The Runaways film opens on Friday and we’ll all surely be reading a lot about it, but thus far, this interview with Runaways’ manager, etc… Kim Fowley on KEXP Blog, written by my very good friend Chris Estey is my favorite thing I’ve read that’s (ostensibly) about the film. Chris does such a fantastic job of getting Fowley to allow his ego to come through and there’s no question that’s asked where the answer seems boilerplate.
“The Dollar-A-Minute Hustle: Kim Fowley And The Runaways (And Beyond)” [KEXP Blog]
I should have predicted this in my post yesterday morning on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony that was last night in New York.
It’s become a bit of a tradition that a bitter rock writer pens something about how the Rock Hall is inducting pop acts and the world is going to hell in a handbasket. This one in particular was linked by about six music writers I follow on Twitter yesterday. This time it was Steve Morse’s turn to tell kindly pop musicians they have no business on his lawn. Morse returned to the Boston Globe to pen a piece called “Rock? Mamma Mia“. It opens with his thesis:
IF YOU care about music, you have to wonder what’s been going on with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Last year, Madonna, a skilled pop act but hardly a rock singer, was inducted on the first ballot, an honor usually reserved for the likes of Bruce Springsteen and U2.
That courted controversy, but it is worse this year with the nod to ABBA, a sugary Swedish pop group to be inducted tomorrow along with the more acceptable choices of English progressive-rockers Genesis, the Hollies, reggae-rocker Jimmy Cliff, and punk avatars the Stooges.
Inducting pop musicians like Madonna and ABBA is something the Hall has been doing all along: The Beach Boys were let in in 1988, Michael Jackson in 1997 and The Ronnettes in 2007 and when I listen to Motown, I rarely hear a power guitar chord. Morse goes on to explain further what bothers him:
The big push for ABBA seemed to stem from the Broadway success of the musical, “Mamma Mia,’’ featuring their songs.The Madonna/ABBA fiasco, which has become a hot topic in the blogosphere, takes on added impact when one realizes how many more authentic rock acts are not in the Hall of Fame (to be eligible, one has to have released a record at least 25 years ago). Here are some of the rejects: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Deep Purple, Yes, Peter Gabriel, Rush, Dire Straits, Jethro Tull, Steve Miller, Roxy Music, Devo, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Boston’s own J. Geils Band and Boston.
Take a look at ABBA’s sales history; they’ve been one of the most successful groups of all time, selling millions and millions of albums. It wasn’t just some new phenomenon that people happened to like a musical based on their songs.
Some of those complaints may be legitimate (and there must be a better reason for excluding KISS than “Dave Marsh doesn’t like them”), but I don’t think there’s a single artist in Morse’s list that is not made up exclusively of white guys.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame does have a lot of issues like, as Morse notes, “it’s a black-tie, $2,500-a-plate affair”, the overwhelming influence of people like Marsh and Rolling Stone magazine, the omission of Kraftwerk, amongst others, and no one should deny Morse his god-given right to be as culturally conservative as he likes, but for all of the Hall’s problems, that their member’s like Madonna an ABBA (along with Led Zeppelin and The Who) isn’t one of them.
Maybe the Steve Morses can hug their classic rock radio. They still have plenty of room for Rush and KISS and never play ABBA or Madonna.
And by that we mean announced a bunch of tour dates (including one somewhat close to me, in Tacoma). Oh and her video for “Telephone” with Beyonce (see above) may or may not have been banned from MTV. It wasn’t, but CNN said it was.
“MTV did not ban Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s ‘Telephone’ video — in fact, we premiered it on Friday, March 12, on-air and online at MTV.com, two days before this story was falsely reported,” said MTV Executive Vice President of Music and Talent Amy Doyle. “Fans can continue to catch the video as we repeat it on-air and online.”
June 28 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
July 1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
July 4 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
July 6 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 11 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
July 14 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
July 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Conseco Fieldhouse
July 17 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
July 20 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center
July 22 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 25 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 28 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
July 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
August 3 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
August 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
August 13 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand
August 16 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
August 19 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden
August 21 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
August 23 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
August 26 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
August 30 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
Sept. 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Bradley Center
Sept. 4 – Detroit, MI @ The Palace Of Auburn Hills
Sept. 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center
Sept. 7 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
Sept. 8 – Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
Sept. 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
Sept. 16 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
Sept. 18 – Charlotte, NC @Time Warner Cable Arena
Sept. 19 – Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center
Tonight is the induction ceremony in New York into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies, The Stooges and ABBA getting in. The Stooges will be the only ones who perform in that class.
Rolling Stone is reporting, unsurprisingly, that ABBA would not reunite this evening for their induction into the Hall. ABBA has already reportedly turned down a billion (yes, with a “b”) dollars for a reunion tour a decade ago, so they clearly don’t need the money.
“ABBA Won’t Reunite at Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony” [RS]
“ABBA Nixes Billion-Dollar Offer to Reunite”, 2000 [MTV]
You can tell those arty dance punks in MGMT were serious when they said they didn’t any singles released individually from their forthcoming sophomore album Congratulations by the way they made one available on their website last week.
MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser told the NME “there definitely isn’t a ‘Time To Pretend’ or a ‘Kids’ on the album,” referring to the two standout singles from their debut Oracular Spectacular. Maybe there isn’t (I haven’t heard anything beyond “Flash Delirium”, the mp3 available from whoismgmt.com). For what it’s worth, I do enjoy “Flash Delirium”, which is a lot more disjointed and less catchy than either of their aforementioned hits.
Congratulations is due out April 13.
“MGMT: ‘We’re not releasing any singles from our new album’” [NME]
This will be the new home for Stuck on Repeat (although I’ll still try to update the Tumblr blog periodically).
While I’m sorting things out and kicking the tires of the new vehicle, please enjoy one of my favorite songs from XTC; it’ll be an anthem of sorts around here.
