Sly The Family Stone

Pop Music: Kennedy Center should honor Sly and Family Stone, Led Zeppelin ...

The recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors won’t be announced until later this summer or early fall — indeed, the deliberations for who will be named are still ongoing. With that in mind, our critics weigh in with their own recommendations for who they think are most deserving of this prestigious acknowledgment of artistic achievement in the performing arts.

But now the doors are open. And while it might get crowded, there’s no ignoring that the boomer generation often produced its pop music icons in configurations of four or more.

Sly and the Family Stone

There’s no band more deserving. Sly and the Family Stone’s multi-race, mixed-gender lineup epitomized the social idealism of 1960s America, and the group’s protest songs melted genres with a funky, euphoric electricity that has never been matched.

And while frontman Sly Stone, 68, was the creative furnace behind the group’s glory years, it was the Family Stone’s first incarnation that helped make its music resonate with so many: guitarist Freddie Stone, 64, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, 65, drummer Greg Errico, 62, saxophonist Jerry Martini, 67, bassist Larry Graham, 64, and keyboardist Rose Stone, 66, who joined a year into the band’s career.

Plus, they’d all look really great in those rainbow-ribboned medals. And Prince might show up to sing “Everyday People” in tribute.

Led Zeppelin

Should the godfathers of heavy metal get a heavy medal? Absolutely. The surviving members of Led Zeppelin — guitarist Jimmy Page, 67, singer Robert Plant, 62, and bassist John Paul Jones, 65 — have left their fingerprints on nearly every piece of rock-and-roll rubble that came in their thundering wake.

And since we’re honoring a lifetime of achievement here, it’s important to note that the members who are still living — drummer John Bonham died in 1980 — are still achieving alongside their acolytes: Page recently came down from Mount Olympus to jam with Jack White and the Edge in the film “It Might Get Loud,” Plant has made some stunning folk music with Alison Krauss, and Jones is still bruising eardrums with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme in the generation-jumping supergroup Them Crooked Vultures.

Joni Mitchell

Prince— a pop dynamo who should surely receive Kennedy Center Honors of his own, someday — is stingy when it comes to praising his heroes, but he’s always been a vocal devotee of Mitchell, 67, who currently stands as was one of the most influential singers of the 20th century.

Here Only Good Music For All: Sly & The Family Stone - Life (Soul)

Though Sly & the Family Stone wouldn't score a hit until their third album, Dance to the Music , the roots of the group's revolutionary mix of classic R&B with San Francisco's burgeoning acid-rock sound can be heard loud and clear on their second album, 1968's Life . With no clear standout tracks, Life is fascinating more for its explorations than its arrivals. The elements are all there--the dynamic ensemble singing, the adventurous arrangements, the hard funk beats, the screaming guitars--but Life is a musical vision not yet fully formed. When it finally did come together, nothing would be the same again. Please donate to show that my work is appreciated. With every donation of yours, I'm willing to satisfy any music request you might have. Thanks in advance! Donnez svp pour prouver que mon travail est apprécié. Avec chaque donation, je suis disposé à satisfaire dans les mesures du possible vos requettes. Je ne fais pas cela à titre personnel mais afin de vous offrir la meilleure musique possible.

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