Sign petition to get The Monkees into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame

Personally, I don't think The Monkees deserve to be inducted into the R-N-R Hall of Fame, especially since worthy bands like KISS are not yet inducted. But, here is the link to the petition anyway, in case you want to sign it.

Monkees petition

If the Lovin Spoonful is there already, why not The Monkees?
Paul

If the Lovin Spoonful is there already, why not The Monkees?
Paul

In my opinion only, because, as Wikipedia puts it, "Unlike many pop bands of the day (but influenced by The Beatles in this regard), The Lovin' Spoonful played all the instruments on their records, and aside from a few covers, wrote all their own material."

I mean, the Monkees clearly had a big cultural impact (and I loved them), but so did Barbara Eden (and I REALLY loved her). And yes, Mike played, etc., but. . . .

Just my opinion.

Hank

Hi Ya--I guess that the same applies to the Young Rascals who are also in the R+R HOF ?
I can count on one hand, the number of hits each of these bands had. Its a joke.

If anything---- BOYCE and HART should be there considering their creative compositions for the Monkees and other groups.

J.J. wrote me earlier and made a good point about NEIL DIAMOND- he says that NEIL is both an accomplished Singer and Song Writer and yet he is still not in the R+R Hall Of Fame.

Paul

The Young Rascals appear to have penned and performed most of their hits.

"Their first two singles were covers, but after that the band's songwriting team of Brigati and Cavaliere began providing most of their songs, and the hits kept coming for the next two years. Their immediate followups to "Good Lovin'", including "I've Been Lonely Too Long", "You Better Run", were only modest hits, but "Groovin'" (#1 US/Canada, 1967), returned them to the top of the charts. After that, the group reeled off a succession of US top 20 US hits, including "It's Wonderful", "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure?" and "A Beautiful Morning" (1968). Outside of the US, the band was exceptionally popular in Canada, where "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure?" and "A Beautiful Morning" all reached #1. However they struggled in the UK, where they only twice reached the top 75 in their entire career (both times in 1967) with "Groovin'" (#8), and "A Girl Like You" (#35)

Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits, released in mid-1968, topped the album chart and became the group's best-selling album. The same year, "People Got to Be Free", a horn-punctuated plea for racial tolerance (the band was known for refusing to tour on segregated bills) became their third and final U.S. #1 single, and their sixth and final Canadian #1. It was also their final US Top Ten hit, although they would remain a Canadian top 10 act for the next few years."

Again, not belittling the Monkees at all (or Neil Diamond, who rocks), but without rising to the level of the Beatles or whatever, the Young Rascals do appear to be the real deal -- or real enough.

I'm sure the Monkees will eventually get inducted by the way.

The Rascals are no joke. As Hank said they have many hits. They also have many songs that were not hits that were great, especially at that time. I have to run but I'll post more later

I am curious. Are there an official set of rules to how everyone is inducted?

My take on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is Hey, it's great if you're in but a lot of incredible and deserving artists and bands have been overlooked.

I've heard Peter Tork's take on the whole situation (he's pretty been pretty voracious about it as of lately) is that there's one guy from Rolling Stone who's very influential on the decisions and hates the Monkees. Whether or not that's true Tork also went on to say he felt that Micky was one of the best rock/pop vocalists and that talent did come out of the group later on.

No, they weren't an organic band. They were created, they were given songs to sing, they weren't allowed to play initially. There were excellent session musicians doing it for them. If you look at it from the effect on pop culture they had, it's strong. People remember The Monkees. More generations because of re-runs and TVland. You could also look at it from the perspective that talent did emerge from the group (Nesmith was influential, Tork was a talented musician, Dolenz did his own thing quite well between acting, singing, and children's books, Davy made women feel taller) later on and maybe The Monkees were a good (bad pun intended) Steppin' stone for four interesting guys who did have something to offer.

If you look at it realistically, they're still the Pre-Fab four. BUT they're the "svengali" band with some of the best pop songwriters of the time working for them...Boyce and Hart, Nilsson, King, Diamond, Williams...Just to name a few.

They did pretty well!

And quite a few of those people aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame either!

Every year the same thing happens. People are either happy someone was inducted or miffed that a great artist was overlooked.

Oh well.

By the way Hank, great taste in Barbara Eden!

And no, perhaps you can't induct her into the Hall of Fame but if they ever need a great groovy little mystery novel they can also do Nancy Drew (Or the Hardy Boys take your pick) and The Mystery of the Lost Belly Button.

Now cue the I Dream of Jeannie theme music.

List of eligible performers that are NOT in the Hall of Fame:

ABBA
Cher
Chicago
Alice Cooper
Cliff Richard/Shadows
Deep Purple
Genesis/Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins
Grand Funk Railroad
Guess Who/Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Hollies
Iggy Pop & the Stooges
Judas Priest
King Crimson/Robert Fripp
Kiss
Linda Ronstadt
Mahavishnu Orchestra/John McLaughlin/Billy Cobham/Jan Hammer
Metallica
Monkees
Moody Blues
Move/Electric Light Orchestra/Roy Wood's Wizzard/Jeff Lynne
Neil Diamond
Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds/Rockpile
Ohio Players
Runaways/Joan Jett
Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry/Brian Eno
T. Rex
(The) Sweet
Todd Rundgren
Yes

B-52s
Badfinger
Barry White
Bay City Rollers
Big Star
Black Flag
Blasters
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blue Oyster Cult
Boomtown Rats/Bob Geldof
Boston
Cars
Cat Stevens
Cheap Trick
Chic
Commodores/Lionel Ritchie
Cure
Darlene Love
Def Leppard
Devo
Dick Dale
Dionne Warwick
Dire Straits
Donna Summer
Donovan
Doobie Brothers
Edgar Winter Group
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
(Small) Faces
Fairport Convention/Richard Thompson/Sandy Denny
Foghat
Foreigner
Free/Bad Company
Fugs
Gary Glitter
Graham Parker & the Rumour
Gram Parsons/Flying Burrito Brothers
Hall & Oates
Harry Nilsson
Heart
Herman's Hermits
Humble Pie
Hüsker Dü
J. Geils Band
J.J. Cale
Jeff Beck
Jethro Tull
Jimmy Buffett
Joan Baez
Joe Cocker
Joe Jackson
John Mayall
John Prine
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Winter
Journey
Kraftwerk
Kool & the Gang
Little Feat
Loggins & Messina
Luther Vandross
Manfred Mann
Minutemen
Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels
Montrose/Sammy Hagar
Mötley Crüe
Motorhead
Mott the Hoople/Ian Hunter
Nazareth
New York Dolls
Paul Butterfield
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Peter Frampton
Peter, Paul & Mary
Phil Ochs
Poco
Pointer Sisters
Procol Harum/Robin Trower
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Randy Newman
Raspberries/Eric Carmen
REO Speedwagon
Replacements
Return To Forever/Chick Corea/Al DiMeola/Stanley Clarke
Rufus/Chaka Khan
Rush
Scorpions
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Slade
Sonic Youth
Sparks
Spencer Davis Group
Spinners
Spirit
Status Quo
Steppenwolf
Steve Miller
Stylistics
Styx
Ted Nugent
Television
Thin Lizzy
Three Dog Night
Tom Waits
Tommy James & the Shondells
Tower of Power
Tubes
Turtles/Flo & Eddie
UFO
War
Warren Zevon
Weather Report/Jaco Pastorius
X
Zombies/Argent

Here's the official drill: "Criteria include the influence and significance of the artist's contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll." In other words, a majority of the 1,000 "experts" who cast ballots think James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt and the Lovin' Spoonful have had a bigger impact on "rock" than, say, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Kiss?

Some bands worth mentioning that ARE in the Hall of Fame:

AC/DC
The Animals
Frank Zappa
Parliament/Funkadelic
The Velvet Underground
Queen
The Clash
The Sex Pistols
Black Sabbath
Van Halen
R.E.M.
The Ventures

In my opinion, if The Monkees get inducted, then Spinal Tap should be inducted. I consider them the same type of "bands," for lack of a better word.

Thanks,
Mike

KISS' Gene Simmons Discusses the R&R HOF: "I have mixed feelings about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the one hand, I believe it's a sham. It has a group of music execs who decide who gets in. Hardly a gauge of what the people want. There are groups in there that have one gold record to their name. Not a complaint, simply an observation. And, while it may be nice to be included, it doesn't in the least stop my days from being fun filled. It's simply not an issue, because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has little credibility in my mind. However, if we get in, I would like to appear and perhaps make a statement about how insulting it is for the entity to ignore SABBATH for so long and AC/DC and bands that deserve to be in right away." - Gene Simmons, Kissonline.com, June 9, 2006

Alex Lifeson comments on R&RHOF not inducting Rush: "I couldn't care less, look who's up for induction, its a joke".

I will say that it usually makes for a good dinner jam, which I have been able to attend a few times. The jams at the end can be great. One highlight was Prince playing lead on a blistering version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. For real, that was great.

Another highlight was when Jann Wenner was speaking and they flashed a picture of RS#1 on the monitors, and I looked at Yoko's table, and saw Yoko lean over and say to Sean something like what must have been "look, that's your father."