Several days ago, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its inductees for 2017. They include Joan Baez, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, Tupac Shakur and Pearl Jam making the grade. It's good news for me again this year, as at different times in the 1970's, I was a big fan of both Yes and ELO. While I will not debate whether or not they deserved to get into the Hall (not that it's really a big deal anyway), I am happy as another fave 70's band of mine, Chicago, got in last year. But one-by-one, here is my take on the inductees.
Let's start of Baez, who was at the forefront of protest folk in the early 1960's as that genre, for a little while, dominated the pop music scene. Along with an acoustic-era Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, The Highwaymen, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. There was even a network variety show called "Hootenanny" that featured at least the "sanitized" side of contemporary folk music. Some question why Baez is in the induction list, but remember that many artists have gotten in that do not necessarily define "rock music". We have soul, R&B, disco, and hip-hop acts in the hall, so why not folk, too? After all, it was a big influence as the 1960's decade rolled on: Folk rock acts like The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas & the Papas, The Band, and an "electrified" Bob Dylan dominated the airwaves, with that genre. Baez didn't have a big hit until 1971, when she covered The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", but her music throughout the sixties should get her in. Besides, she's one of the few artists to play both Woodstock and Live-Aid (where she told the eighties crowd, "This is your Woodstock").
Yes, is one of three nominees that I have seen perform live, and I did that three times catching them play at PNC Band Arts Center circa 2000. But the band's roots go back to the late 1960's, and were one of the prime exponents of "prog-rock", which also included Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, and early Genesis. I was a huge fan of the band around 1972 or so, when Fragile came out. They had a hit single, "Roundabout" but the entire album was worth listening to. They then followed it up later that year with Close to the Edge" of which, the title track took up all of side one. I remember a condensed version of it being played on Top 40 WKBW out of Buffalo. My interest, however, started to wane with their next set, 1973's Tales from Topographic Oceans. My brother, however, at that point, became a huge Yes fan and continues to be one to this day.
The band, which pretty much had a revolving set of musicians---you could name at least two musicians for every instrument in the band--did have more commercial success: "Owner of a Lonely Heart" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984, and they continued to make the charts throughout the decade. While some critics were tough on the band (and prog-rock in general), they were the primary principals of their genre and should have been in there ages ago. It was their third nomination.
Electric Light Orchestra is one of my all time favorite bands, and surely one of my faves of the 1970's. Started by members of popular British pop group The Move, ELO put themselves on the map with 1973's "ELO 2", which featured their first radio hit, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven". I remember a classical music station WNCN becoming a rock station WQIV and this was the first song played. Like many bands of that era, they became more pop oriented but still had hits. They were unique in a way, as founder Jeff Lynne took the principles of The Beatles best psychedelic works and incorporated them into an everyday component of rock music. And Lynne's talent transcended the band: He produced artists like Dave Edmunds, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George Harrison. The latter three, along with Dylan, he teamed up with as The Traveling Wilburys. Finally, he worked with the three surviving Beatles on their Anthology project including their two "new" singles "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love".
ELO peaked in the late 1970s, but I did catch them live on their Time tour, which supported their 1981 album of that name. It was the first time I was at the Meadowlands Arena (later Continental Airlines Area and Izod Center). The band was unique enough to merit their induction, in my opinion.
Journey, believe it or not, started as a prog-rock outfit, and was founded by Neal Schon, as well as Gregg Rolie, both members of the original Santana band. Santana's manager also managed Journey. Like Genesis, and to a small extent, Yes, they evolved into more of a pop/rock/arena outfit by the end of the 1970's. This was accelerated by the inclusion of Steve Perry as front man. Journey was probably the hottest rock band in the early 1980's, with anthemic rock songs like the now-iconic "Don't Stop Believing", and several others. They even had a video game created in their image. Did they deserve inclusion? I'll let you decide, but when it comes to the term "arena rock", they were definitely the most successful.
The last of the three bands that I had seen in concert, Pearl Jam, made their mark in the wake of the grunge boom of the early 1990's. Nirvana paved the way for this outfit, led by Eddie Vedder. In a way, they were more successful than Kurt Cobain and company; their first three efforts were top-notch. They were part of the second Lollapalooza tour, which I caught in the summer of 1992 at Waterloo Village here in our area. While they deservingly got in, I pretty much lost interest in the band, they were too "boring" for me as grunge faded and other styles of rock took over the latter half of the 1990's.
As for Tupac, I will leave this one up to debate as to whether hip-hop acts should be in the Rock Hall. He was successful, but artistically, was he on a level with innovators like Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy or last year's inductees N.W.A.? I will leave that to the rap pundits to figure out.
THE FINAL CHART: Maybird grabs the #1 spot on the last SNS 100 list of the year, knocking Fitz and the Tantrums out of the spot, down to #3, while the Sam Roberts Band grabs the runner up spot. Wild Belle's "Our Love Will Survive" resurges from #10 to #4, possible due to what we may have thought played when a few of us were at the Sun Tavern in Roselle Park last week to see a friend off to visit relatives in the Bahamas (lucky gal). While I'm not totally sure if that was the song, this is the best track from this duo's sophomore set Dreamland. Of course, that is the only track that didn't chart. Then again, their first album, Isles produced "Keep You", one of the biggest blog tracks in my 6+ year history of SNS, which also didn't chart (and wound up at the bottom of alt-rock station WEQX's Top 102.7 of 2013). Similarly, Rihanna's "Love on the Brain" rises 40-20 in only its third week. The artist, with double-digit number one's on the Billboard Hot 100, only saw this peak at #20 on that chart. I guess there's no accounting for taste these days. Phoebe Ryan has her fourth straight top 20 song as "Boyz N Poizn" jumps 23-15 to grab Impact honors.
The Wizards of Winter, whose eponymous 2014 debuts, produced by Tom Corea hit my top 20 two years ago with "Gales of December", have the top debut this go round with "Spirit of Christmas", which is from their 2015 sophomore effort The Magic of Winter. For this effort, they had signed with a major label, thus Corea wasn't able to work with them again. The Frenchtown, NJ-based prog-rock outfit are now produced by Eric Rachel. As I mentioned in my last blog with Under the Streetlamp, I hadn't heard about this album until this year, thus I am treating it as a new release. Incidentally, Under the Streetlamp's "Here We Come a Wassailing" makes a big jump from 90-32, a little behind Train's "This Christmas" which since this is the last survey, will take 2016 holiday honors.
Three other holiday songs debut, both by seasoned artists (pun intended). Straight No Chaser plays it straight this go-round with "Feels Like Christmas", which features country artist Jana Kramer, who reached #22 early this year with "I Got the Boy". Perhaps, the Indiana guys wanted to compete with the other holiday a cappella group, Pentatonix, who also enter with the late Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Both groups released new Christmas albums this year, I'll Have Another.... for the former, A Pentatonix Christmas for the latter. Note that although that is a Christmas album, I have not shaded "Hallelujah" in green, since technically, it's not a holiday or Christmas song. But it is a timely tribute to the composer and singer who left us just last month. He never made the pop charts during his lifetime, in spite of memorable songs like "Suzanne", and "Hallelujah", which, in spite of being released in 1984, just became his first Hot 100 single in the wake of his passing. Finally, Sarah McLachlan released her second holiday album this year, and her take on "Winter Wonderland" debuts.
2016 will forever be remember as the year many legendary musicians left us. Aside from Cohen and Leon Russell, Greg Lake, who's "I Believe in Father Christmas" gets annual airplay around the holidays, passed away. He was a member of both King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the latter a prog-rock outfit that was popular the same time as Yes. Sadly, another from that trip, Keith Emerson, passed earlier this year.
SUMMING UP THE YEAR: As I mentioned above, this will be my last regular blog for 2016. Next up will be my year-end review and Top 100. Was this a good year for music? To be honest, I can't really tell you. My taste was apparently different from everyone else's this year, and I felt disconnected with the music scene for the first time since the mid-2000's. I went off on my own tangent and only briefly embraced what everyone was listening to. Rock further faded away from the mainstream in 2016, and next year doesn't look any promising.
After my Top 100, I plan on taking a few weeks hiatus to determine whether I should continue this blog. Although I didn't take an extended hiatus like I did twice in 2014, there were several times, where I just posted little more than my weekly SNS 100 as I spent several weeks between working on them. I actually felt forced to even write them. Of course, one listen to the favorites in my top 20 brought me back, but, who else is listening? So, next month, I will determine whether to continue this. Then again, I said the same thing in 2011, so who knows. Still, as long as Fitz and the Tantrums stays on the SNS 100 (as it has done since February 2013 continuously) and Adele, Rachel Allyn, Wild Belle, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, and the like, churn out likeable stuff, it will at least keep me interested.
May you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and a happy holiday season!
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
December 11 & 18,
2016
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 2 | NUMBER ONE:
"Turning Into
Water"
Album: Turning Into Water (EP)
|
11 |
| 2 | 4 | Sam Roberts Band - If You Want It | 10 |
| 3 | 1 | Fitz and the Tantrums - Roll Up | 9 |
| 4 | 10 | Wild Belle - Our Love Will Survive | 10 |
| 5 | 6 | Jake Owen - If He Ain't Gonna Love You | 12 |
| 6 | 3 | Miike Snow - My Trigger | 10 |
| 7 | 12 | Capital Cities - Vowels | 8 |
| 8 | 9 | Colony House - You and I | 11 |
| 9 | 15 | Kings of Leon - Waste A Moment | 11 |
| 10 | 11 | Kjband - Waves | 11 |
| 11 | 8 | Michael Kiwanuka - One More Night | 16 |
| 12 | 5 | Paul Czekaj - A Place I Once Called Home | 15 |
| 13 | 19 | Calvin Harris - My Way | 8 |
| 14 | 7 | Trails and Ways - My Things | 16 |
| 15 | 23 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Boyz n Poizn"
(Single Only)
|
6 |
| 16 | 14 | Twenty-One Pilots - Heathens | 11 |
| 17 | 16 | Deerhunter - Snakeskin | 17 |
| 18 | 13 | Red Hot Chili Peppers - Go Robot | 9 |
| 19 | 21 | The Chainsmokers f. Phoebe Ryan - All We Know | 9 |
| 20 | 40 | Rihanna - Love On the Brain | 3 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod. 
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