The final inductee into the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class is the sort of artist for whom the Musical Excellence category was designed.
Norman Whitfield is not a performer, and not a name most people would recognize, but his fingerprints are all over some of the greatest songs ever recorded. As a writer and producer, he played a key role in developing the Motown sound.
Dionne Warwick was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 2021 and 2022, but didn’t make the cut either time. The Hall went ahead and inducted her this year in the Musical Excellence category.
I’m shocked Warwick didn’t make it in on those ballots, or years earlier for that matter. She is one of the most successful singers of all time, with dozens of charting singles and more than 100 million album sales worldwide. She’s won a slew of awards, both competitive and for lifetime achievement. And she is the inspiration for a very funny SNL sketch.
From yesterday’s girl group The Chordettes, topping the charts in 1954, we jump a decade to a pair of girl groups owning the #1 and #2 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.
The week of Nov. 17 that year found The Supremes atop the chart with their classic ‘Baby Love,’ already featured on the blog. In the second slot that week, on its way to a #1 berth a couple of weeks later, was The Shangri-Las’ ‘Leader of the Pack.’
Throwing back to the week of Nov. 16, 1954, Eddie Fisher tops the Billboard hits chart with ‘I Need You Now.’ This was the song’s third straight week at #1, and its last, because it was about to be overtaken by the song at #2.
That was ‘Mr. Sandman’ by The Chordettes. This song would go on to spend seven weeks at #1, giving the vocal quartet their biggest hit (followed closely by ‘Lollipop’ four years later).
The next artist inducted into this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category is the hard rock band MC5. The Michigan-based band’s name is short for Motor City 5, a nod to their Detroit origins.
MC5 was nominated for the Rock Hall in six different years between 2003 and 2022 without making the cut, which must have prompted the Rock Hall’s leadership to bypass the voting process to include them.
Meet Me In Montauk 