Rev. Todd Baker’s Picks for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2020/2021 (Uncensored!)

Rev. Todd Baker’s Picks for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2020/2021

Well, it’s that time again. Every October I wait for Rolling Stone to list the new RRHOF nominee’s and every year I get more pissed off at their choices. First of all, FUCK Jann Wenner! I for one am glad he is “retiring.” He has always been a self-centered, arrogant douchebag who likes to hold grudges against people based on his personal opinions. Although, I’m not too thrilled that the head of I-Heart Radio is replacing him. Could it possibly get any worse? Now, I have had a problem with the whole nominating process for over two decades. Mainly for the fact they stopped inducting artists based on chronology! For the first ten years or so they strictly followed rock and roll’s timeline, but somewhere things went askew. That’s how we got such undeserving members as Madonna, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janet Jackson and Radiohead!

I also feel “THEY” need to do a better job of choosing who gets to induct the lucky winners. Is it too much to ask for a presenter with even an inkling of connection to the artist being honored? How many times is Kid Rock or Tom Morelli going to give another speech? Even worse, some up and coming band the Hall felt the need to promote. Fuck that! We need better presenters, preferably current/future members of RRHOF! And what ever happened to the big JAM at the end? That idea seems to have faded away. These people aren’t dead. Well, many aren’t. Get them on stage! Ace Frehley and Joe Walsh jamming with Eddie Van Halen and Slash! Hell, why aren’t these bands touring together for fun? Mix it up! Springsteen opening for Cheap Trick!

Obviously, this whole selection process is subjective, as are my opinions on the topic. However, I am basing my choices (mostly) on hard, cold facts: Can you name three hits? Did they have a platinum record? Are they still performing or on the radio? Groundbreakers are different. They get a pass on hits and sales. My goal here is to correct several obvious snubs made on the part of RRHOF and Jann Wenner specifically. It is time to stop letting the New York music critics cock block the rock and let the PEOPLE have their say. In that spirit, I would like to submit my list of 25 bands, sidemen, producers, solo artists and singer/songwriters who deserve to be inducted NOW. Unfortunately, these days the dummies running this joint can barely induct five bands each year. They USED to induct a dozen or more…bring that back. I think all 25 could be inducted in two classes! So, here is my list of worthy members. Fuck Kraftwerk, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Blink 182 and especially Biggie Smalls until THESE bands are in!

 
 Class of 2020 and their presenters

1)      The Meters: (Inducted by Trombone Shorty)

Considering “Sissy Strut” has been sampled by nearly every wanna-be d.j. in the history of hip hop, 

there should be NO more rappers until THESE guys are inducted!

2)      The Swampers/Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: (Patterson Hood)

They backed up Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Staple Sisters, Paul Simon and more. 

       Skynyrd sang their praise. The Stones and Bob Seger recorded at their studio.

 

3)      Jim Croce: (A.J. Croce) Accepted by his wife Ingrid

Died too soon. Plane crash. Like Otis, had his biggest hit after his death.

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Time in a Bottle, Don’t Mess Around With Jim

 

4)      Ted Nugent: (Kid Rock---Hey, He DESERVES this intro)

Yes, when it comes to politics, he is bat-shit crazy but you can’t deny him. He meets all the criteria and even at his age Ted is still a bad-ass guitar player. The Nuge belongs in! Cat Scratch Fever, Stranglehold, Wango Tango, Great White Buffalo, Free For All

5)      Blue Oyster Cult: (Will Farrell—More Cowbell!)

Huge in the 70’s! KISS opened for THEM. STILL on tour and the radio every day!

Godzilla, Burnin’ For You, Don’t Fear the Reaper, Cities on Flame, Joan Crawford

6)      Judas Priest: (Axl Rose)

Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight, Screaming For Vengence. Boom!

Created the “Heavy metal look”. First band to be sued for killing their fans.

 

7)      Ozzy Osbourne: Solo Artist (Sharon Osbourne)

If Ringo Starr is in for his solo work, Ozzy deserves to be for his!

“Crazy Train” is now in car commercials and played at every NFL game.

 

8)      Randy Rhoads: Sideman (Ozzy Osbourne)

Played in Quiet Riot before joining Ozzy. Still considered one of the greatest.

 

9)      Bob Ezrin: Producer (Alice Cooper)

Produced ALL of Alice’s greatest hits: I’m 18, School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies… 

      Lou Reed: Berlin, KISS: Destroyer (and The Elder), Pink Floyd: The Wall and more.

 

10)  Warren Zevon: Singer/Songwriter (Jackson Browne) Accepted by Jordan Zevon

LONG overdue. Musical genius. I miss him nearly every day.

FINAL JAM: Jackson Browne / Bruce Springsteen / Bob Dylan / Bonnie Raitt / Stevie Nicks / Joe Walsh / Don Henley / Waddy Wachtel / Patterson Hood 

                                    NO Werewolves! Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me>Play it All Night Long>Keep Me In Your Heart

                                                                        Not a dry eye in the house.

                               

  CLASS OF 2021 (Classic Rock and 80’s Metal)

 

11)  The Doobie Brothers: (Cheech and Chong)

They deserve to be in for the name alone. Plus, their episode of “What’s Happening”. 

      China Grove, Black Water, Listen to the Music, Jesus is Just Alright

 

12)  Foreigner: (Rod Stewart)

Headknocker, Hot Blooded, Urgent, Double Vision, Cold As Ice, Juke Box Hero

Classic rock, mega hits, still touring, unlike Rage Against the Machine!

 

13)  Pat Benetar: (Neil Gilardo) Although, he will probably demand to get an award, too. 

      Female Rock Pioneer. Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Fire and Ice, You Better Run

 

14)  Joe Walsh: (Jimmy Bufffett)                                                                                          

      James Gang. Coolest member of Eagles. Should have been President in 1980!            

      Turn To Stone, Rocky Mountain Way, Life’s Been Good, The Confessor

 

15)  The Runaways: (Rodney Bingenheimer)

Groundbreakers! First female rock band launching Joan Jett/Lita Ford.

Cherry Bomb (RIP Kim Fowley), You Drive Me Wild

 

16)  Bad Company: (Jimmy Page)

Paul Rogers on vocals. First band Zeppelin signed to Swan Song Records.

Bad Company, Feel Like Making Love, Moving On, Good Loving Gone Bad

 

17)  Meatloaf: (Jim Steinman)

Bat Out of Hell sold 43 Million copies!  Only Back in Black and Thriller sold more.   

      Two out of Three Ain’t bad, Paradise By the Dashboard Light, I Would Do Anything..

 

18)  Boston: (Todd Rundgren)

Two big records with half a dozen hits that are STILL on the radio every day!

More Than A Feeling, Rock and Roll Band, Peace of Mind, Don’t Look Back, Smokin’

 

19)  REO Speedwagon: (Neal Schon)

Kinda lame now, but in their day they ROCKED! Once Gary Richrath left it was over.

Riding the Storm Out, Roll With The Changes, Keep On Loving You, Take It on the Run

 

20)  Styx: (Rick Neilson)

Very similar story to REO, which is why they tour together so often. Can’t deny the hits.

Babe, Lady, Crystal Ball, Come Sail Away, Blue Collar Man, Renegade, Mr. Roboto

 

21)  Twisted Sister: (Alice Cooper)

Paid their dues the hard way, eventually got their hits and made a career out of it.        

     You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll, I Wanna Rock, We’re Not Gonna Take It.

 

22)  Quiet Riot: (Eddie Trunk)

Technically, two big hits, but they were pioneers of early L.A. metal and deserve a spot.

Metal Health, Cum On Feel the Noise, Mama Weer All Crazee Now

 

23)  Motley Crue: (David Lee Roth)

Bad Boys of 80’s metal. Took rock decadence to a new level. Retired before they died.

Shout at the Devil, Looks That Kill, Home Sweet Home, Girls-Girls-Girls, Dr. Feelgood,

 

24) Motorhead/Lemmy: (Scott Ian)
Groundbreaker. Only one big hit, unless you count the cover of Louie Louie, but c’mon. He was a legend. There will never be another

Lemmy. Ace of Spades.

25) Ronnie James Dio: Solo Artist (Ritchie Blackmore--How BAD-ASS would that be?)

ENCORE: Man on the Silver Mountain / The Mob Rules / Rainbow in the Dark

CLASS OF 2022 and Beyond

Iron Maiden, Rainbow, UFO, Scorpions, Ratt, Poison, Ministry/Trent Reznor, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, The Replacements, Big Star and Devo.


After THAT you can let in Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, The Carpenters, Peter Frampton, George Thorogood, Foghat, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Kansas. (And I fucking HATED Kansas)



After THAT you can let in Chic, Todd Rundgren, Kraftwerk, Puff Daddy and whatever lame-ass douchebags the people who run I-Heart radio deem worthy. My work here is done. Discuss. - Rev Todd.

Watershed Rankings Day 2 (Songs 55-45) by Nick Jezierny

Originally published in 2015 - Watershed plays Columbus August 9-10-11 in the year 2019. Click here for details.

Find and play these songs on Spotify! 

 

Watershed Rankings by Nick Jezierny  Day 2 (Songs 55-45)

Click here to read Day 1 (The Bottom Ten)

Wallflower Child (55): This is probably going to cause some debate. This is my least favorite song on Three Chords II. In fact, I’ve wondered why “New Life,” “Star Vehicle” or “Laundromat” didn’t get on the live record over this. I think about that type of stuff from time to time. I also wonder how certain songs are left off Greatest Hits packages. My two prime examples: "Stone In Love" for Journey, "Gimme Some Water" for Eddie Money. There are three better versions of “Wallflower Child" — Hoarse’s version is excellent, the one from Colin’s "Live From Cleveland” disc I bought from Ricki C. in Raleigh and the original Watershed version from one of the early recordings that I’m not ranking. This is the only case where Watershed made its own song worse!

Watch this! A fan making that version even worse from Comfest Bozo Stage.

Joe O. - I agree with Nick that Hoarse’s cover of this song is the definitive version. It also led to the Watershed/Tim Patalan partnership. The worst version of Wallflower Child is the tattoo that sits on my left shoulder.

Ricki C. - First off, and completely off-topic, regarding Greatest Hits, between the two of them Journey and Eddie Money have exactly ONE good, let alone great, song, that being Eddie's "Two Tickets To Paradise."   On the subject of "Wallflower Child," I remember thinking the first time I heard it WAY back in the day at Ruby Tuesday, "This sounds like a song The Monkees might have sung."  (In my 62 year-old world, a power-pop band writing a song that sounds like The Monkees is a positive notion.)  Plus how many rock & roll bands write songs for and celebrate the shy, retiring members of their audience?  Sometimes I think this is the song that established the Watershed "we're all in this together" persona that they honor to this day.    

I-65 (54): This probably would have made the “Bottom 11” if I hadn’t been driving on I-65 in Nashville when this came on the iPod two years ago. That was pretty cool, and so is the guitar in this song. 

Colin G. - I-65. Hmm. Is it good? Is it bad? Dunno. I do know that we approached our first record on Epic as the start of a musical family tree so that any direction we went after would make some sort of sense if you traced it back to its roots. Watershed never released another song quite like it though I guess the League Bowlers cover this ground. The more I think about it, this never should have been on Twister.  FYI - First performed at the Ronald Koal Memorial Show at the Newport Music Hall. RIP Ronald.

She Picks The Songs (53): This song shows Watershed getting closer to its signature sound. It probably should be higher on this list, but man, this is very hard to do!

Joe O. - Somehow I actually worked the word ipecac into a song. Good for me.

Superstressed (52): It never fails that this song comes on when I’m running late and in traffic. It’s what I get for having an mp3 disc of all Watershed songs in my car’s CD player for the past two years.

Joe O. - I don’t want to speak for Colin, but I think we were all pretty damn stressed at that time, fighting to hang on to the Epic deal. Frank Aversa, the self-proclaimed “King of Huge” got a great drum sound here, and Herb wails on ‘em.

Colin G. - When it's all said and done, Star Vehicle might be the record I am most proud of. It's not our best record, but we were left for dead on the side of the road yet still made a damn good record. Playing for pride. It was the first time but not the last. Plus it just rocks. Who is that on guitar anyway?

Watch this! Live from Slim's Downtown.

Romantic Noise (51): Great lyrics, but a little slow and not quite a ballad.

Joe O. - Not only is this a great song, it’s super-important for us because it’s the first thing we did with Patalan. Probably the single recording session that sticks with me the most.

Colin G. - Yeah Nick, pull your head out of your ass. Didn't you read Hitless Wonder? In all seriousness, the song probably doesn't get it's due because us assholes couldn't really pull it off live. Tim P. just produced it so well we could never make it live up to the recorded version. Great song though. One of my faves. 

Consolation Prize (50): “I’ll tease you like a slug teases a vending machine” is pretty memorable.

Joe O. -The line that I always like to sing is “I’ve been biting off erasers, so I can’t take anything back.”

Colin G. - Love this song. Got squeezed out of set by Anniversary. Herb's finest drumming and check out that tasty feedback before the last chorus. Yum.

On A Broken Radio (49): I like the idea, but I think because it’s the third ballad in a row at the end of “Brick and Mortar” that I don’t appreciate it more.

Joe O. - One of my favorite afternoons of the B&M sessions was hashing out these lyrics with Joe Peppercorn.  

Ricki C. - I TOTALLY disagree with "Broken Radio" being this far down the list.  It made a great closer to the shows on the "Hitless Wonder/Brick & Mortar" summer tour of 2012, coming after all the rock power & command of  "Black Concert T-Shirt" and other ravers during the encores.  Dare I say it brought a new depth to the Watershed show?   Maybe.  While we're on the subject, I'm also surprised to find "Set The World On Fire" so far down the list below at number 47.  Those are the two "Brick & Mortar" tunes fleeting member Joe Peppercorn had the biggest influence on, so maybe a pattern starts to emerge. 

Watch this! Live at the Bluestone.

Watershed reading from Hitless Wonder and playing On A Broken Radio in the CD101 Big Room for Andymanathon 2012.

New Depression (48): I once slid on some ice and my car ended up in a ditch while listening to this song. My car had no damage, until another car hit the same ice patch and T-boned me. What was amazing was I out there waving frantically at the oncoming traffic to watch for the black ice and the first handful of cars obeyed. Finally, the guy who wasn’t paying attention slams into my car about two minutes before my AAA tow truck arrived to pull me out. That wasn’t a good day.

Joe O. - I remember working on this song for months in the basement of 387 W. 4th Ave, where our good buddy Jeff Hassler was living at the time.

Watch This! Live from Frankie's Toledo on the tour that inspired Hitless Wonder. Poochie smokes.

Set The World On Fire (47): This is a good song, but I think so many on the latest record are better. I was a little surprised that this was the second single (or at least I think it was). 

Colin G.- Love playing this song. Sound-checked with it almost every night on Brick & Mortar tour. In retrospect, wish the keys were a bee sting louder in the chorus. Listen for them. 

Below: Live from CD1025 Big Room. Andymanathon 2013.

Watershed in the CD101 Big Room playing Set The World On Fire. Andymanathon 2012.

Give A Little Bit (46): This is still better than Supertramp’s original and the Goo Goo Dolls’ cover, even though they aren’t the same song. But they do have the same title.

Joe O. - For some reason I didn’t care much for this song back when Star Vehicle came out, but now I dig it a lot. The intro snare hit always takes me by surprise—not that I sit around listening to old Watershed albums. Much.

No footage of this song. But enjoy this mystery promo video. Who made this and why?

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Get Over Me (45): Did you ever notice how many pronouns are in the song titles on Twister? I notice that type of stuff for no good reason.

Joe O. - Good call on the pronouns, Nick. Our buddy David Martin noted that same thing way back when. Whenever I hear myself singing this song, I always want to tell myself to “Lighten up, Francis.”

Ricki C. - Our first "Stripes" reference of the countdown. I love it. Can Wicked Scepter be far behind?

Let's wrap up Day Two with the legendary Reverend Todd Baker and his TV Show "What The Hell Was That?" live from Raleigh, NC in 2013. All kinds of great footage including an interview with the even more legendary sound man and longtime Watershed supporter Jac Cain. If you look close you may even catch a glimpse of Nick J. himself. 

Part TWO of the WATERSHED ROCK JUNKET in Raleigh, NC.