A whiter shade of pale

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ann Powers discusses wether the Rock Hall of Fame is taking a step back with its ’08 inductees and if we should blame it on Madonna.

The naming of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees always causes a flurry of outcries: the list is “not rock enough”; Kiss or Poco or Connie Francis should have been in there; the induction ceremony should be in Cleveland, not New York; and who cares what Rolling Stone honcho Jann Wenner and his cronies think anyway? All of that’s been expressed in the commentary over Thursday’s announcement of the hall’s 2008 class.

But this year a serious complaint is bubbling under the usual crankiness (and delight, on my part anyway, that left-fielder Leonard Cohen made the cut).

The headline on Ken Barnes’ blog for USA Today says it acerbically: “Rock Hall Takes a Walk on the White Side.” For only the second time in the hall’s history, not one African American counts among the main list of nominees. Harmonica master Little Walter gets props in the “sideman” category, as do Philly soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in the non-performer category.

But by shutting out three black nominees in favor of a slate that supports the squarest definition of rock possible – constituted by roots rocker John Mellencamp, Beatles-esque rockers the Dave Clark Five and instrumental rockers the Ventures, with Cohen in the maverick/Dylan position – the Rock Hall has stepped back while trying mightily to move forward.

Maybe Madonna was the problem. Although she has nodded toward the rock star role lately by playing electric guitar onstage, to some true bloods Madge represents the ultimate destruction of rock’s dominance.

Her ascent (on the glitter heels of Michael Jackson’s) cemented electronic dance music as the foundation of pop and coincided with the emergence of hip-hop as a force that would eventually overshadow rock throughout the music world. She’s so historically important and still so relevant that rejecting her was not a choice.

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Thanks to Donald.