Cause rock ‘n’ roll ain’t no riddle man
To me it makes good, good sense
The message may not move me
Or mean a great deal to me
But, hey, it feels so groovy to say:
I dig rock ‘n’ roll music.
I love it! I met Noel Paul Stookey in Sun Valley in the late '80s, he was very gracious and even seemed a bit embarrassed, but like most such meetings it was just a brief hello. One of my buddies mentioned something about Puff, the Magic Dragon with a wink and a nod, which basically ended the encounter. It was pretty apparent even then that Paul was a bit tired of people who identified the song with drug use.
John Lennon used to get irritated with the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” commentary, I mean obviously it’s LSD, right? And his son had just brought home a picture that he called “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”–and Lennon’s very compelling argument was something along the lines of (as he put it in a song) I’ve shown you everything, I’ve got nothing to hide .
Related, the actual Lucy did pass away, and even in articles discussing it, they gotta fall back on the LSD thing.
My last group of inductees, S-Z.
Salt-N-Pepa - Sandra “Pepa” Denton, Cheryl “Salt” James, Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper
The Scorpions - Francis Buchholz, Matthias Jabs, James Kottak, Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell, Ralph Rieckermann, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Rudolf Schenker
Seals & Crofts - Dash Crofts, Jim Seals
Neil Sedaka
The Shangri-Las - Marge Ganser, Mary Ann Ganser, Betty Weiss, Mary Weiss
Carly Simon
Simple Minds - Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes, Mel Gaynor, Jim Kerr, Mick MacNeil
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Peter “Budgie” Clark, Steve Severin, Siouxsie Sioux
Slade - Dave Hill, Noddy Holder, Jim Lea, Don Powell
Slayer - Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph, Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King, Dave Lombardo
The Slits - Viv Albertine, Ari Up, Palmolive, Tessa Pollitt
Smashing Pumpkins - Jimmy Chamberlin, Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky
The Smiths - Mike Joyce, Johnny Marr, Morrissey, Andy Rourke
Snoop Dogg
Sonic Youth - Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley
Soundgarden - Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell, Ben Shepherd, Kim Thayil, Hiro Yamamoto
The Specials - John Bradbury, Dick Cuthell, Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding, Terry Hall, Horace Panter, Roddy Radiation, Rico Rodriguez, John Shipley, Neville Staple
Spice Girls - Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell
The Spinners - G.C. Cameron, George Dixon, Edgar Edwards, John Edwards, Henry Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Philippé Wynne
Split Enz - Mike Chunn, Noel Crombie, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Malcolm Green, Nigel Griggs, Phil Judd, Eddie Rayner
Rick Springfield
Squeeze - Chris Difford, Jools Holland, Gilson Lavis, Glenn Tilbrook, Keith Wilkinson
Edwin Starr
Status Quo - Andy Bown, John Coghlan, John “Rhino” Edwards, Alan Lancaster, Rick Parfitt, Francis Rossi
Steel Pulse - Melvin Brown, Selwyn Brown, Alvin Ewen, Basil Gabbidon, David Hinds, Alphonso Martin, Ronald McQueen, Sidney Mills, Steve Nisbett, Clifford Pusey, Errol Reid
Steppenwolf - George Biondo, Larry Byrom, Jerry Edmonton, John Kay, Goldy McJohn, Michael Monarch, Rushton Moreve, Nick St. Nicholas
Sting
Barbra Streisand
Styx - John Curulewski, Dennis DeYoung, Chuck Panozzo, John Panozzo, Tommy Shaw, James Young
Supertramp - Rick Davies, John Helliwell, Roger Hodgson, Bob Siebenberg, Dougie Thomson
Tears For Fears - Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith
Television - Billy Ficca, Richard Hell, Richard Lloyd, Fred Smith, Tom Verlaine
Thin Lizzy - Eric Bell, Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Phil Lynott, Brian Robertson
Three Dog Night - Michael Allsup, Jimmy Greenspoon, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, Joe Schermie, Floyd Sneed, Cory Wells
A Tribe Called Quest - Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife Dawg, Q-Tip, Jarobi White
The Troggs - Ronnie Bond, Chris Britton, Reg Presley, Pete Staples
The Turtles - John Barbata, Chip Douglas, Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol, Jim Pons, Jim Tucker, Mark Volman
Usher
The Wailers - Aston Barrett, Carlton Barrett, Tyrone Downie, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, Junior Marvin, Judy Mowatt, Alvin Patterson, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer
War - Thomas “Papa Dee” Allen, Harold Ray Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott
Dionne Warwick
Weezer - Brian Bell, Rivers Cuomo, Matt Sharp, Patrick Wilson
Barry White
Lucinda Williams
Wings - Denny Laine, Linda McCartney, Jimmy McCulloch
Steve Winwood
Link Wray
Wu-Tang Clan - Cappadonna, Ghostface Killah, GZA, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, RZA, U-God
X - D.J. Bonebrake, Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom
XTC - Barry Andrews, Terry Chambers, Dave Gregory, Colin Moulding, Andy Partridge
“Weird Al” Yankovic
Warren Zevon