Bruce wrote:
Sampson wrote:
I like the Mills Brothers and know their work, but I probably calculate the Early Influence candidates qualifications for the Hall differently than you. For that category in my eyes it's not their overall achievements that matter, but their direct influence on the birth of rock itself. The further back from rock's conception (1947/48) you get, the less their influence is directly felt, even though with them the vocal group course began. I understand people seeing things differently, but I'm much more concerned with giving the birth of rock groups like the Ravens credit and feel it's a much closer connection than someone doing things 15 years earlier.
That's reasonable, so I assume that you would not induct Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, etc ?
No, I wouldn't. I thought the deification of Robert Johnson as the father of rock was the single worst thing to happen to the accurate portrayal of Rock History, it skewed everything to a 60's guitar-centric ground zero starting point, which is exactly the WRONG way to trace anything. You find the beginning and move forward, not randomly pick a point from the middle and go backwards. That being said, I love Robert Johnson and definitely see how his work DID get picked up on by rockers down the road in the 60's, but it had NOTHING to do with rock's birth.
