Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Spencer Patterson: This year Hall of Fame salutes those about to rock

Spencer Patterson covers music for the Sun. His music notes column appears Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-2309.

The Brits are all the buzz, but for legions of hard-rock fans, this week's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions were all about the Aussies.

While the Clash, the Police and Elvis Costello drew most of the attention at Monday's ceremonies in New York, AC/DC might go down as 2003's most significant addition.

By adding AC/DC to its membership, the Hall may finally have signaled the beginning of the end of its obvious aversion to rock music's heavier side.

The tape-delayed 2003 induction festivities will be aired on VH1 (Cox cable channel 33) Sunday at 9 p.m.

While the Hall of Fame has fully embraced the blues, soul, R&B, pop and, most recently, punk since the induction process started in 1986, pounding drums and screeching guitars have been left waiting at the gates.

In 1995 Led Zeppelin got in, but that was a foregone conclusion, even for the conservative Hall.

Aerosmith's induction in 2001 appeared to clear a path for other veteran hard-rock acts. But two years later Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, Alice Cooper and others are still on the outside looking in.

At this rate, what are the chances the members of Metallica will live to see their own induction someday?

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons says such omissions lessen the Hall's impact.

"The idea of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is great, but my problem with it is it's not very American," Simmons said in a recent phone interview. "The people have no say. It should be of the people, for the people, by the people.

"Old people should be able to point to a legendary blues singer and say, 'He deserves his place in the Hall of Fame,' but it should also be based on popularity."

In an interview with the Sun last year, Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott also expressed disappointment with the Hall's attitude toward hard rock and heavy metal.

"Bands like us don't get that call," Elliott said. "That's just the way it is. We're the bastard offspring. We have no credibility in the eyes of the people who pick that kind of stuff. There's too much 'Spinal Tap' associated with bands like us."

Simmons termed the selection process "backroom politics" and suggested the Hall allow the public to elect some of its members each year. He compared his own bands' fortunes to those of the Ramones, 2002 inductees into the Hall.

"The Ramones are in the Hall of Fame, and God bless them, but the Ramones have one gold record to their name and Kiss is the No. 1 gold record champion of all time in America. Nobody, not the Beach Boys, the Supremes or anybody else has more," Simmons said.

"But at the end of the day, we're not in the Hall of Fame and the Ramones are. Oh well. We get up onstage and the halls and stadiums are filled. Do I need somebody in Cleveland telling me it's not important? I don't think so."

Pass the mic: The Beastie Boys are headed back to Las Vegas for the first time since a July 1994 stopover at Sam Boyd Stadium with that year's Lollapalooza festival contingent. The New York City hip-hop trio will perform at the first "Jam Master Jay Benefit" at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on April 25.

Proceeds from the event will go to Terri Corley Mizell, widow of slain Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay (aka Jason Mizell). Also appearing will be DJ Hurricane, the Beastie Boys' full-time turntable maestro from 1986-1997. Before that, he served as a bodyguard for Run-DMC.

The Beastie Boys -- Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock -- have performed just twice since 1999. Along with the Las Vegas show, they are scheduled to play the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Japan on April 19 and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 26.

The trio made headlines this week when they released a new antiwar track, "In a World Gone Mad," for free download on their official website, beastieboys.com. The song's lyrics are funny at times yet of a serious nature throughout, even addressing President Bush on several occasions.

Sample lyrics: "You and Saddam should kick it like back in the day/With the cocaine and the Courvoisier/But you build more bombs as you get more bold/As your mid-life crisis war unfolds."

According to Rolling Stone, the Beastie Boys are working on the follow-up to 1998's "Hello Nasty," which could be released sometime in 2004.

Quick hits

A look at a few of the shows scheduled to hit Southern Nevada in the next week:

Hardcore punk band Death By Stereo arrives at the Huntridge Theatre tonight at 7. Befitting their name, the Southern Californians have managed to work death into the titles of both of their albums: "If Looks Could Kill I'd Watch You Die" and "Day of the Death." Album No. 3, "Into the Valley of Death," is due on April 22. Curl Up and Die, Avenged Sevenfold, Western Waste and Since by Man open. Tickets are $12.

Supergroup of sorts Audioslave makes its first Las Vegas appearance Saturday night at 8, a sold-out show at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. The quartet, which features former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and Rage Against the Machine holdovers Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, released their eponymous debut album to lukewarm reviews last November.

Rapper Ludacris, the center of a recent controversy involving soft-drink giant Pepsi, holds court at the House of Blues Saturday night at 7. Last year Pepsi pulled a television commercial featuring Ludacris after Fox news commentator Bill O'Reilly blasted the company for hiring the lyrically explicit hardcore rapper.

Pepsi later agreed to donate money to the Ludacris Foundation and several other charities, averting a threatened boycott of the company's products by Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Ludacris side project Disturbing Tha Peace and Smilez & Southstar open tonight's show. Tickets are $35-$55.

Synth-pop duo Erasure plays The Joint on Wednesday night at 8. The pair, who gained notoriety in the 1980s when singer Andy Bell became one of rock's first openly gay musicians, recently released "Other People's Songs," an album featuring covers by such diverse artists as Peter Gabriel, the Buggles and the Righteous Brothers. Tickets are $45.50.

On sale

Pop superstars Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera will team for a June 21 concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, part of their "Justified and Stripped" summer tour. Tickets are $48, $78 and $98 and go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at the MGM box office, at all TicketMaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 or at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.

Veteran punk outfit Bad Religion plays The Joint with opening act Sparta on April 12. Tickets are $25.50 and go on sale Saturday at noon at the Hard Rock box office, by phone at 693-5066 or through TicketMaster.

The Mandalay Bay Events Center hosts country star Tim McGraw and the Dance Hall Doctors on May 10. Tickets are $35, $55 and $85 and go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Mandalay Bay box office, by phone at 632-7580 or through TicketMaster.

Country duo Brooks & Dunn will perform at the grand opening of the new Orleans Arena on May 25. Tickets are $50, $65, $75 and $95 and are available by phone at 284-7777 or online at orleansarena.com.

Tickets are on sale for three upcoming shows at the House of Blues: hair metal throwbacks Ratt on April 5 ($20), an electronica pairing of Bad Boy Bill and Dieselboy on April 13 ($20) and hardcore punksters Boy Sets Fire with the Hope Conspiracy and Vaux on April 27 ($10-$12). Tickets are available at the House of Blues box office, by phone at 632-7600, online at hob.com or through TicketMaster.

The Huntridge Theatre has added three shows to its April calendar: death-metal band Soulfly on April 12 ($19-$21), poppy-punk quartet the Ataris on April 15 ($12) and Southern California punk combo Lagwagon on April 19. Tickets are available through TicketMaster or at Balcony Lights records, 4800 S. Maryland Parkway.

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