Legitimacy

So the battle is waging to get Sonny & Cher into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the fansite Just Plain Cher, I noticed a great, great opinion piece on the matter from Goldmine Magazine by Phill Marder.

By the way, over the years Goldmine has published some of best, most serious, retrospectives of Cher’s musical ouvre. So I'm not surprised to see a defense of her bid to legitimacy there.

Here are the article highlights:

Long before there was Joan Jett. Long before there was Madonna. Long long long before Avril and Pink. And lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng before there was Lady Gaga.

There was Cher.

In short, Cher was it. From top to bottom, Cher was the prototype of the female rock star, setting the standard for appearance, from her early hippie days to her later outlandish outfits, and her attitude – the perfect female punk long before punk even was a rock term.

Contemporaries Marianne Faithfull – the British bad girl with the angelic looks – and Nancy Sinatra – the rebel with the Playboy looks – did their part to advance feminine rebellion in the Rock world, but Cher led the way. Her schtick as near dominatrix over husband Sonny may have been a put-on in 1965, but Cher continued to force issues as she grew, not only with her stage costumes, but with her song selection as well.

With Sonny & Cher churning out hits, Cher’s solo career continued to soar, a rare occurrence in the music industry. Seldom does an artist score simultaneously with solo and group hits – Phil Collins is a recent example – but Cher did it…the very strange “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), penned by Sonny, which came in at No. 2 in the U.S. and reached the top 10 in eight other countries, including No. 3 in the U.K. Later the same year, Nancy Sinatra did a smoking version, used in “Kill Bill,” and most recently The Raconteurs, led by Jack White, have been including a remarkably decadent cover in concert.

“You’d Better Sit Down Kids, “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” “Half Breed,” among others, followed, covering issues popular female singers weren’t known to address – divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy and racism just for starters.

In 1974, we listened to it as “Dark Lady.” Today we watch it on the tube and call it “Snapped.”

[I had to include the "Dark Lady" bit because I love the show Snapped! Crazy ladies!]

Cher carried her success through to the new millennium. She starred on TV, won an Oscar and put records into the Top 10 in every decade from the 60s through the 90s, selling out shows whenever and wherever she appeared. In 1998, 33 years after her chart debut, Cher was No. 1 again with “Believe.”

Her album success also was substantial, 22 solo efforts reaching the charts in addition to 12 with Sonny. In the United Kingdom, Cher posted 10 top selling albums, hitting No. 1 twice in 1991 and 1992. Her singles numbers are staggering, 32 reaching the British Top 40 between 1965 and 2001, with her cover of the Betty Everett oldie “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)” joining “Believe” and “Love Can Build A Bridge,” a joint effort with Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton, as chart-toppers. Seven efforts with Sonny also reached the U.K. singles chart, led off by the No. 1 “I Got You Babe.”

Cher has expressed disappointment in the Hall of Fame’s failure to recognize her accomplishments, but, diplomatically, she has put the emphasis on her late husband, noting particularly the great songs he composed. There would be no complaint here if the Hall of Fame was to induct Sonny & Cher. But realistically, Cher sustained her musical career over the years and has become a show business icon…Perhaps this is the main reason her contributions to Rock & Roll have been overlooked. She has transcended Rock.

But Cher always has been and always will be Rock & Roll. Every female singer who followed her owes her a debt of gratitude. As does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

http://www.goldminemag.com/blogs/rock-hall-of-fame-would-be-a-lot-sunnier-with-cher