and declare their independence from the start. Their stay was short, their influence long.
Among the nominees the voters passed over was LL Cool J, who was on the ballot for a sixth time. But this time the Hall's special committees, revamped this year under new leadership (shoutout JOHN SYKES), had his back, inducting him anyway, alongside rock sidemen Preston and Rhoads, for his musical excellence. A bold choice that you know is going to draw some complaints, but screw it, it's well deserved. Great guitarists grow on trees in some towns. Rappers with great, original flows do not. LL is that and more.
Another six-time runner-up, Kraftwerk, was rescued by the committees as an early influence, along with Delta bluesman Charley Patton and poet/musician/spoken-word artist Gil Scott-Heron, who, like Kraftwerk, released his first album in 1970. That may turn some heads, too. They're by far the most recent careers that have been inducted as early influences. But if you're, say, Jay-Z or KANYE WEST, they're influential and hella early, so hell yes.
But but but... everyone I mentioned in the previous two paragraphs is a man. In supplementing the voters' six choices with seven more names, the committees, astonishingly, picked seven men. Which is a little one-step-up-two-steps-back. In the 21 years since the Hall of Fame started inducting players for musical excellence (it quickly came to be known, accurately and unfortunately, as a sidemen award), exactly one woman has been let in through that door—PATTI SCIALFA, who walked through as one of 10 members of the E STREET BAND in 2014.
CAROL KAYE is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But the late OZZY OSBOURNE sideman Randy Rhoads is. He was a ridiculously gifted guitarist, a metal prodigy who was gone way too soon. He belongs in the Hall. But not before Carol Kaye. And not before British metal titans IRON MAIDEN, who voters rejected this year, or JUDAS PRIEST and MOTÖRHEAD, whose rejection letters came in previous years. The Hall's metal wing is a strange one, badly in need of a curator.
The voters' other choices this year were JAY-Z, who, duh (and which means two rappers will be inducted together for the first time, which is two-steps-up, full stop); longtime fan favorite Rundgren—the curmudgeonly old man of this year's class—who's kind of a proggy Carole King; and Foo Fighters, who are great ambassadors for the genre the Hall is named for, who are good human beings who make good singles, and who I'm sure would be willing to wait their turn while more pressing needs are attended to. Which is to say, they make more sense right now as inductors than as inductees. Especially in times like these.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 30 in Cleveland, and will air later on HBO.
MusicSET: "The Rock Hall of Fame Opens Its Doors a Little Wider."
Etc Etc Etc
It was women's night at the BRIT AWARDS, with DUA LIPA's FUTURE NOSTALGIA winning the honors for best British album and LITTLE MIX becoming the first all-women band to win the trophy for best British group—a category in which only three previous winners had any women at all in the band. Tuesday's show was widely seen as a correction to a 2020 ceremony at which women were nearly invisible. And in an unspoken correction to the Brits' American counterpart, the GRAMMYS, the WEEKND performed (via video) and took home the award for best international male... Vaccine passport time: 85 percent of the seats at the HOLLYWOOD BOWL this summer will be for reserved people with Covid vaccinations. The remaining seats will require proof of a negative Covid test within 72 hours of the performance. The summer schedule includes H.E.R., KAMASI WASHINGTON, CHRISTINA AGUILERA and a screening of BLACK PANTHER with a live score.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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The Guardian |
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| Tina Turner: the making of a rock'n'roll revolutionary |
| by Daphne A. Brooks |
| We look back at the boundary-breaking 60-year career of a singer who crossed racial lines and overcame violent oppression to revolutionise music. |
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The A.V. Club |
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| LL Cool J’s 'Radio' and the genesis of Def Jam |
| by Corbin Reiff |
| LL Cool J’s inaugural album Radio didn’t just launch the career of a rapper who became one of the most visible media personalities on the planet--it changed the sound and course of rap music. |
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Vogue |
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| How the Go-Go's Found Their Beat: An Oral History |
| by Keaton Bell |
| Forty years after the release of their star-making debut album, "Beauty and the Beat," the key players recall the forming of the band, becoming one of MTV's first stars, playing on "Saturday Night Live," and being told by Sting that they had hit No. 1. |
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SLAMonline |
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| J. Cole x SLAM |
| by Brandon "Jinx" Jenkins |
| "I'm at a point in my life where I’m like, 'Are you going to be doing this forever?'" |
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8Sided Blog |
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| Music Streaming in a Dream World |
| by Michael Donaldson |
| Imagining a world where NFTs change the music streaming model to better serve both listeners and our music's value. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| ‘This is about the artist. It’s about the music. It’s not about you’ |
| by Dave Roberts |
| Jimmy Iovine on his time as a producer -- and how it shaped the rest of his career. |
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Pitchfork |
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| Sunday Review: Carole King's 'Tapestry' |
| by Jenn Pelly |
| Today, we revisit Carole King’s "Tapestry," the second act that turned a master songwriter into a music legend. |
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The Ringer |
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| The Real Blueprint |
| by Justin Charity |
| 'Reasonable Doubt' turned rap into a corporate ladder - and then Jay Z climbed to the top. |
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The Guardian |
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| Women dominate 2021 Brit awards as Dua Lipa tops winners |
| by Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Tobi Thomas |
| 2020’s heavily male ceremony reversed with wins for Arlo Parks, Haim and Billie Eilish, as Little Mix become first all-woman winner of British group. |
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Billboard |
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| Play It Again, Fan: Songwriters Seek ‘Repeat’ Customers In Streaming Age |
| by Tom Roland |
| Country writers are increasingly looking at subtle tricks that might entice a listener to hit Replay when a song reaches its conclusion. The best way to do that is to make the track feel inconclusive or unresolved — i.e., leave 'em wanting more. |
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The New York Times |
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| Can’s Live Shows Will Be Heard at Last, Thanks to a Bootlegger in Big Pants |
| by Mike Rubin |
| A series of concert albums by the influential German band were made possible by Andrew Hall, a fan who followed the group around in the 1970s with a Sony cassette recorder hidden in his trousers. |
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Music x |
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| Why Twitter is better positioned for tipping musicians than streaming services like Spotify and SoundCloud |
| by Bas Grasmayer |
| Twitter just launched a new tip jar feature with greater potential for musicians than those launched on popular streaming services such as Spotify and SoundCloud last year. |
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Billboard |
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| ‘Catastrophic’: For Artists on Visas, Unemployment Claims Come With Severe Risk |
| by Chris Eggertsen |
| The struggles of international musicians shut out of jobless aid during the pandemic have highlighted larger issues with the U.S. immigration system. |
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Lefsetz Letter |
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| Todd Rundgren-Why He Belongs In The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame |
| by Bob Lefsetz |
| For those who know, they believe... |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Living in a Foo's Paradise |
| by Steve Hochman |
| Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl survives on the power of selective memory--and cathartic rock 'n' roll. |
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Pitchfork |
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| On a Reluctant Reality Show Singer, Drain Gang, and the Hollowness of Modern Existence |
| by Hubert Adjei-Kontoh |
| Why does Lelush, the depressed Russian guy from a Chinese boy-band competition, remind me of Bladee and Yung Lean? |
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Trench |
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| Inside Sanctuary LDN, UK Rap’s New In-Demand Creative Agency |
| by Ajay Rose |
| Ajay Rose catches up with Esi, the mastermind behind Sanctuary LDN. |
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Genius |
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| Becoming Bebe Rexha |
| by Chris Mench |
| The pop star has found success in a wide array of genres. Now she wants to show the world the real her. |
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The FADER |
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| Questlove on 'Phrenology,' Philly soul, and talking 'The Simpsons' with Jay-Z |
| by Mark Ronson and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson |
| On the first episode of The FADER Uncovered, host Mark Ronson sits down with Questlove to talk about The Roots’ rise. |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Why the biggest star of the Hollywood Bowl 2021 lineup is the COVID-19 vaccine |
| by Jessica Gelt |
| Vaccinated people will get 85% of the tickets for the Bowl's 2021 season, which includes Christina Aguilera, Yo-Yo Ma and "Black Panther" live. |
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FLOOD Magazine |
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| Hi! How Are You: The Art of Daniel Johnston and the Curation of the New Story of an Artist Website |
| by A.D. Amorosi |
| We talked to curator Lee Foster about the new site he’s running with the Johnston family to share the late songwriter’s visual art. |
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NPR Music |
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| How Florian Schneider And Kraftwerk Created Pop's Future |
| by Simon Reynolds |
| Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter met while studying piano and flute at university in Germany. Before too long, they'd redrawn the entire outline of pop music for the late 20th century. |
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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