| The bar [at the Rock Hall of Fame] is demonstrably lower for men to hop over (or slither under). The Rock Hall recognised Pearl Jam about four seconds after they became eligible—and yet Chaka Khan, eligible since 2003, languishes with seven nominations. All is not lost, though—the Rock Hall is doing a special programme for Women’s History Month on her stagewear. |
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| Hole's Courtney Love at the Video Music Awards, Sept. 7, 1995. |
| (Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“The bar [at the Rock Hall of Fame] is demonstrably lower for men to hop over (or slither under). The Rock Hall recognised Pearl Jam about four seconds after they became eligible—and yet Chaka Khan, eligible since 2003, languishes with seven nominations. All is not lost, though—the Rock Hall is doing a special programme for Women’s History Month on her stagewear.”
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- Courtney Love
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| rantnrave:// |
Hall Parts
MEG WHITE, who’s nominated for the ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME this year as one half of the WHITE STRIPES, didn’t ask to be rock’s top trending subject on the internet last week, but there she was, the drummer of “THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON,” “FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL” and “SEVEN NATION ARMY” at the center of a days-long discussion about whether she was good at her job. Happy WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH.
White, who didn’t bother participating in said discussion, was replaced on the trending pop chart at the end of the week by COURTNEY LOVE, who got there by ripping the Rock Hall to shreds, in an essay in the Guardian and a days-long tweet storm, for its not-so-hot record of honoring women. Amplifying the well-researched work of feminist critics of the Hall including JESSICA HOPPER and EVELYN MCDONNELL, Love named names (of women who belong in the Hall and the men who’ve shunned them) and politely suggested the institution “go to hell in a handbag.” (I say politely because later she let her followers know the Guardian had edited out her suggestion that the Hall is “run by a governing board made up of musics most malevolent, a virtual black hole of the hellish.”)
Some random information she shared: 8.48% of the Hall’s current inductees are women. None of them is BIG MAMA THORNTON. PEARL JAM got in right away while it took NINA SIMONE more than 30 years. I’m reminded of a scene in the 1994 movie QUIZ SHOW, where ROB MORROW, playing a government lawyer investigating the 1950s quiz show scandal, tells two TV producers how one of their former contestants tried to tell him they’d rigged their show to make sure every Jewish winner is eventually beaten by a non-Jew, who goes on to win more money. Crazy, right?, the lawyer asks. They all laugh. “The thing is,” the lawyer finally says, “I looked it up. It’s true.”
Truth, as a singer/rapper who'll officially be eligible for the Hall in 15 years tells us, hurts. It should be noted that the Hall’s current leadership is clearly aware of these truths and has spent the past couple years trying to address them, inducting TINA TURNER, CAROLE KING and the GO-GO’s in 2021 and PAT BENATAR, CARLY SIMON, DOLLY PARTON, EURYTHMICS, ELIZABETH COTTEN and SYLVIA ROBINSON in 2022. But it'll take decades to catch up with the truth at that pace. Something a little more drastic may be required on the part of the voters, who include too many Jacks (full disclosure: I’m one of them) and not enough Megs, as well as the nominating committee. In those same couple years, the committee has used its Musical Excellence Award (formerly the, um, “Sidemen” award) to unilaterally induct six men on top of the voters’ picks, and no women. In the award’s two-decade history, it’s been bestowed on 42 men and one woman. Musically excellent bass legend CAROL KAYE remains unrecognized and uninducted. Musically excellent drummer SHEILA E and singers MARIAH CAREY and KAREN CARPENTER remain on the outside, looking in.
All of this matters, Love wrote, because “The Rock Hall is a king-making force in the global music industry. Induction affects artists’ ticket prices, their performance guarantees, the quality of their reissue campaigns (if they get reissued at all). These opportunities are life-changing—the difference between touring secondary-market casinos opening for a second-rate comedian, or headlining respected festivals... Particularly for veteran female artists, induction confers a status that directly affects the living they are able to make.”
Or, to put it another way, giving women their flowers (and not mocking their musicianship) during Women’s History Month is nice, but how about giving them something a little more concrete and bankable. Or, to put it the way Courtney Love tweets it: “Do your work BRO.”
Etc Etc Etc
The music biz lays down principles for supporting human creativity in the age of artificial intelligence, including requiring that all copyrighted works used to train AI models be licensed, and that copyright not be granted to “output solely created and generated by machines.” (BAD BUNNY may want to take note of the demand that “performers’ and athletes’ voices and likenesses must only be used with their consent and fair market compensation”)... Still needed: principles for supporting human creativity in the age of ELON MUSK... PETER GABRIEL, meanwhile, says no job, including his, is “safe from AI,” and so “we might as well just grab the algorithms and dance with them, rather than fight them”... “You finally got justice Jah,” XXXTENTACION’s mother wrote on Instagram Monday after three men were convicted of murdering the rapper outside a Deerfield Beach, Fla., motorcycle store in 2018. XXX, who was 20 when he was killed, was born Jahseh Onfroy. The first-degree murder convictions come with mandatory life sentences... An analysis of all 44 songs TAYLOR SWIFT player in her three-hour-plus tour opener Friday in Glendale, Ariz. (She’s promised to vary the setlist throughout the tour)... Russian soprano ANNA NETREBKO’s refusal to denounce VLADIMIR PUTIN after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cost her a string of performances at the METROPOLITAN OPERA in New York last year. But those cancellations have now cost the Met $200,000, with an arbitrator ruling the diva “had a right” to support her country’s president and the opera company had no grounds to break its contracts with her. On Friday, the Met fired Netrebko’s husband, tenor YUSIF EYVAZOV, from an upcoming production of TOSCA but said it would still pay him... GLADYS KNIGHT, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and JOSÉ FELICIANO will receive National Medals of Arts this afternoon from PRESIDENT BIDEN... BONO and the EDGE at the TINY DESK... T-PAIN’s cover of BLACK SABBATH’s “WAR PIGS” “is awesome and the haters need to apologize,” declares the metal site MetalSucks, whose word is final and true.
Rest in Peace
Parliament-Funkadelic singer FUZZY HASKINS, who was an original member of the doo-wop and R&B group the Parliaments in the 1960s and continued on as an essential member of Parliament and Funkadelic through the late 1970s. His lead vocals included “I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing” and “Miss Lucifers Love.” After leaving the P-Funk orbit, Haskins released two solo albums, became a preacher and performed with other P-Funk alums as the Original P... Mexican singer/saxophonist FITO OLIVARES, known as the King of Cumbia... Songwriter JERRY SAMUELS, aka one hit wonder NAPOLEON XIV, whose moment in the pop sun was the 1966 novelty smash “They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”... Original Hawkwind guitarist MICK SLATTERY... Country publicist and Country Music Hall of Fame exec LIZ THIELS.
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| - Matty Karas, curator |
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Tidal |
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| BSS Interview: The Art of the Sub-Unit |
| By Jeff Benjamin |
| Within K-pop’s mega-groups, sub-units have offered a chance for members to showcase their tastes and personalities. BSS, a branch off from Seventeen, is the latest sub-group to hit big. |
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Trapital |
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| Africa’s Music and Startup Future (with Mr Eazi) |
| By Dan Runcie and Mr Eazi |
| Investing in both artists and music, Mr Eazi models himself after Jay-Z. emPawa Africa is his Roc Nation. It’s a talent incubator turned music service company with management, publishing, and distribution. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “Teenage Whore” |
| Hole |
| "I've seen your repulsion and it looks real good on you." From "Pretty on the Inside" (1991). |
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| Music | Media |
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Suggest a link  |
| “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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