No Rock And Roll Fun

BRITAIN OFFICIALLY "RUBBISH AT MUSIC": If you were going to produce a hall of fame - indeed, a UK Music Hall of Fame - you might feel a little spoiled for choice as to who to put in. Bowie, obviously; Jagger and Richards would have to be in there, naturally. Rod Stewart would have to be seriously considered, and Morrissey, with or without Marr, would be shortlisted. Would Duran Duran make the cut? It's possible, and Pete Waterman might need to be in there if it was a serious attempt to measure those who have influenced the world of music. Ian Brown? Perhaps not, but Noel Gallagher- albeit through gritted teeth - would be expected to pop up, fighting for wall space alongside Sid Vicious, or Johnny Rotten, or Joe Strummer. It'd be quite a while before you needed to even think of any other country's artists to make up the numbers. And yet, Channel 4 and Initial TV have invented a UK Hall of Fame which contains just one British act - the Beatles - and Madonna, U2, Presley and Marley. Yes, there's room for Bono, but not for Bowie - and yet how much influence on music have U2 really had? The list of inductees has been drawn up by Paul Gambaccini (oddly, Limahl didn't make the final list, either), Trevor Nelson, Sir George Martin, Alex James, Dave Stewart, Tony Wilson (shame on you, sir) and - for no good reason - Emily Eavis. There's going to be some sort of phone-in polls when the programmes hit the screen but, really, if they can only think of The Beatles as being worthy of the Hall of Fame, they have no right to be making such a programme in the first place.