The anger I felt seeing Bon Jovi inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame has led me to create this thread.
Here are the artists that I would have in it:
Elvis Presley - the greatest superstar the world has ever seen. He had some great songs as well
Frank Sinatra - see reasons for Elvis but slighty less of a superstar
The Beatles - I dont think that anyone could argue not including the Beatles. Whatever your opinion of their music, they simply changed the world
Bob Dylan - perhaps the first rock and roll star ever and probably the greatest songwriter ever
Roy Orbison - if only for the voice
Luke Kelly - voice again
REM - for me the greatest band, musically, of all time
James Brown - Godfather of Soul and another superstar. Tremendous live artist in his seventies!! Voice again
The Smiths - ruled the 80s and would be easily the greatest band ever if they had stuck together. Morrissey rivals Dylan for the greatest lyricist ever for me
Brian Eno - did more for the electronic music scene than anyone else. His solo ambient work is wonderful and his work with Bowie in the 70s and Talking Heads in the 80s constitute the best those artists have done
Miles Davis - thought outside the box of jazz and could be credited with creating rock music
Nick Cave - simply a musical genius
Will Oldham aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - actually beats Dylan and Morrissey for lyrics and combines the musical ability of Cave
U2: Not everyone’s cup of tea I know and I know certain posters hate them but they have to go in there. Couple of top class albumns and absolutely magnificent live.
I’ve gone from loving to U2 to something approaching hatred but I concur on their inclusion. They have really taken live music to a new level witht their spectacular shows and plenty of decent songs on plenty of decent albums.
i agree with bon jovi’s inclusion; they have had some great songs imo. (be careful how you respond to that farmer and bear in mind your opinions on abba)
u2 are a must to include there also. they have had some real classics and although i am undecided on what i think of bono as a person, they are class
for the rest of farmers points i am pretty much in agreement. although i hate the beatles, i couldnt argue with their inclusion. luke kelly has a great voice, but im not sure that he has the international appeal to justify including him. you went a bit off the wall at the end with the smiths, nick cave etc
Ball Ox to Bon Jovi. They are a shit band who add nothing to music only give it a bad name (pun intended).
I have never rated U2 highly. I think that they have been a perfectly credible band (they are not anymore), and they are the biggest in the world so I can see how someone would want to include them. I cant think of any of their songs that was anything better than decent.
That’s pure Ball Ox. It beggars belief that you could have such respect for Eno but not like any of the songs he has collaborated with U2 on. Likewise with Bob Dylan. As people I have zero time for them but you cannot argue with the quality of:
Where The Streets Have no Name
Running to Stand Still
Bad
Exit
Miss Sarajevo
One
With or Without You
etc.
Those songs are far, far better than decent.
I’ve a lot of time for Will Oldham but I couldn’t possibly argue for his inclusion ahead of U2’s - forget their current radio friendly singles and think back to the creative risks they took with Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop.
I specifically left U2 out of the equation when advocating Eno because I don’t believe his alliance with them adds much to his credibility. I find it as incredible as the rest of you that I, as an Irish man, big into his music does not possess an album by the biggest music band in the world that are also Irish. The reason - I simply don’t want to buy one.
The songs listed are good, don’t get me wrong, but not awesome. Indeed the best things that U2 have done have had outsiders involved. I have mentioned ‘She’s a Mystery to Me’ with Orbison before. Also ‘Miss Sarajevo’ (not technically U2 Rocko - Passengers) and ‘The Wanderer’ with Johnny Cash. I maddens me when ‘One’ is quoted as the greatest song ever when it clearly isnt
What I do want to make clear is that my relative unappreciation of U2 is my opinion. There are critics out there more knowledgeable than me that would advocate their absolute quality and that is fine. It is not fine at ANY time to include Bon Jovi in a serious music discussion.
I did get a bit carried away towards the end with my personal taste and I accept that. Hall of Fame indicates some degree of familiarity and credibility and I guess that U2 have that so they should be included. I just argue as to the level of their credibility.
Hey ball ox, ease up on the racist posts will you - another one deleted there. By the way you’d probably enjoy the clip on YouTube of the guy who played Kramer in Seinfeld (don’t know his name as I’m not a Seinfeld fan) racially abusing some guys who were talking during his stand up show. It is actually quite unbelievable and resulted in most people getting up and walking out.
As to Bon Jovi being inducted into the Music Hall of Fame; I nearly choked on my porridge when I read that the other day. All the 14 year old girls who go to watch them every summer in the RDS will be delighted…joke shop.
Like farmer I’m not a particularly big U2 fan but like him and others I still think they deserve to be included for their achievements over 25 years. I would have The Rolling Stones in there who I personally rate far higher than The Beatles. As for others then I’ll have to think about it.
Just for clarification here Farmer there is a hierarchy at work here that I’d like to see respected. There is but one Administrator. Other staff positions comprise moderator and global moderator.
On a serious note Ball Ox leave off the racist shite will ya - it’s not funny anymore and we had to delete 2 or 3 posts from you yesterday that were just pointless bile.
