Bobby Freeman

Not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Eligible since: 1984

First Recording: 1958

Previously Considered? No  what's this?

Bobby Freeman
HALL OF FAME INDICATORS
🔲Rolling Stone 500 Albums
🔲Rolling Stone 500 Songs
🔲Rolling Stone Cover
🔲Saturday Night Live
🔲Major Festival Headliner
🔲Songwriters Hall of Fame
🔲“Big Four” Grammys

Essential Songs (?)WikipediaYouTube
Do You Want To Dance (1958)

Bobby Freeman @ Wikipedia

Will Bobby Freeman be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
"Musical excellence is the essential qualification for induction."
Yes: 
No :


Comments

2 comments so far (post your own)

"Do You Want To Dance". The vocal is not nuanced at all, and the piano playing is more like piano banging. But that apparently was its charm, as this primal sound swung its way up to #5 pop/#2 R&B in 1958. I'm guessing because the original was so perfectly flawed, that everyone felt they could cover it. Some shouldn't have (Sonny & Cher, Sandy Nelson), some had their own hits with it (the Beach Boys), some added it to their repertoires as crowd pleasers (the 4 Seasons, Cliff Richard & the Shadows, Jan & Dean) and some took the song in a completely different direction that actually embraced the lyrics (the Mamas and the Papas, Johnny Rivers, Bette Midler).

And here's a question - did this song presage the dance craze of the early 60s?

It was quite a song. Unfortunately, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is not really geared towards recognizing artists who, whether they had other hits or not (and Bobby Freeman did have others hits). Yeah, they have that one hit wonders exhibit in the exhibition section, a wall painted with the song titles and artists, a display that shows a video and a few seats, and. . . that's about it. And they've managed to induct a few such artists like Ritchie Valens or Percy Sledge. But those artists exhibited talent to spare with an influence that stretched deeply into rock and roll beyond that one song they're mostly noted for. That may explain why they were inducted and other acts like Bobby Freeman were not. It's hard to say without talking to the nominators and the voters about those decisions.

Outside of those examples, I guess we'll just have to be happy with "Gee" by the Crows, "Sh-Boom" by the Chords, "The Book Of Love" by the Monotones, "Wild Thing" and "Love Is All Around" by the Troggs, "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen, "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham & the Pharoahs and, yes, "Do You Want To Dance" by Bobby Freeman. We can embrace them even if the R&RHoF, by design, really can't.

Posted by Charles Crossley Jr on Thursday, 05/26/2016 @ 10:23am


RIP Bobby Freeman

Posted by Roy on Thursday, 02/2/2017 @ 20:46pm


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Future Rock Legends is your home for Bobby Freeman and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including year of eligibility, number of nominations, induction chances, essential songs and albums, and an open discussion of their career.


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