DaBlade's "Hall of Rock"

Madonna is officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. I will waste no space here to discuss why this is a travesty in the highest magnitude. You are on the wrong blog if you believe that Madonna rocks. While I am horrified to admit that I found her hot during her "material girl" days, no amount of alcohol ingestion ever made me believe that she "rocked". But hey, VH1 is broadcasting the ceremony (VH1-need I say more?) so watch it if you "dare".

There are many great bands that are not in the hall, and undeserving ones in my opinion that are. Obviously the official R&RHOF list will not suffice for me and so I will ignore it completely. Jed Gottlieb of the Boston Herald has come up with a beautiful formula to "change the Hall’s express train to obsolescence". Here's how he would fix it:

THE NEW RULES
The revised criteria for getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1. You have to rock. If Janis Joplin, Bon Scott or Joe Strummer wouldn’t have toasted your tunes with a pint, you’re out.
2. You have to blow minds. The Beatles and Hendrix switched the world from black and white to color. Well, you gotta do that. Or at least come close.
3. You have to have done at least one thing that categorically qualifies as rock ’n’ roll: lighting your guitar on fire, getting busy with your 14-year-old cousin or writing a letter to the Hall of Fame calling it a, um, urine stain after being inducted (as the Sex Pistols did) all qualify.

While these rules would never be adopted, it is nice to dream, and it did inspire me to create my own list. I do so knowing full well that this list could be upsetting to some of you (especially my older brothers). Feel free to give me crap and tell me the errors of my ways (nothing has ever stopped you before:), but before you do, understand the criteria that I used. Rather than just make a hypothetical list of my favorite rock bands, I decided to back my list up with personal evidence.

To make my "Top 15" list, two criteria needed to be met. Number one, it must be an individual or a band that I have seen in concert at least once. Number two, I must still actually own at least one recording in vinyl album format from their heyday. The "Next 15" list is a compilation of bands that I really wanted to put in my top list, but they couldn't meet both criteria. Aerosmith, for example, is one of my all-time favorite bands. I own 6 or 7 of their first albums but I have never had the pleasure of going to any of their shows. Same with Van Halen. I hate that neither of these are on my top list but I had to stay true to my own rules. So here goes...

DaBlade's Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame:

TOP 15
Ted Nugent
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Alice Cooper
Boston
J Geils Band
KISS
The Rolling Stones
Cars
Tom Petty
Cheap Trick
Foreigner
Eddie Money
George Thouroughgood
Blue Oyster Cult
Jethro Tull

NEXT 15
Aerosmith
Van Halen
AC/DC
Lynyrd Skynrd
Huey Lewis
Grand Funk Railroad
ZZ Top
The Who
Rush
Eric Clapton
Bad Company
U2
Led Zepplin
Pink Floyd
Thin Lizzy


The third criteria is that they had to comply with Gottlieb's list above. In other words, they had to rock. I did not allow consideration of bands that met my other criteria, but were from my 20-something "new wave" years. I am guilty of still enjoying that stuff, but it ain't rock... (B-52s, Devo, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, to name a few).

By the way, I just noticed that my top 3 are all from Michigan (pure coincidence). On the "Next" list is Grand Funk, who are from Flint.

My favorite band in concert would be unquestionably The J Geils Band, with Peter Wolf and Magic Dick. I still play their early stuff on a regular rotation in my car. Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, and KISS also put on unbelievable shows. Flaming arrows from the back of a buffalo, snakes and guillotines, Pyrotechnics and vomiting blood. Does it get any better than that?