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The Rock and Roll of fame has firmly moved into the 1980s and there is no sign that they want to move backwards and pick up the pieces, so to speak, of doing clean-up work on who they could have inaugurated in previous decoades. While I am not a huge Van Halen or Madonna fan, in that I would not cross the street to listen to their tunes, I find myself largely agreeing with their inclusion, in that, they both helped define pop and rock in the 1980s. Were I to pick representative music of the 1980s, I would have to say that Van Halen and Madonna speak for the 80s.
I would like the Hall to consider, old timers selections, in much the same way that the pro sports halls have done to recognize those who have gone before.
May I humbly suggest that were such a selection made, Paul Revere and the Raiders be inducted.
Here is my case: Paul, Mark, and the rest, came stomping out of Idaho, and later, Tacoma, in Revolutionary War gear breathing out instro and r and b tunes like just about everyone and no one else. Just because they were the first to record, Louie, Louie and Stepping Stone before just about everyone else almost makes them worthy. Paul pounded the keyboards, Mark snarled, and their rhythm section of Smitty, Jim, and Fang kept things rocking until the dawn.
They ended up in California, and courtesy of Dick Clark and his new TV show, Where The Action Is, made them stars. This is about the time they did their now classic commerical for the Plymouth Judge muscle car.
When they hit California, they became part of the mid-60s California Sound, as Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher became their producers of choice. They racked up thirty Top 100 and Bubbling Under chart records combined, their sound is echoed in garage and power pop records to come. Somehow, they never got the hipster doofi cred that they deserved. Keith Allison, Steve Alaimo, and Freddy Weller started surfacing as latter-day Raiders and the 60s rocked, and it was good.
My larger point is that, if Abba, Van Halen, and Madonna can now be enjoyed for their contributions to music, it is time to recognize the Raiders for their contributions. They made credible commerical pop-rock and it would be hard to imagine the 60s without them. Let them in the hall.
BTW-A and E has a very credible and nice Biography show about the Who that can be enjoyed by many music fans. Their transfromation from struggling singles act to album rock gods was one of rock and roll's great second acts. I recommend this particualr show for all who believe that rock ' roll is a source of all that is good and wonderful in the world. Uber-Who supporter and record nerd Dave Marsh is of course on hand to make the case for a band that needs no case made for it, in much the same way he made the case for Springsteen, Prince and Mellencamp.
