On March 12, R.E.M. will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe more or less invented and perfected “alternative” rock, wrote a string of great albums, built their audience on their own terms, had a few mammoth hits and were pretty much infallible until the departure of Bill Berry in 1997. The Hall is a ridiculous institution, but it's a well-deserved honor.
Then, in the "Undeserved" column, there’s Patti Smith. She’s pretentious, overrated, musically forgettable. But she has friends and fans (like Michael Stipe) in the right places, so she’s in. Like few others, she has been able to convince the rock intelligencia that she is Hall of Fame material, in spite of making perfectly decent but very ordinary music. In fact she could write a book called How to Get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for Dummies. For those of us who don’t have time to read the entire volume, I’ll top-line it for you.
• Position yourself as a poet whose outlet just happens to be rock music
• Adopt the androgynous, unshowered hollow-cheekboned, war-baby look perfected by late-60s Mick & Keith
• Have a clear connection to the Ramones (Smith also got her start at CBGB)
• Marry a fellow critic’s darling (Her late husband was Fred “Sonic” Smith of the equally overrated proto-punk band the MC5.)
• Sport a guitarist who moonlights as a rock critic (Lenny Kaye, who also compiled the critically hallowed garage-band comp Nuggets)
• Trash a religious, political or musical idol on your first album – this will make you “important” (Horses starts with the line “Jesus died for someone’s sins, but not mine”)
• In interviews, casually drop the “right” references: Dylan, Rimbaud, Ginsberg, Mappelthorpe, Brian Jones
• At photo sessions, assume the pose of a high priestess or sha-woman rock & roll survivor (see above).
• Have one hit song, so critics can say you "briefly dabbled with mainstream success" (“Because the Night” written with Bruce Springsteen)
To her credit, Patti Smith has a nice voice and an excellent stage presence, as I saw at a Tibet House benefit in the 90s. A few years later, I saw her bring up the rear of the Greenwich Village Halloween parade by playing on the bed of a moving truck — a cool gesture and brilliant homage to the Stones. She admirably dropped out of the music biz for several years to raise her family.
But is she really any better musically than, say, the Go-Go’s? Here was a truly pioneering, all-woman rock band, playing their own instruments, having their way with male groupies, partying as hard as Van Halen, and writing instant-classic pop tunes like “Our Lips Are Sealed” that sold millions and still sound great today.
Yet on March 12, while the rock elite hails Smith as a poet, prophet and priestess, the Go-Go’s and other equally deserving without the right street-cred — XTC, the English Beat, The Jam, Squeeze — will huddle outside the Waldorf, sharing a smoke and a bottle of Night Train.
12 comments:
You know Captain America died right? You should be mourning instead of writing such a brilliant take on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
This is smarteest, most honest take on the farce that is the "career" of Patti Smith than anything I've read since Lefsetz's letter on the subject. In case you missed it, it can be read in its entirety right here:
http://www.rhino.com/rzine/storykeeper.lasso?storyID=1024
Lefsetz's column exposes him as some kind of "anti-elitist" crusader who can't evaluate an artist's music for what it might mean to people, only for how it pleases the supposed cultural snobs from NYC, his apparent arch-enemy.
And the Turtleneck blogger, apart from slandering a fine artist and person, is making the usual mistake made when discussing the hall - he thinks that the door for admission is wider than it is. XTC might get my vote, but they have to wait in line like everybody else. Patti waited seven years.
Smith's music is among the most influential of any artist of her time - No Patti, No REM. If you don't believe me, just ask Stipe. The Rock Hall's criteria is "significant impact" on the genre, nothing more. It's not up to you to decide how inspired other great artists, it's up to those artists, and I think that more than enough have credited Patti.
A "farce of a career"? Wow, amazing how so many of us who have been listening to her since the 70s got it all wrong, to say nothing of the Rock Hall voters. Thanks for the update. Let me know what else your narrow mind anonymously conjures up.
"Significant impact" is one of those phrases that wallows in its own relative vagueness. It can mean something— or nothing. Certainly nothing measurable such as record sales, sold-out shows, or popularity— things the hirsute Ms. Smith has wisely kept at a very healthy distance. After all, a few good songs does not a Hall of Fame career make. And, btw, as much as Michael Stipe worships at her bare feet, "No Patti Smith; no REM"? No Birds, No REM is more like it.
"No Birds, No REM is more like it."
Hmmm. Do you mean "The BYRDS"? I'll just presume so. McGuinn and company might have created a guitar sound that fueled R.E.M.'s early records, but I doubt Stipe copped too many lyrical ideas, or more importantly, an attitude from them. But don't take my word for it. He's the one crediting Patti, not me, and I would think he would know.
If "influence" is the main criteria for admission, then how do you explain Bonnie Raitt getting in? She's a good singer and plays a mean slide guitar, but she is among the LEAST influential artists of all time.
I forgot to add that Raitt happens to be buddy buddy with Jackson Browne, Springsteen, the Eagles and that whole crowd, who are also tight with Rolling Stone/Hall of Fame honcho Jann Wenner - it's like a rock & roll Halliburton.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Stipe oftens credits Patti Smith, but notice the rest of the band is mum on that point. As Peter Buck knows, REM paid homage to the Byrds with every jangly note—and I see little, if any, of Patti's punk attitude in the shy, bookish boy from Athens. At the end of the day, Patti is famous for a few great songs—and the memorable impersonation Gilda Radner did about her 30 years ago :)
R.E.M. has also said that they consider the Monkees as influential on their sound as Patti Smith, Velvet Underground, etc. I have a boot somewhere with a nice cover of "I'm not your Steppin' Stone." Why not put them in the Hall then too? No Monkees, no R.E.M. - ooh snap!
Patti stinks. Who cares if REM credit her of some influence. Truth is, their body of work is undoubtedly and widely more appreciated by rock fans than hers will ever be. Ok they have the wrong influences (unlike her, who has all the right ones), but they also have this small meaningless thing she lacks: Talent.
And to me that's what it's all about.
"And to me that's what it's all about." Fine, but YOU don't set the criteria and neither do I. Corrupt as it might be, The RRHOF Foundation does. Read it here: http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/inductee-list/.
You can bitch all you want, or change the subject by bringing up The Monkees as would-be inductees, but the fact is that the majority of 1,000 voters thought she made the grade, so Patti's in, end of story.
And i can see that argument about Bonnie Raitt, although within the hall's stated criteria is "perpetuation". And considering her blues and folk roots and constant pleading for Sippie Wallace to be elected queen-in-absentia, I suppose she qualifies on that measure. Point taken about Jackson Browne and that whole 70s Laurel Canyon mob, though.
Heard the latest about Jann screwing over the Dave Clark Five? Or how little money the Foundation gave away last year? Far more serious a topic than whether or not Patti Smith belongs there.
BTW, the Gogos didn't write Our Lips Are Sealed. Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall did. Which reminds me. The Specials were head and shoulders above The Beat.
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