Throwing back to the week of July 13, 1963, we find the doo-wop group The Essex topping the Billboard Hot 100 with their song ‘Easier Said Than Done.’ I’ve never heard this particular song, but I’ve heard plenty like it, and it’s a sound I love.
The Essex is an interesting group, founded by two Marines while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. They recruited three other Marines back in the States, including lead singer Anita Humes, before dropping a member and performing as a quartet.
Before I get to today’s featured artist, allow me to wish a very happy 80th birthday to my father! It’s quite a milestone for a man who has lived an extraordinary life while making the lives of those around him richer as well.
Fate has conspired to serve up an appropriate subject for today’s song in Mr. Willie Nelson, who turned 90 this past April. Willie has a decade on my dad, and I can’t say they are very much alike, but I’m happy to celebrate one legendary figure while writing about another one.
The next member of the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, George Michael, has been eligible for inclusion since 2012 but went un-nominated until this year.
Michael will be inducted as a solo performer, meaning his contributions with Wham! will go unrecognized. Wham! could theoretically be inducted separately, and have been eligible since 2008, but that seems highly unlikely now that Michael is entering the Hall. After all, the pop duo released only three albums during their short run.
Hip-hop artists have been a part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 broke that ceiling in 2007. Nine other rap artists have been inducted since then, but it wasn’t until this year that a female hip-hop act made the cut. Appropriately, the woman to break that ground is Missy Elliott, entering the Hall in her first year of eligibility.
Going by the criteria I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Elliott is a no-brainer for inclusion in the Hall. Unless you believe hip-hop has no place in the institution whatsoever — an argument that clearly isn’t accepted by the Hall itself — I can’t see a case against inviting her.
Our next inductee into the 2023 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow. Crow was first eligible for the Hall in 2019 and went un-nominated until this year.
Crow is a good case study for a discussion about Hall of Fame worthiness. Compelling cases can be made that she is a no-brainer or that she doesn’t belong at all.
Meet Me In Montauk 