Green Day Are Up For The Hall

GREEN DAY INCLUDED AMONG 2015 NOMINEES UP FOR INDUCTION INTO ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

BAND CELEBRATES 20^TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIAMOND-SELLER DOOKIE AND 10^TH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDMARK CLASSIC AMERICAN IDIOT

 In yet another sign that the curator of this blog is old, one of my favorite bands from college is now eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Green Day are among the 2015 nominees up for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was announced today.

The 2015 inductees are chosen by a secret ballot of over 600 individual voters consisting of all past inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, musicians, historians, critics and members of the music industry. To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Green Day becomes eligible for the first time this year with the April 1989 release of their debut EP 1,000 Hours.

"Wow! Time flies. It's hard to believe it'll be 25 years since we released some of our first music," says Armstrong. "We are honored to be considered for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with many of our heroes."

Green Day have attended the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony twice, the first time in 2002 when they performed as part of The Ramones' induction. In 2012, they opened the show with a performance of "Letterbomb" and vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong helped induct Guns N' Roses.

This year, Green Day, which is Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool, are celebrating the 20^th anniversary of their 1994 breakout album Dookie, which is the band's best-selling album, having sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and earning Green Day its first Grammy^® Award for Best Alternative Music Performance and Diamond Award from the RIAA. In addition, the band's landmark album American Idiot celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. Released on September 20^th, 2004, American Idiot debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, earned seven Grammy® nominations (winning two, including Best Rock Album), and raised the bar for modern rock and roll.

Green Day were kids from working-class backgrounds who came of age in the underground punk scene in Berkeley, California. Even though they had released two records prior (1039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk), they announced their arrival with Dookie. Over the years, Green Day has continued to top the charts with their subsequent studio albums, which in addition to those mentioned above, include Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning, 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day ¡Uno!, Green Day ¡Dos!, and Green Day ¡Tré! They are one of the world's best-selling groups of all time, having sold more than 75 million albums and singles worldwide.

Green Day Rocks!

Friday's Rockin' Roundup - Last Weekend Of Shopping Edition

This is it. This weekend is the last weekend to shop before Christmas is upon us. Another year has passed. Where does the time go? I will be spending this weekend finishing my Christmas shopping and seeing From Good Homes live. Not a bad weekend as long as I really can get the rest of my shopping done. Christmas shopping is not one of my favorite pastimes and I always end up getting things for myself that I don’t necessarily need. Hopefully I can restrain from buying for me this weekend and focus on buying for the people on my list.

I’m wishing to see Keith Richards’ Autobiography under my tree this year, as well as the latest from Stephen King, Tom Petty’s Damn The Torpedoes reissue, a new set of headphones for my iPod, and maybe a Bose system. That last one is doubtful, but you never know. Christmas miracles are known to happen. What’s on your wishlist?

Here’s what rocked this week:

Billboard’s Top 10 Albums Of The Year
The best of 2010 lists have already started to arrive. While mine won’t be posted until the last week of December, Billboard already has theirs out. Shamefully, I don’t know most of the albums on the list. I also don’t agree with the ones that I do know.

Rolling Stone Magazine’s Best of The Year
Rolling Stone has released their best of music list for 2010 as well. Their list has 30 albums and I knew a lot more of them. I still can’t believe what they missed though. Well, I guess that gives you a reason to read my top 10 albums of 2010 list when it comes out.

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – Class of 2011
Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond made the hall…finally. While I still can’t believe there is no Kiss, no Rush, and no a lot of other bands that deserve to be in, I am ecstatic to see Neil and Alice make it in. It adds a little more class to the hall. I’m particularly looking to the concert. Seeing Neil Diamond and Alice Cooper perform on stage together will be a real treat.

Pearl Jam To Headline Their Own Festival
Rumors abound that Pearl Jam will be heading up their own festival in 2011. Not much more information is available, but 2011 is the year of the Pearl Jam, so I expect to see a lot from this band next year. Will I go to this festival? It all depends on who else is performing.

Duff McKagan Strips For PETA
Along with his gorgeous wife, Susan, Duff McKagan has bared it all for a PETA advertisement. All I can say is that his wife is beautiful. Wow!

For more thoughts, spur of the moment rants, ramblings, music updates, and happy musings, you should follow me on twitter. www.twitter.com/ryovie

Friday's Rockin' Roundup - Yard Sale Edition

This weekend, your cousin Ryo is attempting to earn a little cash by hosting a yard sale. The place where I live is having a community-wide yard sale. I figured it was time for me to be a seller instead of a buyer (as I am every other year). It will be nice to finally get rid of a lot of the stuff that I’ve accumulated over the years. I’ve been trying to force myself to part with some things that are hard to part with. My movie collection, comic books, and other stuff that just sits in my basement and will most likely never get used. I’m trying as hard as I can to put it all out for sale and hope for the best.

Saturday will be a fun day of enjoying the October air, drinking coffee, and trying to sell my stuff. I hope that I make a decent amount of money, but more importantly, I hope that I don’t replace the stuff I sell with more stuff. That would be awful.

And while I was pricing used items and debating whether a DVD is worth $2 or $3, here’s what rocked this week:

The 2011 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees Are In
Kiss gets snubbed again. Rush gets snubbed. But LL Cool J? He got nominated. Seriously? The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Nominating Committee sucks.

U2 To Play Pittsburgh Next Year
Hot off their European tour, U2 is already eyeing up 2011. They’ve added a new city to their makeup tour for next year. Pittsburgh will be the last stop on the 360 tour (for now). Something tells me that additional shows may be added. We’ll know next summer.

Roger Waters Changes A Controversial Video
Even the legendary Roger Waters can succumb to pressure from outside groups. What the hell is this world coming to? We are all a bunch of pansies!

Queensryche to Release a Remastered Deluxe Edition of Empire
Now this looks pretty darned cool! A totally remastered deluxe edition of one of the greatest (if not the greatest) albums of 1990. My wife’s Christmas shopping just got a whole lot easier.

American Bang’s Debut Album is Stellar
And finally, here’s my review of American Bang’s self titled debut record. It’s southern rock meets modern flair and it’s oh, so good! Check out my review and then pick yourself up a copy of this fantastic record.

For more news, reviews, rants, raves, taunts, and other fun things, you should follow me on twitter. www.twitter.com/ryovie

Once Again, Kiss Gets Screwed

Recently the 2009 nominees for the rock and roll hall of fame were announced. Once again, there was a glaring omission to the nominee list. Kiss. Who is there? Metallica, Run-DMC, Bobby Womack, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Jeff Beck.

I can understand Metallica. They influenced a ton of heavy metal bands, sold plenty of records, have a rich illustrious history, and they’ve released some ground breaking records.

I can almost understand Jeff Beck. I know, he’s a legendary guitarist, The Yardbirds, etc., but his songs are not that well known. I’m hard pressed to find a person who can name 2 Jeff Beck songs, me included.

Run-DMC I am happy for, as they were the forefathers of rap music. You could argue that they don’t belong in the Rock and Roll hall of fame, but that’s a post for another day.

What I don’t get is how the hall continues to ignore Kiss. What the hell? The band has been around long enough to be eligible (first record must have been released 25 years ago). They have more gold and platinum records than any other band except the Beatles. They are more well known than a lot of the bands currently in the hall and they are certainly more well known than Little Anthony & the Imperials, who, by the way, I've never heard of.

Kiss influenced a generation. Ask Metallica, they were influenced by Kiss. Guns N Roses? Kiss. Motley Crue? Kiss. Van Halen? Kiss discovered them. They changed the way live performances were done and they changed the importance of a live record with their release of Alive!. So why are they once again being ignored?

I know, the hall of fame shouldn’t mean much, but it’s an ego thing. I think the band deserves the public recognition. They HAVE the credentials, so why are they not in?

And I know that some of you faithful readers think I'm biased, and maybe I am. Kiss is my favorite band after all, but bias aside, look at the statistics.

What are your thoughts? Does Kiss deserve to be in the hall?

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.