2025 Nominees for the Rock & Roll HoF

It’s funny–here in the US, I know a lot of casual listeners who know New Order songs but have no idea who Joy Division is. My cousin is a prime example. We were both born in '75, and we grew up with New Order songs. I didn’t discover Joy Division until well into the 90s. I was just talking to him a few weeks ago, and Joy Division was one of those bands he had heard of, but did not know their relation to New Order at all. I don’t ever remember hearing Joy Division on the radio stations I listened to in my formative years, but I certrainly remember plenty of New Order hits. Of course, this is unthinkable to anyone who followed “college” music at the time, but in the mainstream it was easy to miss. (Of the two, I am far more fond of Joy Division.)

I’m not opposed to putting Devo in, but they need to get in line behind the B-52s.

Devo are a novelty one-hit wonder here. Marginally better-known than, say, Rush, but not by much.

Whereas the B-52s are very well loved.

Indeed. It was widely believed, for a long time, that because Wenner was believed to dislike progressive rock, that kept most prog brands out of the Hall. But, in recent years, that’s changed: Yes, The Moody Blues, Rush, and Genesis have been inducted, as well as the prog-adjacent ELO.

I’d certainly argue that ELP and King Crimson, at least, should be considered.

Bad Company - Successful genre band, not particularly impactful or influential. No.

The Black Crowes - Successful genre band, not particularly impactful or influential. No.

Mariah Carey - Massively successful, not particularly impactful or influential. No.

Chubby Checker - Protested outside the Rock & Roll HoF in 2002 for being snubbed, so at least he has hubris going for him. Massively successful, but primarily a cover artist/interpreter. No. About the only interpreter I’d be sorta inclined to induct would be the already inducted Linda Ronstadt, just on impact and influence.

Joe Cocker - Sorry Joe. I personally like Cocker more than Chubby Checker, but see above.

Billy Idol - One of the most successful, but IMHO least interesting and most generic of the early punk scene. Which come to think of it may account for his popularity. No.

Joy Division/New Order - Very impactful, leaning yes.

Cyndi Lauper - Massively successful, some real impact for her time and place. But ultimately not enduring or important enough IMHO. No.

Maná - N/A. I don’t know enough to offer an opinion.

Oasis - Massively successful. More impactful, I guess. A little or a lot derivative depending on who you talk to. I’m a little bit on the fence on this one. Kinda leaning no.

Outkast - Massively successful, somewhat impactful IMHO. Sorta leaning yes.

Phish - King of the never-ending jam bands! Fine musicians, too niche. No.

The White Stripes - Massively successful and two-person set-up is kinda unique for that level of success. I’m a fan, but I struggle justifying them as yet another garage-style blues band. Reluctantly, no.

Yep. But Phish is nominated. What the hell have they ever done?

Jethro Tull should have been in decades ago. Guess Who and King Crimson should also be in. What a frick’n joke.

Basically, about 40 years of being a “jam band,” and touring pretty much continually; after the death of Jerry Garcia, they kind of inherited the Dead’s crown as the pre-eminient jam band.

If you aren’t into that scene, then, no, they haven’t done much of which you’d be aware.

Had an ice cream flavor named after them :wink:? But yeah, IMO that’s honors enough for Phish.

I’d say she’s been hugely influential on subsequent female pop singers like Ariana Grande etc. Look at the list of singers citing her as an influence.

I don’t know for sure. Just personal fondness, I guess. When I started discovering rock music, I started back in the late 50s and early 60s, and he always stood out to me as one of the icons of very early rock music. I’ve just always thought of him as being one of the first acts you think of when you think about the nascent years of rock and roll. If you want to have fun, check out “Chequered!” by him, a later album (1971), with all his original songs. I wouldn’t call it great, but it’s really fun knowing the guy who did “The Twist” did this one, especially including a song titled “Stoned in the Bathroom.”

That’s fair and almost certainly old man/genre bias for you. I just don’t listen to more modern female pop vocals much at all. Without getting into the tired (and really defunct at this point) argument about whether the R&R HoF should be the general “popular music” HoF, I’ll just disqualify myself on that one :grinning:.

[Moderating]
I merged in @aceplace57 's duplicate thread.

Lauper’s second album, “True Colors”, was also a big hit. The title track went to number one.

I would put Jethro Tull and ELP way over Joe Cocker, though he (or maybe Leon Russell) assembled one of the great touring bands. (And what about Leon Russell? He was the first one inducted for the Award for Musical Excellence, the replacement for Sidemen. They should do the same for Nicky Hopkins, another piano player, who contributed the riffs that permeate 60s music, was a key member of several groups, and wrote some great instrumentals for Quicksilver.)

Anyway, a big yes to B-52s. I wasn’t the audience for their early music, but their albums keep getting better and better until their hit greatness.

Jethro Tull sucked, and weren’t especially popular or influential. They have no place in this discussion, nor do King Crimson.

Well, they were arguably a two hit wonder (Whip It and Satisfaction), but those were both completely awesome songs. And they represent an important movement in rock history. But yeah, there’s no argument IMO that can made for them that can’t be made in stronger form for the B-52s.

My personal “The Hall is a sham of a mockery of a travesty because this band isn’t in” pick is Motorhead.

Thank you.

I’m not familar with several of the nominated bands.

Oasis could have been very significant if they hadn’t broken up. Did they do enough for the HOF? Maybe.

The first part is your opinion, but the second part is just wrong. When your prog rock band is being cited by Eddie Vedder and Nick Cave, you’re for damn sure influential. When you have 11 gold and 5 platinum albums, it’s hard to argue you’ve never been popular.

Not here. Just Whip It, and mostly from its use in media.

Sure, maybe, but there are plenty of other representative New Wave bands from around the same time. Talking Heads is already in, for instance.

They were/are hugely popular and influential, maybe moreso in the UK than in the US, and they were one of the biggest bands of the '90s.

The fact that most people now only know Devo for “Whip It” confirms their thesis that humankind is indeed de-evolving.