Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

Okay, now I'm mad. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their class of 2004 today, and I'm pissed off. Yes, of course Prince got in on the first ballot - how could the most brilliant musical force of the last 25 years not?. And I'm happy to see ZZ Top make it in. I don't have a qualm with the selection of The Dells, either. But George Harrison?! He's in for one reason: he's a dead Beatle. Harrison does not deserve to be in as a solo artist whatsoever. Jackson Browne?! Ah, sleepy El Lay singer-songwriters rejoice. Bob Seger?! Traffic?!?! The most infuriating thing is who didn't get in. I thought John Mellencamp was an easy first-ballot selection, but apparently his art didn't have the reach of Steve fucking Winwood's. Patti Smith and The Sex Pistols still aren't in; I've starting to lose hope that either will ever make the cut, sadly. Yet more proof, as if we needed it, that the self-appointed "official" gatekeepers of rock'n'roll are boring, middle-aged white men. *Yawn.*