The list is out. Let the criticism begin. (Asterisks mark first-time nominees.*)
Beck*
Pat Benatar
Kate Bush
DEVO
Duran Duran*
Eminem*
Eurythmics
Judas Priest
Fela Kuti
MC5
New York Dolls
Dolly Parton*
Rage Against the Machine
Lionel Richie*
Carly Simon*
A Tribe Called Quest*
Dionne Warwick
Personally I think Dolly Parton should automatically be placed in every Hall of Fame in the world, but except for her fleeting flirtation with disco in the late 70s, any connection she has to rock and/or roll is pretty tenuous.
Where the hell are Weird Al Yankovic and Supertramp?
They inducted Foo Fighters last year and I do not for the life of me understand how they’re popular or how they keep winning awards; their music sounds like something created by an AI tasked with creating generic radio-friendly rock songs. I guess I just don’t get it.
Kate Bush, Eminem, RATM and Duran Duran (they were HUGE) all seem like easy choices to me. I don’t know enough about Fela Kuti
In 1968, they were proto-everything. Hard rock, punk, etc. They mentored the Stooges and were the template for radical leftest groups like Dead Kennedy and Rage Against the Machine. Essentially, they are one of those 1960s groups that you would swear couldn’t have existed before 1975.
Lionel Richie solo when the Commodores aren’t in? That’s just wrong. Flaccid 80s pop fluff like “Hello” and “Dancing on the Ceiling” over “Brick House” and “Machine Gun”? I say No!
Add me to the list of people thinking “Wait, MC5 isn’t already in?” I knew Devo wasn’t, and that’s wrong too.
Prediction: Eminem will get in. Getting nominated in your first year of eligibility based on starting the 25-year clock with some indie release that came out a few years before achieving success is pretty much a sign you’re guaranteed to get in (See Nirvana, Green Day)
Kate Bush might be in my top 10 artists. If you don’t like Running Up that Hill, you probably won’t like her other songs. Her voice is not for everyone. Check out Wuthering Heights and This Woman’s Work (which was in the movie She’s Having a Baby) if interested in other songs.
She was popular in the UK but a one hit wonder in the US. I don’t know how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would handle those type of artists.
Considering the fact that Mark Mothersbaugh said that Weird Al wrote the perfect DEVO song, I agree.
Minor quibble compared to the fact that Weird Al belongs.
I don’t think Running Up that Hill was popular enough to make her a one-hit wonder.
Yeah, pretty ahead of themselves. The other band, or really song, that seems way ahead of its time is 96 Tears by ? and the Mysterians. I’m not saying they should be in the Hall, of course, but just that it’s really out of place in the 60s.
It actually made it to #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in 1985; it was her only top 40 song here (and, having a top-40 hit is one typical definition of “one-hit wonder”).
Her next-highest charting song in the U.S. was “Don’t Give Up,” a duet she did with Peter Gabriel on his album So, which got to #72. (She was also the backing vocalist on Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” and it’s her singing the phrase “Jeux sans frontieres,” which often gets misheard as “She’s so popular.”)
A friend of mine is a big fan of her, but then, he grew up in Ireland (where, as in England, she was very popular). When she came out of retirement in 2014 to do a series of concerts in London, the tickets sold out in 15 minutes.
Obviously, she’s far less known here, and I’m not sure how influential she’s considered to be by later bands – and that sort of influence is how bands with short and/or not-particularly-successful careers, like the Velvet Underground (and MC5, if they make it in) get into the Hall.
Yeah, I love Dolly too, but how does she in any way constitute “Rock and Roll”? I mean, there is also a Country Hall of Fame in Nashville. I would agree Tom Brady is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, but I don’t think that qualifies him for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
And Dionne Warwick? Nothing against her either, but who would ever consider her music Rock and Roll?!? I mean, I understand there’s no clear-cut definition of Rock and / or Roll, and an artist that may not be in and of themselves be considered ‘Rock’ can still influence the genre, but the RARHOF has always seemed to be so wide-ranging to me as to be pointless. Why not just call it the “Music Hall of Fame”?
I like the Foo Fighters songs that I’ve heard (though I’m not sure that I’m truly a “fan”), but something tells me that part of the reason that they’re in is that Dave Grohl is widely considered (by both industry professionals and fans) to be one of the most genuinely good guys in the industry.
