What happened to our annual ‘who will get in, who should have been nominated, who is the most deserving of individuals/groups that have never been inducted, who is the least deserving’ thread which typically ran multiple pages?
Did we miss it because they changed the date of the inductions to the middle of the FB season? Is it due to Owtahear’s absence? Did DT_Pitt lose his interest in rock music?
Anyway, my belated thoughts on this year’s nominees/inductees and related subjects.
(1) I thought they all were deserving. I was especially pleased with the induction of Bernie Taupin, the lyricist on almost every Elton John song. Cool guy. He and Elton are such opposites and yet they are a great team. Represented him in a lawsuit brought by ex-wife #1 (who he wrote “Tiny Dancer” about). Illustrates the validity of the saying “no good deed goes unpunished.” I believe they were married only when Bernie wrote the songs on one album. But in the divorce settlement he magnanimously gave her a half-interest in the income from songs on two other albums. That was enough to provide her with a large income for life; between $700k and $1M annually.
But, no good deed goes unpunished: When Elton and Bernie signed with a new entity to exploit their catalog, she sued because the new entity took a 1% higher commission. She claimed that violated Bernie’s fiduciary duty to maximize the income from the exploitation of the catalog.
The evidence, however, showed that her net vincome from the new entity was $150k to $250k higher annually under the new entity than it had been under the old entity. The new entity did a much better job and deserved that extra 1%.
That is not uncommon in the industry. AFTRA pays lower performance rights fees than BMI. But AFTRA does a better job than BMI of tracking performance rights and generally pays out more.
Lots of musicians would have settled the case and paid her something to avoid the legal fees. Bernie wouldn’t. On principle. Anyway, the judge understood. She got not one penny.
But, back to the HOF. With Willie Nelson the latest non-rocker in it, how can they keep John Denver, Johnny Cash, The Weavers and Woodie Guthrie out? Bernie Taupin made a pitch for Merle Haggard. I don’t know his music well enough to have an opinion.
I will let those far more knowledgeable than me about music after the 1980s pitch their own deserving entrants.
Let me tell you one group I was shocked to find out is in the HOF: “The Loving Spoonful.” Are you kidding me? One big hit: “Do You Believe in Magic?” and they are in the HOF. Could it have anything to do with the friendship between John Sebastian and Jann Wenner?
If they were going to induct any short-lived group from that period it should have been “The Association.” Two of the greatest love songs of all-time in “Cherish and “Never My Love” and a handful of other hits.
Did we miss it because they changed the date of the inductions to the middle of the FB season? Is it due to Owtahear’s absence? Did DT_Pitt lose his interest in rock music?
Anyway, my belated thoughts on this year’s nominees/inductees and related subjects.
(1) I thought they all were deserving. I was especially pleased with the induction of Bernie Taupin, the lyricist on almost every Elton John song. Cool guy. He and Elton are such opposites and yet they are a great team. Represented him in a lawsuit brought by ex-wife #1 (who he wrote “Tiny Dancer” about). Illustrates the validity of the saying “no good deed goes unpunished.” I believe they were married only when Bernie wrote the songs on one album. But in the divorce settlement he magnanimously gave her a half-interest in the income from songs on two other albums. That was enough to provide her with a large income for life; between $700k and $1M annually.
But, no good deed goes unpunished: When Elton and Bernie signed with a new entity to exploit their catalog, she sued because the new entity took a 1% higher commission. She claimed that violated Bernie’s fiduciary duty to maximize the income from the exploitation of the catalog.
The evidence, however, showed that her net vincome from the new entity was $150k to $250k higher annually under the new entity than it had been under the old entity. The new entity did a much better job and deserved that extra 1%.
That is not uncommon in the industry. AFTRA pays lower performance rights fees than BMI. But AFTRA does a better job than BMI of tracking performance rights and generally pays out more.
Lots of musicians would have settled the case and paid her something to avoid the legal fees. Bernie wouldn’t. On principle. Anyway, the judge understood. She got not one penny.
But, back to the HOF. With Willie Nelson the latest non-rocker in it, how can they keep John Denver, Johnny Cash, The Weavers and Woodie Guthrie out? Bernie Taupin made a pitch for Merle Haggard. I don’t know his music well enough to have an opinion.
I will let those far more knowledgeable than me about music after the 1980s pitch their own deserving entrants.
Let me tell you one group I was shocked to find out is in the HOF: “The Loving Spoonful.” Are you kidding me? One big hit: “Do You Believe in Magic?” and they are in the HOF. Could it have anything to do with the friendship between John Sebastian and Jann Wenner?
If they were going to induct any short-lived group from that period it should have been “The Association.” Two of the greatest love songs of all-time in “Cherish and “Never My Love” and a handful of other hits.
