Lenny Kaye an unfortunate hall of fame omission

By Steven Van Zandt

NEW YORK (Billboard) - You've heard who got into the Rock Hall this year: R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. All good. All deserving. I was hoping it would be the Patti Smith Group, though, because now Lenny Kaye will probably never get in and he deserves to be.

All right, I am unapologetically a band guy, what can I tell you? Smith is indisputably great, and I mean no disrespect, but for me it's simple: Is she better with the band or without the band? She gets her name in the title either way, so what's the problem, right?

I was also hoping somebody would bend the rules a bit and put all nine finalists in this year. It's quite interesting that when you add the Dave Clark Five, the Stooges, Joe Tex and Chic, the finalists that didn't make it in, you get nine completely different and complementary genres represented. Throw in a doo-wop group, and you've covered the waterfront pretty good.

One thing I will try to do is find Dave Clark and talk him into putting the records back out. At least a best-of. Only the Beatles and Rolling Stones have more hits bandwise. It definitely can't be helping the cause when you consider the percentage of voters who have probably never heard one of the great bands ever and couldn't if they wanted to.

And there are a few singers as good as Mike Smith but nobody better. Not white, anyway. Actually hearing him sing would help people figure that out on their own. So somebody please get those records back out, and we'll try again next year.

And speaking of soulful white guys, may their records remain available forever, the Woggles have a second Coolest Song in the World this week from their brand-new LP "Rock and Roll Backlash," which should be out next week if there is a God.

(Actor and musician "Little" Steven Van Zandt, founding guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, hosts the syndicated radio show "Underground Garage")

Reuters/Billboard