Bruce, Elton Make Grammy Hall

Twenty-one recordings ranging from jazz and R&B to pop and rock have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Recording Academy welcomed albums ranging from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run to Thelonious Monk's The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 and 2, and songs from to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" to Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade."

The Grammy Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 to honor recordings of "enduring quality and relevance or historical significance." Chosen by a panel of historians and members of the music industry, the Hall now contains 530 such titles.

The full list of this year's inductees:

Aja, Steely Dan
"Blowin' in the Wind," Peter, Paul and Mary
Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
"Both Sides Now," Judy Collins
Chopin: Mazurkas (Complete), Artur Rubinstein, piano
"Days of Wine And Roses," Henry Mancini
"Downtown," Petula Clark
The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 and 2, Thelonious Monk
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
"Hotel California," Eagles
"I Only Have Eyes for You," the Flamingos
"I Shot the Sheriff," Eric Clapton
"It's Too Late," Carole King
"Lady Marmalade," Patti LaBelle
"Proud Mary," Ike and Tina Turner
Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 In A Minor, Op. 99, David Oistrakh; Dimitri Mitropoulos conductor, New York Philharmonic
"Stairway to Heaven," Led Zeppelin
Still Crazy After All These Years, Paul Simon
"Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)," Ethel Waters
"Up-Up and Away," the 5th Dimension

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter