MISSING FROM THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Here is the front page of a music magazine published almost 20 year  ago, deriding the Rock Hall of Fame for overlooking key talents (clockwise, from top right GENE PITNEY, NEIL SEDAKA, DEL SHANNON, CONNIE FRANCIS, THE SHIRELLES and BRENDA LEE.  Since that time,  Pitney , Shannon, the Shirelles and Brenda Lee have finally been inducted, but , amazingly, Neil Sedaka - who had two separate careers, in the 60s and 70s - and Connie Francis , who is the second if not best -selling female singer of all time- are still left out of the Hall, along with many notable names like   Chubby Checker, Paul Anka, Jan and Dean, Mary Wells, The Ventures, Leslie Gore and most of the attached list (at left) and others you could probably think of...  It's always been an issue as to 'What is rock and roll? ', but if they're  now letting in rap artists and heavy metal,blues and country artists its high time they considered the pop-meisters. Afterall,  pop was the rock and roll in the 50s and 60s as was much of country music.  Many no longer take the Hall seriously once learning that it is run by the head of 'Rolling Stone' magazine, a publication that has hardly recognized any music prior to 1968, it's inception, with rare exception, i.e. the five or six 'pioneers' .  Early RS publications , for example , dismissed Roy Orbison as a lightweight who hid behind dark clothes and glasses - that is, until Orbison returned to fame in the 80s, playing with some of Rolling Stone's faves like Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.  Unlike some of the sports hall of fames, which put some actual 'science' to the test in selected members, the Hall is largely a popularity contest of music writers and publishers, largely of younger age.   Prior to being inducted into the hall, the late great Gene Pitney once suggested they not keep nominating him every year but give his slot to a younger artist more likely to get in.  Same for Del Shannon, who some say was very depressed after being overlooked many times.  Since then, the Hall has become a joke, except to those who may have been inducted or prefer newer music to older.

From the above list, left, Neil Diamond was finally inducted as was Brenda Lee and the Shirelles along with the Righteous Brothers and Gene Pitney and Del Shannon, sadly, after he passed -  but that's about it. Still missing are two of the top three selling female artists of the 50s and 60s as well as two of the three top surf groups and the number singer of the number one dance hit and  the most dance tunes of anyone.

Here are some of the artists still missing from the Rock Hall of Fame, as posted in our Facebook sister site.... We put together a somewhat scientific breakdown of deserving artists, which we'll be adding here shortly...

Leslie Gore, peforming only a few months back , in January, but she won't be appearing August 1, as noted in this Facebook post - probably the other most deserving female besides Connie Francis NOT in that Rock Hall of Whatever...

And Leslie's friend, Lou Christie, is currently being promoted by his fan club for the Hall of fame.. Help them out, for what it's worth or the other Hall(s) noted elsewhere...

Induct Lou Christie Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Dear Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Committee, We the undersigned, respectfully urge you to induct Lou Christie, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....

GOPETITION.COM

 

ABOVE  I S OUR 'SCIENTIFIC'  METHOD  OF  

DETERMINING ARTIST WORTHINESS OF

 ROCK HALL OF FAME STATUS.... 

based on points for different aspects

Leslie Gore Survived, Became a Star In A World Outside Her Own -Rare Videos

Leslie Gore on Cousin Brucie's 60's show , Sirius XM, not long before we left her. One of many qualities of Gore is her ability improvisation. Notice her stylized changes to Maybe I Know and , also, her 'blues' singing. Yes, Leslie hits alot of colorful 'black'notes such as the high '-5' note on  thefade out of 'It's My Party.'




 





Leslie Gore Survived, Became a Star In A World Outside Her Own -Rare Videos





 




Leslie Gore on Mike Douglas Show 1970s





 



Lesie at Palm Springs Follies 2000s

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 Wonderful tribute to mid-60s pop -rock sensation , Leslie Gore who passed last week, from an oldies fan, newman James Rosen.  Rosen may be  too young to  remember the heyday but who is right  on an interesting critique about an 'outisder,' if you will, who  somehow perservered in the midst of the British Invasion. 

Opinion: In tribute to Lesley 

Gore, singular chronicler of 

teenage angst

FEBRUARY 22, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015, 1:21 AM

BY JAMES ROSEN

THE RECORD

If it is true for us all, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote for himself in 1970, that "high school is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of," then the Lesley Gore songbook offered a definitive chronicle of the American experience.

TEENAGE life as a crucible of romantic passion and emotional anguish. Parties as theaters of betrayal and jealousy. Rings worn by unworthy others. Boyfriends stolen, infidelities exposed; reputations destroyed, identities concealed.

Such was the tormented portrait of everyday life for affluent white schoolgirls in mid-20th-century America that was sketched in song by Lesley Gore, with the aid of her brilliant (and African-American) producer, Quincy Jones, in the pre-Beatles AM-radio heyday of the early 1960s. If it is true for us all, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote for himself in 1970, that "high school is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of," then the Lesley Gore songbook offered a definitive chronicle of the American experience – and the unexpected announcement of Gore's death last week, from lung cancer at the age of 68, should have occasioned a greater sense of loss, a wider tribute, from the public at large. CONTINUED 

 Leslie Gore Survived, Became a Star In A World Outside Her Own

 Leslie Gore didn't write any of her many hits. She was handed songs and lyrics to sing, which as a 'good girl' in an innocent era went along with it.  In fact, Leslie , herself , didn't even know she was gay until later, in her mid twenties, according to an 2011 NPR interview with her.  Yet,  she would somehow cope  with the conflict and even continue to sing those early songs despite the contradiction during her later-discovered lifestyle.  Though she would later become an advocate for women's issues,  Gore did it in a low key way.  She said she preferred things 'natural'and when confronted by some that she had never 'come out' she said she never DIDN'T come out.  By participating in programs like 'In this Life'  she openly embraced the lesbian /gay lifestyle.  She said that most people in the industry knew she was gay. She never thought it necessary to make a big issue of her gayness. She didn't seem the type to  NOT do it as a career move - her biggest days were already behind her - but she simply 'lived her life the way I want' (per the lyrics of 'You don't own me' )which was a more low-key, natural existence.

Gore was well-liked by fellow performers, male and female alike. 'Lightning' Lou Christie, was a close friend of Gore's and sang with and recorded a duet with her (see list tribute statement below) and there were many others like Dion, Ronnie Spector, etc (whose comments you can see @ https://www.facebook.com/OldiesCountry) . As noted in Rosen's article, Gore was a frequent guest of popular DJ 'Cousin' Brucie on his Sirius XM oldies show.  Though looking back her life was , no doubt, not always easy , going through formative years 'miscast,'as it were.  Yet, things worked out, and at least one of those hit songs, 'You Don't Own Me'  Gore could later look back at with pride as the lyrics were anything but offensive to her later beliefs. Who knows? Maybe even early in her career she gave voice to help choose that record with latent feelings inside.  Glad she did. But even without the , perhaps, biographical song, Gore should be proud with her career, during which she stayed on the charts as long as the Beatles, with  10  Top 40 hits spanning 1963-1967.

I wouldn't know that other early hits 'imprisoned'Gore, as Rosen states. It no doubt was an ironic aspect to Gore's career, but I think Gore just went along with it, accepting that was the way that was, just like when a singer 'covers' a song with lyrics that apply to the opposite gender, i.e. the Beatles singing 'Boys.'   So what if Rosen missed a point or two.  Sometimes one can only guess what another was feeling.  His was an excellent tribute, again, from someone 'out of the era'  but probably comes very close to understanding, if not all the way.