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The ASV Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: This Movie Rocks

tommy

I have to say, I'm surprised. I thought, given the audiene here, Spinal Tap would win for sure. Not only did it not win, it finished third, behind Tommy and School of Rock. Results here.

Let me tell you about my history with Tommy.

When I was all of eight years old, my cousin Michael (he was 15 at the time) brought this album into my house. For some reason, I remember this scenario exactly (I have amazing long-term memory. My short term memory - not so great). We were in the kitchen, standing by the counter. Michael had gone outside; it was summer, I guess he went out to swim with everyone else. I was alone in the kitchen and I picked up the album, more out of curiousity about the cover than anything else. The song titles intrigued me and I snuck the album into my room, slipped the vinyl out of the sleeve and carefully laid the record down on my cheap, kid-friendly turntable (removing the Patridge Family album that I had been listening to).

From the Overture on, I was blown away. Never before had I heard such powerful music (of course not, I was listening to David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman) and I was simply amazed at the emotion and the story behind it. I had barely finished listening when Michael snatched the ablum away from me; I later convinced my mother to buy it for me.

Five (maybe six) years later, the movie version came out. I was 13 years old. My mother dropped me and couple of my friends off at the movie theater (I'm pretty sure I saw this at what was then called the Jerry Lewis theater) and, well, WOW. We had to see it two more times before we could fully comprehend it and take it all in. So many things about this movie had an impact on us: our major crush on Roger Daltrey (which only lasted as long as his long, curly locks did, it was all in the hair) deepened. We loathed Uncle Ernie but thought Keith Moon did an amazing job with the role. We giggled at Ann Margaret rolling around in the beans and cringed at the scene with the lamp. We felt for Tommy for most of the movie, but he lost our sympathy when he became a prig toward the end (and later I would compare Tommy's journey to that of Jesu but my god was he CUTE.

Anyhow. Tommy was the first rock opera, setting the stage for the likes of Qaudrophenia, The Wall, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and the greatest rock opera ever recorded, Jesus Christ, Superstar.

Congratulations to Tommy and those who voted for it (I voted for Spinal Tap). I have no idea what the next category is.

The next category is: ALBUM COVERS

The good ones. Not the bad ones. Good art, good concepts, etc. Whatever floats your boat in the album cover category. If you can, leave an image in the comments.

Update: Someone admitted to stuffing the ballot for Tommy, probably because he thinks that the only music that counts is the music he likes. It's probably my fault for working the ballot so that you can vote more than once, as I thought there was really no harm in coming back and voting again for your choice if it was slipping in the polls. I really didn't think anyone would take the time to stuff the ballot on a freaking weblog poll. But go figure. It happened. Not only did it happen, but he admitted to it in the comments on this post and basically gloated about it.

In the future, polls will be set up so IP checking is done and you can only vote once. Some people just have to a) ruin a good thing and b) take things way too fucking seriously.

Comments

Speaking of the Who I always preferred Quadrophenia to Tommy. I just rocks more. And let me nominate Quadrophenia for album cover. I like the black and white pictures both inside and out and the give away narrative photo book was great too. I especially enjoyed the looks on the kid's parents faces in the breakfast nook.

London Calling: The black and white photo of Paul Simonon about to smash his bass on stage. I think it's one of the most evocative photos in rock n' roll. And the music is brilliant as well.

I knew nothing about the Clash when I bought London Calling in 1981, I bought it solely because of the cover. It spoke to me like no other rock photo I had saw or seen since. Genius.

Wow, still stunned by the voting. Not by Tommy's victory (it was my favorite movie for a loooong time), but by the other voting.

Well, for album covers, I've got to nominate:

Cheech & Chong's Big Bambu (for the rolling paper;
Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers (for the zipper)
Alice Cooper's School's Out (for the panties)

Rolling Stones Tattoo You (for the high heeled deer hoof)
Nazereth's Hair of the Dog (because I caught myself staring at it for hours)
The Herb Alpert album with the girl wearing whipped cream

Brain Salad Surgery
Velvet Underground banana ( I still have the oroiginal with the peel=off sticker)
Monty Python's "Instant Record Collection"

Metallica - Master of Puppets. That cover rules.

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Added bonus, if you look real closely at the red cloth in the field I'm pretty sure you can see a naked pregnant woman (unless thats just my mind playing tricks).
And Animals by same group; that picture of the old power station with the pig foating over always fascinated me.

"Animals" by Pink Floyd
"Physical Graffiti" Led Zepplin
"Who's Next" by The Who

I need a clarification. Is this the ASV Post 1970 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? I have no problem if that is true but I think it should be stated. During the movie nominations someone hoped "no Elvis or Beatles" movies. Well folks I was around when Elivs and the Beatles were alive and they were called Rock & Roll. Early Rock & Roll is now on the easy listening stations, but it was still considered Rock & Roll.

And before I start getting grief about this let me point out with the Frankie Avalon's and Elivs and the Beatles (with all their imitators) then The Who, The Rolling Stones and others would still be in the garbage.

I won't deny that there is very little post 70's rock & roll I can listen to and I don't mind if that is what the people want, but either set the criteria or open up your minds to GOOD music of all decades.

Since I expect some flaming I'll add fuel to the fires by confessing that I stuffed the ballot for Tommy. Remarkably easy. Vote once then while still on the results page [F5] followed by [ENTER] and you can watch the votes grow.

Like Johnny Storm says, "FLAME ON!!"

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

ELton John - Captain Fantastic. Just a strange, colorful album with so many little different things to look at. It always stands out.

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

However, in my view it's hard to get beyond an Iron Maiden album cover to find something better than what they have done. Killers, Number of the Beast, Somewhere in Time, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. All of those are kick ass album covers.

Ballot stuffing! I knew there was a reason Spinal Tap didn't win.
Anyway, the inimitable R Crumb made several album covers. You ether love him or hate him!
For example Harmonica Blues. And Cheap Thrills Janis and the Holding co.

Gee,Jim. Thanks for fucking up the balloting. You basically destroyed the whole movie vote.

I think that's kind of rude in the first place, but ruder still to come here and gloat about it. Nice job.

JimK,

I suspected ballot stuffing since the first 50 Tommy votes seemed to happen instantly. Thanks, dude, you're my hero (NOT!)

By the way, I'm the one who said I hoped there would be no Elvis or Beatles movies nominated. That had nothing to do with my feelings about their music or whether they're rock & roll; it's just that I feel their movies suck, with the possible exception of a Hard Day's Night.

What an ass.

Jim: call your mother and tell her that you've grown up to be a putz.

I'm having moment of deja vu all over again.
I think the last time I voted for best album cover it was for this beauty:

Damned if I can think of a reason to change now.

JimK:

If you wanna play the music snob and flame people for nominating post 70's rock, I've probably got you beat.

My collection includes about 1000 blues discs from the 1920's through the 70's that contain the original blues recordings that your heros like Elvis covered, without crediting the orginal artists, and claimed as their own in the name of "inventing" rock & roll.

My distaste for Elvis movies has nothing to do with narrow musical tastes--quite the contrary. However, I'd venture to say that your affinity for many of the very early "rock & rollers" springs from an ignorance of the music they blatantly covered.

i'm partial to all the Raymond Pettibone Artwork of the 80s SST records, like Black Flag's "Family Man". Probably not the best, but i likes it.

By the way, I do think the TOMMY album cover deserves a nomination. I'm talking about the Who album, not the sound track.

The Chili Peppers' MOTHERS MILK appeals to my prurient interests, so I would nominate that as well.

EXILE ON MAIN STREET is cool, too.

SOME GIRLS was also cool, until they blocked out the lawsuit faces.

The original Nudie version of ELECTRIC LADYLAND was nice.

Worst cover ever? The John and Yoko album where they're nude. I had to scrub my eyeballs with a toothbrush every day for a week to keep that horrific sight from being seared, SEARED, in me.

Bauhaus' The Sky's Gone Out. It's just so stark and simple. It's the album cover I think of first when people talk about great album art.

I had forgotten about the great Clash cover. That is a good one.

But my nomination would be anything by Roger Dean, for any of the bands he worked with. Think Yes and Asia.

As a teenager, I had a bedroom entirely papered with posters from the Yes album covers--along with my favorite poster of Frank Zappa sitting on the throne, of course.

Seriously, any Dean album covers.

Best album cover?
I'm gonna go with the Clash, London Calling as well. The visual impact cannot be minimized.

But Nirvana "Nevermind"

or Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove"

for Rock Album cover.

The Clash-London Calling
The Cars-Candy-O
And I gotta back up laurie with the "anything by Roger Dean." Those posters stayed on my walls longer than my poster of Debbie Harry on my ceiling.

I bought King Crimson's 'Court of the Crimson King' when I was 13 for the cover art...turned me on to prog rock that I still listen to today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Court_of_the_Crimson_King

I'm wishing I picked Wayne's World!!

Here's my nominations:

The Stones Sticky Fingers
The Beatles - Sgt Pepper
Pink Floyd - DSOTM

Animals by Pink Floyd
Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin
Who's Next the Who
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
Exile on Main Street by the Stones

Pink Floyd - Wish you were here;
Bruce Springsteen - Born to run;
Big Brother and the holding company - Album cover drawn by Robert Crumb;
Led Zep - Houses of the holy.

and hundreds more...tough contest.

Pink Floyd - "Ummagumma"
Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper"
Led Zeppelin - "Houses of the Holy"
The Tubes - "The Tubes"

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002JOH.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Oops! I got a message that my last post was being moderated because I was new, but it took the one before that. I think I might have left off my name/email.

Anyway when/if it shows up, I was the one who added the nomination of: Judas Priest - "Sad Wings of Destiny"

Todd Rundgren "AWAST" acid flash back central
Pink Flpyd "DSOTM" simple perfection
Split Enz "True Colors" laser art beauty
Meatloaf "Bat out of Hell" Cartoon delight.

Just to clarify...I'm a different JimK than the ballot stuffer.

I'm the Metallica one. I didn't even vote for Tommy, I voted for Rocky Horror!