Welcome back to another edition of Shuffle! This is the music blog where I take a bunch of random songs, under a random topic and connect them all together for the perfect Shuffle!
Today I will be discussing music from the nominees for the 2021 Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductees! It is a great list of singers and bands I admire. Now you as a fan can only vote for five per day and this is a part of a much larger process involving other judges and considerations. You can register to vote here: https://vote.rockhall.com/
#rocknrollhalloffame #inductees #nominees #rocknroll #r&b #rock #punk #worldmusic
The nominees are: Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan, The New York Dolls, Foo Fighters, Todd Rudgren, Carole King, Iron Maiden, Kate Bush, LL Cool J, Fela Kuti, Jay-Z, The Go-Go’s, Devo, Mary J. Blige and Rage Against the Machine. You can view the current fan results at this link: https://vote.rockhall.com/results/
#TinaTurner #DionneWarwick #ChakaKhan #NewYorkDolls #FooFighters #ToddRudgren #CaroleKing #IronMaiden #KateBush #LLCoolJ #FelaKuti #JayZ #GoGos #Devo #MaryJBlige #RageAgainstTheMachine
This will be an extensive blog because I’m going to manage to pick one song by each artist/band and then let you know if I think he/she/they should be inducted and I will also say “Why the hell aren’t they in it already??” Which is what most people do when they see the list every year! Let’s get started!
First Song/Artist:
“Zombie” by Fela Kuti. I am beginning with the one performer on the list I am not familiar with at all. He has influenced many other performers. Per Wiki: “He is regarded as the pioneer of Afrobeat, an African music genre combining traditional Yoruba and Afro-Cuban music with funk and jazz.” How is that for a music combination! Fela is also very political. This particular track is damning the Nigerian army. He referred to the soldiers as ‘Zombies’ thus the title. The Nigerian army was able to retaliate to his music. From https://classicalbumsundays.com/album-of-the-month-fela-kuti-gentleman-zombie/ : “In early 1978 Fela’s compound, Kalakuta Republic, was raided by over 1000 military personnel, who brutally beat Fela and several other men, raped multiple women and infamously threw Fela’s elderly mother from a first-floor window, inflicting injuries which would lead to her death a few months later. This was a watershed moment for the remainder of Fela’s career, as his musical life was steadily engulfed by the ongoing escalation and tragedy of his feud with the state – a fight which he was inevitably fated to lose.”
As for what I think of the sound of this song, it definitely encompasses all of the aforementioned genres. It has funky elements, minimalistic moments as well as horns, guitars and percussion of all types. I actually like it a lot and now that I know the history of it, I can appreciate it more. As for why he is a nominee, with all the political and musical history it makes sense. It was never on my radar as a small-town boy in Ohio but I am glad to have been exposed to it in my adulthood. Especially in this time of political upheaval I currently live in! Music has always been a tool of revolution and that will never change.
#Zombie #Afrobeat #Yorba #AfroCuban #Funk #Jazz #PoliticalMusic #Nigeria
Next Nominee:
“The Best” Tina Turner. This is my first choice out of all the nominees. She is THE BEST! The best at: surviving, thriving, overcoming life obstacles, talent, drive, dancing, performing, singing, touring, putting on an amazing show, legs, being legendary, hair, make-up and leaving an indelible mark on music history! There really aren’t enough words to describe this amazing woman. She has been crowned “The Queen of Rock N’ Roll” for many reasons. That is the genre she really loved and paid homage to in most of her career (although the woman has sang pretty much every song with all the touring and Las Vegas shows she has performed!) She started in 1958 and is still thriving today. Ike Turner discovered her and they put together one of the greatest bands of the sixties. That is where she honed that amazing dance talent along with the “Ikettes” that did backup singing and dancing. She practices Buddhism which got her through the tough times with Ike where she was subjected to awful domestic physical/mental abuse for many years. She finally divorced Ike in 1978. She had to start from scratch basically and played every gig she could manage. Then in the eighties, everything changed when she released the album Private Dancer. This album is iconic and she went on to have a string of hits with it and her touring career was nothing but successful from that point on. She has sold over 100 million records and is respected by so many peers in the music industry. She definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame on her own. She was included in it along with Ike back in 1991 but hopefully this year, she can now be recognized for her solo work. I just love her so much and was fortunate enough to have seen her perform four times! Her shows were amazing from the lighting, to the staging, dancing and singing. The woman can entertain for hours! Once again, it goes without saying, she is simply the BEST!
#TheBest #PrivateDancer #Legs #QueenOfRockNRoll #IkeTurner
Next Nominee:
“99 Problems” Jay-Z. This white boy does not know a lot of hard core rap. (Is Jay-Z considered hard core rap? I don’t even know!) I know a lot of female rap. I know Will Smith is rap for white people. I know Beastie Boys. But I don’t know a lot of Jay-Z. Do I know he is influential to music and rap? Yes. Do I know he is married to Beyoncé? Of course. I took some time to listen to a few songs. I was aware of “99 Problems” cause it has a catchy chorus and uses the word ‘bitch’ a lot so you know, it gets a lot of airplay. But this time I really listened to the lyrics. He definitely has a talent for rhyme, he knows where he is from and how he got to the heights of fame. Do I think he should be in the Hall of Fame? Yes, but not yet. But at the rate the Hall of Fame is letting people in, if he doesn’t get in now, he could be pushing his 70’s and 80’s like Dionne and Tina! I’ve never really had an opinion about Jay-Z one way or another. I know he gives back a lot to the neighborhood he grew up in back in Brooklyn. I know he is liberal in his politics it seems. I know he is hella rich! He has a large catalog of music and credibility and is definitely someone who worked their way up from the bottom to the top. He also gave us the great ode to New York “Empire State of Mind” and we will always love him for that gem.
#99Problems #Beyonce #Brooklyn #EmpireStateOfMind #BeastieBoys #Rap #HardcoreRap
Next Nominee:
“Trash” New York Dolls. The Dolls were ahead of their time. The Dolls were trashy. The Dolls were punk. The Dolls were a mess. The Dolls had some Rolling Stones influence for sure. The New York Dolls are simply amazing and if today is your first time hearing of them, go look up their live performances and other songs on YouTube now! I did get to see them live before they stopped performing around 2010 and it was wonderful. But to have seen them in their heyday, well that would have been awesome to say the least! They have some tragedy in their story and you should check out the documentary New York Doll about their bass player Arthur “Killer” Kane. Get this: KISS opened for the New York Dolls at one point! They definitely deserve to be in the Hall of Fame and should have been already of course. Hopefully they will get in there!
#Trash #RollingStones #KISS #PersonalityCrisis #ArthurKillerKane
Next Nominee:
“Family Affair” Mary J. Blige. Oh Ms. Blige, you are wonderful and have given us such good times as well as sad times with your music! Love Mary J, who doesn’t? She is fun, wise, funny, talented and just an all around wonderful soul. Her music makes you think. It can make you party. It can make you relax. Should she be in the Hall of Fame? Yes. But is it time? There are others that should go before her of course, like Chaka and Dionne this year. So maybe another year she should be inducted. My clubbing days in the late 90’s and early 2000’s had a lot of Mary J for the soundtrack. Who could forget the song from the movie Waiting to Exhale called “Not Gon’ Cry”? It is a heartbreaker of a song and good for when you are going through a breakup. Her first album What’s the 411? was a phenomenal debut too! When you hear “Real Love” it just takes you back to a good time in music history. This woman is a powerhouse and we are glad she is around making her mark as an actress now.
#FamilyAffair #WhatsThe411 #WaitingToExhale #NotGonCry #RealLove #BackInDaDay
This is Part 1 of this series of Shuffle! I will be talking about more nominees in my next blog post soon! Remember to keep on shuffling those playlists, subscribe, share and comment! Thank you for your support!