This may or may not be true.
For every Eagles Greatest Hits,I suppose there are umpteen Foghat or Mountain Greatest Hits cds.Perhaps,that makes the Eagles Greatest Hits the exception that proves the rule.
Some say,The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is the 'Greatest Hits' of all combined rock & roll music and since it has been formed rock is dying a very slow painful death.
This may or may not be true.
I personally believe that rock is dying because it is as much a purely white man's genre as possible and music itself is now being produced-though,perhaps, more blandly-with a color blind eye.
That and the lack of djs...don't get me started.
Anyways...the honor of being in the Hall of Fame,maybe isn't all that's it's cracked up to be.
A few polite claps from a zombie corpse...that's all.
That being said.It has to be a great honor to be recognized for outstanding achievement in any profession by your peers.
A few polite claps could mean the world to someone that strived his or her whole life to make a difference.
That's why having an Ace Frehley doppelganger stand at the podium to accept the R.R.H.F. award for KI$$ is an insult to everything that John Lennon hoped rock & roll would stand for.
While I am a long standing KI$$ fan-since KI$$ Alive-and I have every one of their many albums until 1989 or so,I now believe that hall has been right in NOT including them into the museum of rockers in rocking chairs.
Come on,man,give it to someone more worthy.
Like Chubby Checker.
And,why not Chubby Checker?
If you hold him to the standards of Nirvana,Chubby should make it just fine.
On a personal level,I like both Chubby Checker and Nirvana.I have fond memories of both.
When I was just a tiny preschool lad of four I remember wrestling with my Mom to C.C.'s 'Limbo Rock'.She had a white men's style shirt on and crisp new blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up at the bottom...just a great memory.
For Nirvana,I was living in Barberton-the boys were around the age that I was when I was wrestling with my Mom-and I was coming back from record hunting at the Good Will.Though I didn't know it,yet,I had just found the find of all finds.Phil Keaggy And The Second Chapter Of Acts, "How The West Was One"!This album would contain one of-not only Christian,but-the all around greatest live rock jams of all Time!
Happy with my find,I found my rock radio station as I drove home,and eureka(!) 'Smells Like Teen Sprirt',came on.I remember thinking,"Yes!This is what rock should sound like!"
WoW! I was over joyed!
I even have a secondary Nirvana memory.In 1993-still in the mist of doing tree work,two guys on my climbing crew,Tom & John,said,"Hey Andy,Nirvana is playing in Akron.Want to go with us?"
"Nah,I said,"I'll catch them next time."
To get back on point,yes,Nirvana definitely:DEFINITELY,deserves to be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
Nirvana popularized a whole genre of music:Grunge.
So did Chubby Checker with.The Twist.
The Twist was the pinnacle of the early rock & roll dance movement.This movement was every bit as fresh and appealing to the youth of it's day as Grunge would be to youth culture of it's own.
Chubby Checker with his hit,'The Twist' was top dog!
Just like one associates grubby beards and untucked flannel shirts with Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Sprirt",one can not help but think of poodle skirts and saddle shoes when thinking about Chubby Checker and ,"The Twist".
The biggest claim against Mr.Checker (Besides being named my Dick Clark's wife ) is that he doesn't have a big enough body of work,But Chubby,with, 'The Twist", has the only rock single to top the Billboard Top 100 Singles list twice ( Sept. 19,1960 & Jan.13,1962)!And,not only that,'The Twist ' was voted the top #1 song of the modern pop era!
Mr.Chubby Checker -depending on how you count- also had,at least '15' top 25 songs on Billboard's Top 100 chart.
Now,here's my point.That's quite the resume,Mr.Checker.Top man at the top of the early rock dance craze.
Nirvana...not so much.I argue,that without the song,"Smells Like Teen Sprirt",no one would have ever heard of Nirvana.Take away that song,now,name three other Nirvana songs.Of these three-if you can name three-how many of these would have,nay,could have,made Nirvana superstars?!?
I'm not saying that Nirvana shouldn't be in the Rock Hall -they should.I'm saying so should Chubby Checker.
KI$$...not so much.
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