hello cleveland!

while i certainly don\’t keep my fingers on the pulse of popular music like i once did, i\’m a little surprised that i totally missed this. for those of you non-clickers, it\’s a story about the 2007 rock and roll hall of fame inductees. this year\’s honorees include R.E.M. and Van Halen. the former reunited to play many of its early and later hits at the event; the latter rolled out (one of) its ex-lead singers and ex-bass player to accept the award. fun.

because it\’s all about baseball (at this time of year, anyway) i thought it might be fun to compare rock and roll HOFers to their equivalent in the MLB HOF. my findings:

+ R.E.M. -> Dennis Eckersley (reinvented himself a few times, but consistent)
+ Van Halen -> Ty Cobb (talented with serious issues)
+ Parliament Funkadelic -> Tony Gwynn (only did one thing, but defined how to do it)
+ The Mamas and the Papas -> Wade Boggs (preoccupation with eating ham / chicken)
+ The Grateful Dead -> Mordecai Brown (see here to get the reference)
+ The Beatles -> Jackie Robinson (groundbreaking)
+ John Lennon -> Kirby Puckett (gone too soon)

this is fun! compare here and here if you want to play.