The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a fine place. The museum is right on the lake in Cleveland, Ohio. There are a few restaurants nearby and downtown is only a couple of streets away. On a clear day, you might even think you can see Canada.
For the most part, the Rock Hall has done a decent job selecting its inductees. There are qualms that can be had - Oasis is not in but the Cars are. Hmmm... - but mostly the people who are in and in for a good reason.
The following four bands are different, though. They deserve a special place - their own wings - in the Hall. They could make up the Mount Rushmore of rock and roll.
The Beatles
Let's start with the most obvious band. There is no modern rock music without the Beatles. Maybe some people get turned off by the sheer popularity of the band, but they are worthy of such a following. That isn't always the case. Elvis Presley (he isn't listed here because he isn't a band, of course) made some snappy tunes, but did he change music the way the Beatles did? No.
The band from Liverpool invented the concept of world tours. They changed how albums were recorded, and they led the way for bands to do what they wanted to do instead of only being told what the record company wanted them to do. They did so in far too short of a time as they released studio albums only between 1963 and 1970.
The group was so talented that even the members' solo careers would have been an immense success even had the Beatles never existed. The universe decided to give us the miracle of Paul McCartney and John Lennon's songwriting collaborations and the human race is better for it. Their 183 million units sold speaks to their commercial ability, but songs such as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Let It Be" scream about their artistic prowess.
Led Zeppelin
By the end of the 1960s, the Beatles were seemingly coming close to their end, the Vietnam War had forced people to pay attention, and the world seemed less friendly. Music had become louder and angrier than the bubblegum pop of the early '60s. Bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple seemed more dangerous than your older brother or sister's music.
Led Zeppelin helped form the unholy trinity with those other bands, but Zeppelin was different. They could be more melodious through their dark sound. Maybe this was due to Robert Plant's voice or Jimmy Page's godlike guitar solos, but the band could hollow out their own place. They weren't metal and they weren't prog rock. They were simply...Led Zeppelin.
Many bands have tried to emulate the group. All have failed. Zeppelin is simply on a different plane in terms of groups who have made hard rock. They are truly the hammer of the gods.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones were the devil to the Beatles angel for much of the 1960s. Mick Jagger and his mates knew it too. To be fair, they were just playing with perception. The groups did not have the same kind of influences and their sound was not the same. The Beatles were far more poppy, especially for the first few years, and they were great at that, but the Stones were trying to make dirty R&B.
They wanted to be a blues band, and that never really left their sound. They created the albums they did because they loved the blues. The same year the Beatles were making "We Can Work It Out" the Rolling Stones were making "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".The young genre of rock needed both bands to fully bloom.
The odd bit is that the Rolling Stones never quit. The band even toured this year. Even into the 80s, they still seem to find the kind of magic few bands have come close to matching.
AC/DC
The Australian band fused punk and metal and immediately created four-minute adrenaline rushes. The astonishing thing was that they didn't accidentally kick out three or four solid jams; they could make entire albums of full-throated maximum rock and roll. Many bands might have folded or churned out a different quality of music when their first main lead singer suddenly passed and needed to be replaced, but not AC/DC.
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After Bon Scott died in 1979, and after the band had produced tour de forces Let There Be Rock, Powerage, and Highway To Hell, the group found Brian Johnson and continued to rock. The first record with Johnson became Back In Black, a seminal work for hard rock. 40 years later, Johnson still rages for the group while brothers Angus and Malcolm Young truly drive the band forward.
AC/DC is one of the more influential bands ever. Without them, perhaps bands such as Metallica and Iron Maiden wouldn't exist, at least not in the same way. For those about to rock, give a big thanks to AC/DC.
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