rock and roll hall of fame
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buby1987 — 18 years ago(October 03, 2007 07:24 PM)
It's interesting that in the late 70's-early 80's, Donna was not merely popular but music critics liked her, too. Rolling Stone gave her albums great reviews. In fact, the gave The Wanderer 5 Stars, which is their highest rating.
In the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hillburn gave her albums great reviews, especially Once Upon A Time.
She definitely got better reviews than Rondstat or Diana Ross at that time.
I also remember that even people who didn't like disco liked I Feel Love. That song really made me appreciate her artistry when it came out.
By the way, I don't have Live and More, one of the few I don't have is it worth getting? -
3_Beekman_Place — 18 years ago(October 04, 2007 04:46 PM)
They actually gave The Wanderer 4 1/2 stars out of 5. I used to have the review. On the Rolling Stone website they now list it as 4 stars.
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/donnasummer/albums/album/118191/review/5942953/the_wanderer
I'm listening to Bad Girls right now and think that Fox critic has a tin ear. I hear a drummer hitting the bass drum with a steady beat with his foot, and killer bass line that would do any rock song proud, and the occassional electric guitar fill. Just because people danced to the music didn't mean it wasn't an actual band of musicians making that music. The wide use of drum machines and "electronic" dance music came in the '80's, mostly from British bands like New Order, Duran Duran, A Flock Of Seagulls, ect. I believe many of those bands cite I Feel Love as a MAJOR influence on the music they made some 5-10 years later.
Live & More was the album that got me into Donna Summer! I remember that Christmas me and about 3 or 4 of my friends got it. After then buying her older stuff I heard the orginals, which were slower than the live stuff. The cd that is out is a single disc with only the live stuff. The "& More" was the 17 minute version of MacArthur Park Suite: MacArthur Park/ One Of A Kind/ Heaven Knows & MacArthur Park reprise. That can be found on the Donna cd The Dance Collection. The live stuff is GREAT. PROVING that she was a singer in a band!!! Not some studio creation. She features a bunch of stuff from Once Upon A Time (probably recorded on that tour) as well as a cool medley of standards. It also has the rare Mimi's Song written for her first daughter. It's worth is just to hear Donna on stage at the begining of super stardom! -
buby1987 — 18 years ago(October 04, 2007 09:49 PM)
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. The Five Star review was featured in the Rolling Stone Guide to Albums, which came out around 80 or 81 and they have since revised it.
Judging from some youtube clips from the late 70's, you can tell Donna is a dynamic live performer. I'll have to get her live album.
The musicianship on her albums was first-rate. In fact, on Bad Girls she had Jeff Baxter, who had played with Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers, doing the guitar solo. Baxter is one of the top guitarists in rock (he did the great solos on Doobie's Take Me In Your Arms and Steely Dan's My Old School). She had Baxter and Steve Lukather (one of the greatest session players in history) play on The Wanderer. Donna surrounded herself with great musicians. -
3_Beekman_Place — 18 years ago(October 06, 2007 10:12 PM)
I think she she really wanted Evita. I remember reading she was on a short list of 4 or 5 hot singers at the time mentioned for a possible movie version. I had a vhs of A Hot Summer Night With Donna and she did Don't Cry For Me Argentina during that tour. The song was also recorded for her 1981 I'm A Rainbow album. I think the play ran longer and when the movie was made Madonna was the hot singer at the time.
She did appear on the sitcom Family Matters as Erkel's aunt. Even sang on it. Her daughter Brooklyn Sudano was on the Damon Wayans sitcom as his son's girlfriend. Check her out on IMDB she's BEAUTIFUL!!!
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mtaylor-54 — 16 years ago(April 05, 2010 08:16 AM)
I fully agree that Donna deserves to be in the HOF ASAP.
However, too many people get upset over what they deem rock-n-roll is and isn't.
First off, I wish the Hall would just change its name to "The Music Hall of Fame" so the whole "she/he/they is/aren't rock-n-roll & therefore don't deserve to be in the Hall" nonsense.
The Hall has ALL types of music & singers inducted. Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country, Pop, Disco, Rap.get what I'm saying?? And of course I realize that Rock & other genres of music bleed into one another depending on artist inspiration.
Donna deserves to be inducted.but she is far more known & associated w/Disco music than Rock. And that's NOTHING for her or her fans to be ashamed of. Disco music fully influenced the dance music that followed in the 80's and helped shape the dance music of the 90's including Hip Hop.
People can diss disco all they want but it was just what the people needed at the time that it broke out into mainstream popularity and Donna Summer is considered the Queen of Disco by many people of a certain generation! -
buby1987 — 16 years ago(April 05, 2010 08:10 PM)
Disco is great, one of the greatest genres ever. Being the Queen of Disco is a great achievement. But Donna also showed her versatility, especially in the 80's with The Wanderer, in which she did some flat-out New Wave and Hard Rock singing and sang much better than most rock singers.
You're right, it should be called "The Music Hall of Fame." Good music is good music, whatever the genre. -
WarpedRecord — 15 years ago(April 12, 2010 05:26 PM)
I totally agree. Donna had an enormous influence on the pop and rock culture in the late '70s by bringing disco to the mainstream, and her "Wanderer" album is an eclectic delight that should have been a bigger hit.
Honestly, I think too many people are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (won't name names here, unless you ask), but there's no question in my mind that Donna belongs there. She embodies the spirit of rock 'n' roll in dancing shoes. -
jefgg — 12 years ago(May 31, 2013 02:52 PM)
Donna Summer was posthumously inducted on April 18, 2013 into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. It would have been nice if she had been alive to accept the honor. I don't know why they waited so long. Summer wasn't really a rock artist. But the Hall Of Fame isn't only for rock. There are artists from several other genres there. It should be renamed the Rock And Pop Hall Of Fame.