"A Standard for Evil Sounds"
Why Link Wray should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—oh, and why you should care about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hi, and welcome to the January edition of Switchblade.
Well, we did it. We made it to 2021. A little worse for the wear, but here we are.
In all the commotion of the past few weeks (you know, the holidays, new Taylor Swift albums, worsening pandemic, impending civil war…) You may or may not have noticed that I never sent out a December email. I was taking some much-needed time off while learning the ropes at my new day job and moonlighting freelance work. I hesitate to complain about work burnout when so many people are unemployed—as I was for half of 2020—but I desperately needed a break from writing and am glad I took it.
Book Update
Still no news to share, sorry! It’s still slowly making its way into the world. Again, this newsletter, plus Bazillion Points’ Instagram, is the best way to find out about pre-orders, pub date, events and everything else book-related when the time comes.
While you wait for mine to come out, I’ll recommend another Bazillion Points book. Nancy Barile’s I’m Not Holding Your Coat: My Bruises-and-All Memoir of Punk Rock Rebellion is currently in second preorders, shipping in March. I just got my copy yesterday and am PSYCHED to read it. Nancy’s Instagram is worth a follow, too.
Who Cares About the Rock Hall?
It’s impossible to have a conversation about Link Wray that doesn’t ultimately wind its way to Link’s exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And it’s impossible to have a conversation about the Rock Hall without addressing glaring omissions like Link. The exclusion is an understandable sore spot for Link’s friends, family, fans and bandmates given his accomplishments and innovations. (And I address it pretty thoroughly in the book.)
I know that my research into Link and his exclusion has opened my eyes to the seedy—well, probably more greedy than seedy—underbelly of this institution. The Hall has gotten a lot of deserved flack for being painfully slow to reflect the roots and diversity of the music and musicians it is supposed to honor. It also has been hesitant to listen to the will of music fans and to acknowledge the importance of hugely influential artists who aren’t marquee names, like Link.
I was already a fan of the Who Cares About the Rock Hall podcast, so I was psyched when Joe and Kristen asked me to be a guest and talk about Link and his curious absence from the Hall.
Listen on Spotify here, or on Apple Podcasts here.
On this episode, we run through a very abridged version of Link’s life story, his many merits and the reasons why he’s not yet been inducted into the Rock Hall—beyond the throwaway induction of “Rumble” into the singles category (which we discuss at length). We also dive into some lesser-known eras of Link’s career and explain why the Rock Hall will always be incomplete without him.
Bonus: Listen carefully and you’ll hear my 4-year-old, who was sitting on my lap for much of the recording, as well as various other child shrieks and singing from the other room. It’s a pandemic parenting/podcasting 2-for-1!
As music historian, Link Wray fan and my very smart friend Greg Laxton put it:
The Rock Hall: 8 Things to Consider
It’s easy for music fans—especially fans of less commercially successful artists—to write off the Rock Hall. I know that I did until I started researching Link and got interested in the politics behind who is and is not in it. While, yes, the Rock Hall is an outdated, elitist institution that might feel meaningless, if it’s going to exist, why not make sure that it’s at least somewhat culturally representative and reflective of music that people actually like?
I go into this context more in the book, but when you’re talking about the role of the Rock Hall, here are some facts that I think are helpful to keep in mind.
The Rock Hall is not by nature an altruistic organization. Yes, it does some good work (the museum in Cleveland is a manifestation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and serves an educational purpose), but it was founded by music industry bigwigs, including entertainment lawyers and managers, former Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and Atlantic Records’ Ahmet Ertegun. And what common goal do you suppose all these people had? (Hint: $$$)
In April 2018, “Rumble” was recognized as a single by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with “Rocket 88,” “The Twist,” “Louie Louie,” “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Born to Be Wild.” The songs were not technically inducted into the Hall of Fame, but will be honored in a special exhibit in the Hall when it reopens.
Gene Simmons, who is notoriously outspoken about who he feels “deserves” to be in the Hall (spoiler: mainly white, male arena rockers), has called pop music “karaoke” and has said that he looks forward to the death of rap, at one time was charging $2,000 for the Gene Simmons Vault Experience, which bought fans a five-minute conversation with him at the Rock Hall in Cleveland, along with an action figure of himself, 10-CD box set and assorted memorabilia. (That fact’s not super insightful, just really weird!)
Link first became eligible for induction in 1983, 25 years and several albums after “Rumble.” He wasn’t nominated until 2014, and then again in 2018.
The first Rock Hall inductees were: Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the Everly Brothers.
As of late 2018 (I have not checked since then, so correct me if this has changed), virtually every person on the Hall’s nominating committee was either a major label recording artist or somehow tied to a major media conglomerate.
In 1987, the Rock Hall inducted its first female artist: Aretha Franklin. One to two women have typically been inducted each year since, including recent-ish additions Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Nina Simone.
In 1974, 21 years before the Rock Hall even came to be, Thomas Popson opined in the Chicago Tribune that if ever a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was created, “one of the displays will undoubtedly be devoted to ‘Rumble,’ the 1958 classic by Link Wray that set the standard in its day for evil, sinuous guitar sounds.”
Rock Hall Watchers
If you’re interested in learning more about what goes on behind the scenes of the Rock Hall and engaging in some smart criticism of it, follow these people:
Who Cares About the Rock Hall?
Entertainment journalist Troy Smith does a wonderful job covering the Rock Hall for Cleveland.com.
Journalist Evelyn McDonnell has written some great pieces about inclusion in the Hall.
I’ll leave you with the 2018 TMZ clip of Joe Walsh talking about Link’s exclusion from the Rock Hall (which we referenced in the podcast). Note how accurate Joe K’s impression was!
Talk to you next month,
Dana