Hole for the Hall?

Go to your CD collection right now. Pull out "Nevermind" by Nirvana and "Live Through This" by Hole. Listen to them both all the way through. Does the former really blow the latter out of the water? 

Which one sounds more dated? 

Most importantly: Has there ever been a one-two punch of albums on this level of excellence, both authored by spouses leading different bands, in the history of rock?

I've been digging on "Live Through This" lately, and it hit me that right smack in the middle of this self-righteous 90s male feminist movement - in other words dudes who went to Lilith Fair and listened to 10,000 Maniacs and Indigo Girls just to get laid - Courtney Love was ravaged as some kind of talentless doppelgänger, a veritable Nancy to Kurt's Sid.

I bought the fiction. Courtney stole Kurt's tunes, Courtney got Kurt high. Courtney got Kurt killed. Courtney killed Kurt.

 

But what if the exact opposite is true?

What if Courtney actually brought out the best in Kurt? What if she kept him from becoming a drooling idiot? What if she didn't kill Kurt but actually kept him alive way longer than he would have been without her?

Actually her involvement with Kurt is irrelevant to whether she and her band Hole should be in the Rock Hall. 

If Joan Jett (who I love don't get me wrong) is in solely for her breaking of barriers for women in rock (because it wasn't for her tunes; her hits were all covers) then Love gets big numbers for the enormous push she gave to the 90s Grrrrlll rock revolution (and no I'm not just saying that to get laid).

Plus, if you stack up Hole's big three albums ("Pretty On The Inside," "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin") against Nirvana's ("Bleach," "Nevermind" and "In Utero") it's actually a pretty close call.

I think if "Celebrity Skin" had been the "Appetite For Destruction" that Love wanted it to be, or if she had one more awesome album in her, Hole would be a lock. As it is, we are in a race against time to see who gets in first: Hole, or Nirvana spawn Foo Fighters, whose push is being led by the blatant and pathetic campaigning by one Mr. Dave Grohl.

Go on, Dave, take everything. 

Rock Hall 2015: Green Day to follow in Nirvana's footsteps?

Don't get me wrong. Nirvana should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nevermind the fact that they only had three studio albums. Nevermind the fact that Dave Grohl is only a mega-millionaire because of Kurt Cobain and, really, was almost a nobody before Cobain and Krist Novoselic canned Chad Channing and anointed Grohl as the new beatminder. Nevermind that "Nevermind" wasn't really as mind-blowing and revolutionary as rock critics claim it was. They were worthy first-ballot entries.

But how can you justify putting them in before The Pixies, Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, the

You be me for a
while... er, nevermind

three well-known bands that made up the majority of Cobain's musical DNA?

At the very least, the Hall could have inducted The Pixies in the same class.

Grohl and Novoselic handled the whole thing really well, and their selection of a crew of female vocalists to fill in for Kurt was super classy. All is forgiven. Let's move on.

But let's not forget. Because what could happen with the Class of 2015 would actually constitute a historical crime compared to the slight of 2014: Green Day could very well get in before the three aforementioned bands.

The absurdity of this is really driven home by Billie Joe Armstrong's recent fanboy appearances with The Replacements, one of which is captured here:

It's not even worth the keystrokes to compare the importance and brilliance of The Replacements with Green Day and their limp stabs at everything from classic punk to mainstream alt-rock to Clash-esque anthems to pop radio hits.

The Pixies' chances of ever getting in are probably crushed now that the Nirvana induction has come and gone. Same for Hüsker Dü, which probably never really had a shot anyway (despite some vigorous campaigning by the very same Mr. Grohl).

If Green Day gets in, the Hall loses any and all legitimacy. And this blog shuts down.

The good, the bad and the fugly: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2014

Uncensored text message conversation between Cleveland Does Not Rock's GE Smith (blue) and Michael Anthony (white).