Linda Ronstadt in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame

She went to my high school several years ahead of me and one of her cousins was a really good friend of mine and a great singer in her own right. And one of my best friends lived right across from her parent's place, where she grew up and we used to smoke pot in the desert in front of their house (it was a big property). I never met her, but her family was big in Tucson back in the day - her Dad was police chief among other things (always sort of enjoyed snubbing our noses at the law in his front yard) - so I've always been happy to see her do well... I'm not sure she had much to do with rock 'n roll, but she was a great singer...

-Ray
 
Not that I follow this Hall of Fame avidly but I also thought she would have already been included

Biggest surprise when I googled was that Link Wray was refused his place this year - now that is nonsensical given his unique style & contribution
 
Sad to read that she has Parkinson's, and says she "can't sing a note". :(


Not that I follow this Hall of Fame avidly but I also thought she would have already been included

Biggest surprise when I googled was that Link Wray was refused his place this year - now that is nonsensical given his unique style & contribution

I'm not a fan of the R&R HoF, it's actually kind of ridiculous... based as it is on sales, longevity, and whether or not Rolling Stone magazine likes you. Just recently they added an "online fan vote", so now the public has a say into who gets inducted. Rush, whom Rolling Stone has never appreciated over the years, and was long held up as the poster-child for bands who deserved to be inducted but weren't. Rush was finally inducted last year, due in large part to online voting.
 
well if you consider RR started out as counter-cultural, anti social, extra authority, teenage rebellion medium, i guess the idea of an organized H of F is kinda counter intuitive, huh?

having said that, she had some set of pipes on her. check out her early work with the Stone Ponies (like Different Drum) and my fav album of hers, Heart Like a Wheel. i believe a couple guys from the Eagles backed her in that albums tour.
 
On some fundamental level, rock shouldn't have a hall of fame. OTOH, rock, like all things is made up of people and the lucky ones live to get old and old people tend to get sentimental (speaking as one) and there's nothing all that terrible about honoring one's peers and one's favorites. But regardless, Limda Ronstadt was barely rock at all and her best stuff (yeah, "Heart Like A Wheel" is simply beautiful) wasn't even close. But so what - if people of a particular music establishment want to honor each other, she certainly deserves to be among them.

And, you know, I saw her come out and sing Tumbling Dice with the Stones one night and it fully rocked - and she helped!

-Ray
 
Nothing against Linda R., but do we really need another popularity contest? We already have the Grammys and record sales (okay, not so much anymore). It would be cool to honor influential artists that weren't necessarily rewarded commercially. Okay, I'm biased as I really wanted The Replacements to get in (and figured it wasn't going to happen)... :D

Banned from Saturday Night Live after their first appearance:
[video=dailymotion;x6yi30]
 
Agree with much of the sentiment here. And I hate the inevitable "15 old guys on stage playing rhythm guitar" moment. *

I guess a Hip Hop Hall of Fame is inevitable too, then.

* The only one of note that I can recall is Prince playing George Harrison...
 
Back
Top