The Rock And Roll Hall Of Infamy

The recent ceremony inducting new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame served up its customary portion of controversy. While much of the entertainment press focused on the Van Halen soap opera pitting David Lee Roth against Sammy Hager, there was some more nuanced and poignant melodrama.

Inductee Patti Smith had a mixed night. Her televised performance included the song her deceased mother asked her to play if she ever got into the Hall. She did play the song, “Rock and Roll Nigger,” but it was so cut up by censors that it could hardly be enjoyed. On the other hand, the song chosen for the traditional group jam at the end of the broadcast was Smith’s “People Have the Power,” a churning anthem that is as relevant today as when she originally released it in 1988. She was joined on stage by Eddie Vedder, Keith Richards, Ronnie Spector, Michael Stipe, and the Grandmaster Flash crew.

Speaking of Grandmaster Flash, Roger Friedman at Fox News related charges that the Furious Five didn’t deserve their honor and that the vote was fixed. Friedman claims that the real winners were the Dave Clark Five, and that the Hall’s chairman, Jann Wenner, purposefully skewed the voting results because he wanted a rap act to win.

I wish Fox News would get this worked up about election fraud when it doesn’t involve denying an award to a truly ground-breaking group of African American artists in favor of some Anglo-Beatles wannabes. Friedman is just illustrating an unintended subtext of Smith’s “Rock and Roll Nigger.” Or maybe Fox would prefer an assimilated act. And now…

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Dave Clark Five singing their smash hit, “It’s Like a Jungle Sometimes, it Makes Me Wonder How I keep From Being Glad All Over.”

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