Faithful readers of this blog know I'm all for letting everyone into the Hall of Fame. I can't see the silliness of having to decide these things. Sure, folks like Elvis Presley and John Lennon are pretty obvious, but then there's a question of what to do once the music gets away from itself. Besides, isn't it a bit presumptuous to fall for the idea that Elvis Presley invented rock n' roll? Try reading Nick Tosches' Unsung Heroes of Rock n' Roll, for starters, and then figure out what Billy Joel is doing here.

But, as I said, I'm all for letting everyone in. That includes garage-bands who made one great single and synth-pop bands who made five terrible albums. You can't institutionalize a music that's supposed to be about rejecting institutions. As far as I'm concerned, if a guy who was in The Frost wants to fill out the forms to get into the Hall of Fame, then his band should be in.

I sympathize with KISS fans. For every rock critic and journo who calls them silly and stupid, there's

Part Two is mostly things that didn't make Part One. I'm actually saving some real cool ones for Part Three. By all this, it's clearly provable that 1970 was a great year for album rock. If 1965-66 was the beginning of the thing, then 1970 is right when bands start hitting their stride their stride with the LP format. Besides, rock music is highly dependent on the drugs that were around at the time. LSD was losing its shine and barbiturates were taking over. So, pardon me, if the music is a little slower. Karen Ann Quinlan would kill this movement and punks would suddenly speed things up. But for awhile, you could overdose and die in relative peace. What more can you ask for?

25) The Partridge Family--The Partridge Family Album: Yes, I'm sure every hipster on earth--or at least in Brooklyn--likes this album because it's so gosh-darned essential. And, sure, I was four years old and rocking out to "Can't You Feel My Heart Beat," "Umbrella Man" and "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" but I'm

Jimi Hendrix's studio is celebrating its 40th Anniversary, so you KNOW what that means around here!

When I first started this list, I figured I'd settle on 10. Then 15. Eventually 25. Yes, I've still got a few more. Never mind the idea that many big studios had studios on both coasts. The major label studios are the trickiest, since often the credits go to something generic like "Recorded at Columbia Studios in New York City."

In the end, I've settled for letting Memphis stand in for many of the smaller markets where great music has been recorded--and I STILL had to cut Stax. After all, I've got to attempt some version of balance. I didn't include any recording studios in the rest of the world, except England, since they once owned us and I can't pronounce French or German.

Feel my pain as I try to make sense of who recorded in these places. Sometimes the studios lay claim to artists who only had their records mixed there. Therefore, any room "magic" is done for.

You could even make

Like many of you, I spend most of my time watching the Game Show Network and pretending it's 1985. After all, back then my bones didn't ache and you could get the old man up the street to buy you a case of Old German beer for about six bucks. I didn't even have to come close to getting drunk before throwing up!

But now as a mature adult, I occasionally watch the news, or what passes for it (while The $25,000 Pyramid is at commercial), and I don't like what I see. No way, dog-gummit! It seems like not a night passes when I don't hear politicians blaming each other for what is clearly their fault. I just heard something about the Governor of my former state, New Jersey, blaming the President for not catching the Gov's mistakes on some fancy forms for education funding. You would think if it's something important, the Governor would have some mighty smart people on his team to double-check his and his staff's work!

I always have my mom check over my columns and that's really tricky