| I'm hoping that people listen to Tribe and see the influences of a Slick Rick or a Run-DMC. Or Miles Davis is an influence of ours, Prince is an influence of ours. And then you can see that Prince’s influences were Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. And Sly Stone’s was Ray Charles, and Ray Charles’ was Nat King Cole, and Nat King Cole’s was Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson’s was Duke Ellington. |
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| Helllloooooo? Lionel Richie in the Brill Building, New York, Sept. 3, 1976. |
| (Bobby Bank/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“I'm hoping that people listen to Tribe and see the influences of a Slick Rick or a Run-DMC. Or Miles Davis is an influence of ours, Prince is an influence of ours. And then you can see that Prince’s influences were Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. And Sly Stone’s was Ray Charles, and Ray Charles’ was Nat King Cole, and Nat King Cole’s was Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson’s was Duke Ellington.”
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- Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest
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| rantnrave:// |
"Hello," Dolly
If DOLLY PARTON doesn't get MARIANO RIVERA'd into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME this year with a unanimous vote (actually we'll never know since the Hall doesn't release its voting results, but the Hall will know), then the Hall should fire every single voter and start over from scratch, which actually might not be the worst idea anyway, but the point is, damn it's about time they nominated her so let's not f*** this up, voter people.
(There will, I suppose, be mild complaints that she's a country singer not a rock and roll singer but news flash you can be more than one thing and rock and roll has always, from day one, been an elastic concept, open to interpretation and open to wayfaring strangers of all types, and if BECK, also nominated this year, is a rock and roll singer and songwriter then Dolly is a rock and roll singer and songwriter but why am I even arguing I know you agree and you will vote for her and/or root for her.)
More disjointed notes, if I may, on a disjointed collection of 2022 nominees put forth by the Hall's nominating committee 25 years after one of those weird mid to late '90s years for which the committee could only come up with one newly eligible artist, EMINEM, who debuted that year and who was worth nominating, and actually I think it's 26 years now because the pandemic happened and time got a little bent and Eminem's first album was 1996, but also, not a single person you know bought or heard that album when it came out and it’s a little weird to decide he's officially eligible based on that.
They could have waited till 25 or 26 years after the volcanic arrival of THE SLIM SHADY LP and "MY NAME IS" (both 1999) and nominated NAS or OUTKAST instead this year. Or even, like, OASIS. Embrace and celebrate that strange little era.
This continues to be a perfect time to fill in the enormous holes that previous voters have left behind. A year ago, an unprecedented 11 women were nominated (six individuals plus the GO-GO's) and this year there are six (five individuals, two held over from last year's ballot, plus one half of EURYTHMICS). One of them is CARLY SIMON, singer of the darkest, most cynical song about marriage ever to hit the Top 10, a song I hate a little more with every passing year of my adulthood. She's a first-time nominee and beyond deserving.
But only one Black woman this year: the smoothly dynamic DIONNE WARWICK (speaking of women who some people will insist isn’t rock and roll). Four were nominated a year ago and two got in. Dionne is everyone's favorite internet grandmother now. Two 25-year eligibility periods ago, she was the voice that made BURT BACHARACH possible.
LIONEL RICHIE's "HELLO" is a masterpiece. God those changes. There should be a way to vote for him and the COMMODORES together and put them on one plaque. See also: CHAKA KHAN and RUFUS, who the Hall can never quite decide which one to nominate, and who are getting this year off.
They really want you to vote for the MC5 (nomination number six! Hi MARK SATLOF!). And RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (nomination number four). Loud activist rock. Also fully deserving but you really should vote for JUDAS PRIEST (nomination number three) instead. Louder, uglier, more beautiful, cheesier and activist in a different way. The Hall of Fame's metal wing is empty and meaningless without Judas Priest, who invented and/or codified pretty much everything.
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST kind of sort of un-codified everything, telling the world that hip-hop doesn't have to be this, it can be that. Second albums are famously hard to get right. ATCQ's second was THE LOW END THEORY.
Someday you will explain to your children, who weren't born when DURAN DURAN first became eligible for the Hall and who are now in high school, why it took till 2022 for anyone to put that name on a ballot. The word "pop" will swim around your head like a preset on a vintage ROLAND synthesizer and it will sound pretty damn good.
Also nominated, in order of,wait, why haven't I mentioned them yet: FELA KUTI, PAT BENATAR, KATE BUSH, DEVO, the NEW YORK DOLLS.
Plus Also Too
SPOTIFY's stock, which has been having a rough month, continued dropping Wednesday even after the company reported growth in ad revenue, subscribers and monthly active users in its fourth-quarter earnings call. CEO DANIEL EK told reporters "it's too early to know what the impact may be" from the strong blowback against its biggest podcaster, JOE ROGAN, who's been accused of spreading Covid misinformation on his show. But "I feel good about where we are in relation to that." Spotify lost the remaining members of CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG on Wednesday, with the first three having all now said they're asked their labels to pull their music out of the service in solidarity with NEIL YOUNG's Rogan protest... Something you should never do when you're a fugitive who's been on the run a quarter century: Sell vinyl records online. You might get Ipanema'd... Something you should always do when trying to sell NFTs of every musician ever: Ask at least a couple of them for permission. #WorstStartupOf2022... The MICHAEL JACKSON jukebox musical, MJ, opened to lukewarm reviews Tuesday on Broadway, and to a controversy of its own making when it kicked a Variety reporter off the red carpet for asking "difficult questions" of cast members. Reporter MICHAEL APPLER said actors were thoughtfully engaging his questions about how sexual abuse allegations against Jackson might affect audience members' ability to enjoy the show until a rep for the show said "Not on opening night" and kicked him out. The ejection appears to have been in keeping with the vibe of the show, which NY Times theater critic JESSE GREEN described as "a grind of obfuscation, a case of willfully not looking at the man in the mirror"... Meanwhile on Fox, Deadline's MIKE FLEMING JR. reports that RUDY GIULIANI was unmasked as one of the losing contestants during the first week of taping for season 7 last week, prompting judges KEN JEONG and ROBIN THICKE to walk out in protest... HOT 97's DJ DREWSKI says he'll no longer play any diss or gang songs. "I can’t change the world, but I can stop supporting the nonsense," he wrote in his Instagram Stories on Tuesday. "Step up your pen game and creativity." The same day, Brooklyn rapper TDOTT WOO was shot in front of his home hours after signing a deal with Million Dollar Music, becoming at least third rapper murdered in the US in 2022.
Rest in Peace
Jazz and R&B drummer PHILIP PAUL, who played on classic records by Little Willie John, Wynonie Harris and Charles Brown and who, with Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, created the beat for "The Twist"... East Bay soul singer FREDDIE HUGHES.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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The New Yorker |
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| Imagine a World Without Spotify |
| By Alex Ross |
| In order to support musicians you care about, you may have to give up the idea that all music should be available on demand. |
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British GQ |
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| Saba is ready to return to the light |
| By Nicolas-Tyrell Scott |
| After excavating his own trauma on recent albums "Care For Me" and "Few Good Things," the Chicago-based rapper is starting to look up. |
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iHeartRadio |
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| Questlove Supreme: Will Smith |
| By Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Will Smith |
| Questlove and Team Supreme present a conversation with Will Smith. Thank you and you are welcome. |
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Chicago Reader |
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| Catholic school house |
| By Duane Powell |
| In the 1970s, teenagers at Catholic-school parties on Chicago’s south and west sides helped pioneer house-music culture. |
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Complex |
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| 15 Black British Music Execs Shaking The System (2022 Edition) |
| By Joseph 'JP' Patterson, James Keith, Chantelle Fiddy... |
| In the two years since our last list, a lot has changed. Black music—whether it’s rap, grime, drill, Afrobeats or Amapiano—has an even tighter grip on the charts, For the first time in history, a Black man—Inflo—won the Brit Award for Best Producer. None of that could have happened without the hard work of the execs we’re highlighting today. |
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The New Yorker |
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| Immanuel Wilkins’s Divinely Inspired Jazz |
| By Sheldon Pearce |
| The alto saxophonist, who has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Bob Dylan, and Solange, aims to find God in his music-or, at least, in the act of playing it. |
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Sound Field |
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| How Do R&B Singers Create Background Vocals? (ft. Linda Diaz) |
| By Linda Diaz |
| If you’ve ever listened to a song SUPER closely, you might have noticed the arrangement of vocals floating around in the background. These are called backing vocals! And believe it or not, there’s a lot of skill that goes into crafting perfectly-placed backing vocals. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music | Media |
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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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