TCB

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Fair Warning

With enough politicking to impress Nancy Pelosi, the Chronicle music staff completed our 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot in record time Monday, even when Senior Writer Margaret Moser wouldn't stop talking. ("When do I ever stop talking?") We were "Glad All Over" to dispatch the Dave Clark Five out of hand. Sorry, Little Steven. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Chic were tougher, until TCB pointed out that the first rappers to entice the rock public were Run-DMC, and "Good Times" and Power Station notwithstanding, Chic's actual output as a band was a little light. Joe Tex, born near Belton and reared in Baytown, lost to Moser's insistence Texans be stricken until Doug Sahm and Roky Erickson get their shots. (Fun fact: Wilson Pickett, Ben E. King, and Percy Mayfield were pallbearers at Tex's 1982 funeral.) That left unanimous No. 1 the Stooges, who should have beaten the Sex Pistols last year. When the Y chromosomes endorsed the New York twin bill of Patti Smith and the Ronettes, the Xs were amenable to Van Halen, probably because no one brought up the Van Hagar/Gary Cherone years. Our remaining vote was an up-or-down yes to first-time balloteers R.E.M. Coming next year: Mötley Crüe, Cars, Metallica?