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Lenny Kaye an unfortunate hall of fame omission
01/12/2007 9:58 PM, Reuters
You've heard who got into the Rock
Hall this year: R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Ronettes, Van Halen
and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. All good. All
deserving. I was hoping it would be the Patti Smith Group,
though, because now Lenny Kaye will probably never get in and
he deserves to be.
All right, I am unapologetically a band guy, what can I
tell you? Smith is indisputably great, and I mean no
disrespect, but for me it's simple: Is she better with the band
or without the band? She gets her name in the title either way,
so what's the problem, right?
I was also hoping somebody would bend the rules a bit and
put all nine finalists in this year. It's quite interesting
that when you add the Dave Clark Five, the Stooges, Joe Tex and
Chic, the finalists that didn't make it in, you get nine
completely different and complementary genres represented.
Throw in a doo-wop group, and you've covered the waterfront
pretty good.
One thing I will try to do is find Dave Clark and talk him
into putting the records back out. At least a best-of. Only the
Beatles and Rolling Stones have more hits bandwise. It
definitely can't be helping the cause when you consider the
percentage of voters who have probably never heard one of the
great bands ever and couldn't if they wanted to.
And there are a few singers as good as Mike Smith but
nobody better. Not white, anyway. Actually hearing him sing
would help people figure that out on their own. So somebody
please get those records back out, and we'll try again next
year.
And speaking of soulful white guys, may their records
remain available forever, the Woggles have a second Coolest
Song in the World this week from their brand-new LP "Rock and
Roll Backlash," which should be out next week if there is a
God.
(Actor and musician "Little" Steven Van Zandt, founding
guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, hosts the
syndicated radio show "Underground Garage")
Reuters/Billboard
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