Should Willy Daffern be in the RnR HoF?

Pop quiz.  What do the following bands have in common:  The Beatles; The Rolling Stones; The Who; U2; Rush; Genesis; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Black Sabbath; Def Leppard; REM.

In each of these bands, the original members met as kids.  Many went to the same school.  Most probably learned to play their instruments together.  At some point, lightning struck and they became famous.

This, of course, is not how all bands come to be.  According to the Wikipedia article about Deep Purple, they were put together to be a rotating band of hired guns.  The original lineup was culled from musicians who were already working pros or semi-pros.

It's a statement that you hear all over the place, since Deep Purple was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; that in the 1970's, there were three hard rock groups that mattered: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.

A lot of people have a real problem with the Rock Hall, mainly because of artists that have not been inducted.  The hall is very secretive about the process by which artists are chosen, and the perception is that certain individuals simply will not allow acts that they personally don't like.  The names that come up the most often are Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine and the hall, and Little Steven, long-time guitarist with Bruce Springsteen and vocal advocate of "garage band" music.  But so far as I know, nobody knows the names of all of the hall's leadership.

This is the explanation for why such acts as Jethro Tull, Yes, and the Moody Blues aren't in the hall.  And, it also explains why acts like Rush, Kiss, and Deep Purple took so long to get in.  Ian Gillian recently revealed that he was told Deep Purple didn't get in until now because they were a "one-hit wonder."  His reply was, which one hit?  Hush?  Smoke on the Water?  He proceeded to rattle off half a dozen singles that went high on the charts in both the US and UK.  Of course, it didn't count that their albums sold in the millions, and that they were stars of album-oriented rock radio.

It's a lame excuse, and a quick look through the list of hall members shows it.  It would seem that the hall's leadership has an image in their head of what rock is, and the above mentioned groups simply don't fit.  If they had their way and could ignore the outcry, Rush and Deep Purple wouldn't be in yet, and would never be.

It's almost like good musicianship somehow isn't rock and roll.  To me, that's sad.  It's the idea that Rick Wakeman, Justin Hayward, Martin Barre, Neil Peart, and Roger Glover have attained a level of skill that somehow makes the music they play and compose ineligible to be called rock.  Buddy Guy, Cat Stevens, Public Enemy, and Bob Marley are rock, and the Moody Blues aren't?

In fairness, looking through the list of inductees, I don't see one single name that I don't think belongs there.  That's the thing about halls of fame; they're about fame.  All the artists in the Rock Hall, even if I personally don't care for their music, or think of them as rock, have considerable followings, have had significant influence, and are worthy of the recognition they've received.

As a hall of fame, the rock one seems to hew more toward the model of the Football hall than the Baseball one.  The Baseball Hall of Fame tends to set the bar very high.  There are pitchers with 300 wins and hitters with 300 homers that aren't in the hall.  It took a long time, for instance, for Jim Rice to be named.  The football hall is much more inclusive.  Just take a look at the number of players inducted to each in any given year.  Baseball, it's unusual to see more than three.  The rock hall sometimes has a dozen.

This is not a complaint, but it does show what induction to the hall really means.  In baseball, it means that you are part of a much more elite group.  By his induction, Jim Rice stands shoulder to shoulder with Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Honus Wagner, and other giants.  It could be argued that being more inclusive lowers the stature of the greatest members, and being less inclusive elevates the lesser ones.

Be that as it may, the rock hall is what it is.  By being inducted, Deep Purple stands alongside the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Green Day, Elvis Presley, The Hollies, NWA, Cheap Trick, Chuck Berry, James Taylor, Booker T and the MG's, and Johnny Cash.  Take that any way you like.

Their induction caused me to dig out a bunch of old Deep Purple.  I'm sorry to admit I haven't listened to them in a long time.  To be frank, while I've always liked them, they've never been one of my favorites.  I guess I just don't relate to a lot of what their music is about.  Even so, it's hard to beat "Made In Japan."  That's just a great, great album.  Jon Lord on Space Truckin'?  Ya can't beat it.

One thing that quickly jumped out at me was the very high level of musicianship, especially in the second incarnation.  Ian Gillian and Roger Glover replaced Rod Evans and Nick Simper on vocals and bass respectively and, while the originals were very good, the replacements were even better.  This is my favorite version of the band, along with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice.

David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes eventually replaced Gillian and Glover, and once again were very good.  Blackmore left and was replaced by Tommy Bolin.  Personally, I think in retrospect Bolin was in over his head in Blackmore's place, but that's me.  If you really want to hear Bolin at his best, get Billy Cobham's "Spectrum."

Deep Purple is an example of a scenario that came to prominence in the 70's.  In the 60's we were introduced to the concept of the supergroup, the most famous of which were Cream and CSNY.  By the 70's groups were being put together and sold as supergroups whether the members had achieved any significant prior success or not.

Following the threads in and out of Deep Purple is an education in this area.  Original vocalist Rod Evans went on to form a band called Captain Beyond with the former drummer of Johnny Winter And, Bobby Caldwell, and two former members of Iron Butterfly; bassist Lee Dorman and guitarist Larry Reinhart.

I kept chasing the threads in and out and around Deep Purple, and they led me through such acts as Atomic Rooster, Cactus, the James Gang, and on and on until I found myself at Brand X.  Brand X and Captain Beyond are two of my favorite lesser known bands, which each went through several incarnations and always included a very high level of musicianship.

Brand X was a jazz fusion band that sometimes included Phil Collins on drums.  Incredible musicians, highly recommended.  YouTube has entire albums of theirs posted.  I would direct you to Moroccan Roll and Product for an introduction.

Which brings me to the original subject of this essay, Willie Daffern.  Captain Beyond released two albums in 1972 and 1973, ("Captain Beyond" and "Sufficiently Breathless") then broke up.  The members went on to other groups and other things.  Then, about '76 some of the members decided to start the group up again.  Relations between these members and Rod Evans had deteriorated, so Willie Daffern was tapped to take over lead vocal duties for their third album, Dawn Explosion.

Willie's only other recordings up to that point had been as a drummer for a couple bands I'd never heard of.  He turned out to be a very good singer, and I think Dawn Explosion stands up well to the group's previous releases.  Unfortunately, none of their albums ever really took off, but they're excellent.

Willie, like many other fine musicians, spent his career bouncing in and out of bands.  Sometimes musicians like this backed up a front person, and sometimes they were part of an attempt to form a group.  And sometimes, people would leave an established act and their roles would have to be filled.  That's how Fleetwood Mac, Yes, the Moody Blues, the James Gang, Brand X, and countless others survived through the years.  It's also why they evolved so dramatically.

So I would like to take this opportunity to honor all the hard working professional musicians who, like Willie Daffern, and Dominic Troiano, Morris Pert, John Goodsall, Carmine Appice, Don Airie, Nils Lofgren and hundreds of others that have moved in an out of bands, spent long weeks and months on the road, and worked the grind of numberless studio sessions.

These men and women dedicated themselves to the life of a working musician.  They started families, put bread on the table, and then spent weeks and months away from family and table to work on the road.  They played a lot of music they didn't really care about, and poured their heart and souls into music they did.  They watched lesser talents go by them on the way up, and down, the ladder.

They entered into musical relationships that sometimes had zero chemistry and even less chance of success.  Sometimes the chemistry was there, the music was cooking, but nobody cared.  Sometimes they would get right to the ragged edge of major success, only to find themselves replaced.  Or to find they had dishonest management who cleaned them out before leaving them dead beside the road.  Or to be told by some talentless A&R guy, "I don't hear a single."

In a way, the induction of Deep Purple honors all those musicians who sell their gun arm because they love to play and keep hoping for that big break.  Having passed through that band is comparable to winning the Daytona 500, or wearing a Super Bowl ring.  It's a career maker.  It's a guaranteed free beer in any bar you walk into.  Yeah, I was in Deep Purple.  Y'know, when I was in Australia touring with Deep Purple ...

Kudos to the hall for inducting them.  Do they diminish or elevate the other members of the hall?  I don't think that's the question.  What their induction does is elevate the hall.  It makes it more relevant to people who love the whole of rock music.  It's a victory for those who can appreciate skill as well as passion, and do not think the two are mutually exclusive.