Word: rolles
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...define rock 'n' roll. I can tell you when it started, and I understand how it evolved. I can name-check offshoots and side genres (soul, punk, new wave, grunge, heavy metal, hardcore, thrashcore, punkcore, corepunk, crapcore - some of these may be made up) to prove the depth of my musical knowledge. I know that rock 'n' roll involves a bass, drums and a guitar, except for sometimes when it doesn't. Sometimes there's a keyboard. Sometimes there isn't. If I had to provide only one example - if I had to offer one song that defines what rock...
...Swedish pop group's March 15 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum seems weird and unnecessary, as do some of the previous years' additions: Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Run-DMC, James Taylor, Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees. Yes, these are all talented artists. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson; Joni Mitchell appears frequently on my iPod's playlists; and "Stayin' Alive's" opening line, "You can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a woman's man, no time to talk" is probably the most badass use of falsetto...
...Abba hasn't performed together since 1982, but thanks to the hit Broadway show and movie Mamma Mia!, its continued popularity has made it one of the best-selling groups in history. But those pantsuits! Those songs! Nominating Abba to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is sort of like saying the best dessert you've ever tasted was a Hostess cupcake...
Which brings us back to the problem of trying to define rock 'n' roll. Rock is the cooing on "Gimme Shelter", the dripping guitars on "Purple Haze", the riff that brings Pete Townshend's nimble strumming to new heights on "Pinball Wizard." It's Thom Yorke's nasal voice on "Paranoid Android" and the way Nirvana somehow managed to sound loud and muffled at the same time. But is it the saccharine harmonies of Abba's "Dancing Queen"? Pudgy dudes in Led Zeppelin T shirts would probably say no, but the 30 music historians, journalists and industry executives who make...
...definition of rock 'n' roll is very broad," says Jim Henke, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's vice president of exhibitions. "It's not just skinny white guys who play guitar." Henke argues that in the context of the museum, rock 'n' roll isn't just a sound; it's a culture. That culture extends from doo-wop harmonies and dance routines to people who bite the heads off bats. And somewhere within that culture is a Swedish pop group that has sold nearly 400 million albums...