What the hell is it going to take, for God’s sake?
This year’s nominees are:
Jeff Beck
Chic
Wanda Jackson
Little Anthony and the Imperials
Metallica
Run DMC
War
Bobby Womack
The Stooges
A few of those are worthy to my mind, certainly. But I seem to recall the words ‘Rock and Roll’ in the name of the outfit and that makes me wonder what Chic and Run DMC are doing there (good groups that they are).
Womack is good, sure. But I’ll bet not one person in 100 could tell me anything he ever recorded. And I can see Wanda Jackson in a ‘pioneers’ sort of thing but she’s another most have never heard about.
So we have:
1 Rock Guitar Player (Beck)
1 Heavy Metal Band (Metallica)
1 Rockabilly Pioneer (Jackson)
2 R&B Performers (Little Anthony and Womack)
1 LA Funk Band (War)
1 Hip Hop Group (Run DMC)
1 Proto-Punk Band (Stooges)
Argh. Free the Rush three! Of that I see two nominees I think even belong there and one of them, The Stooges, are on their fifth time with no win!
Don’t feel too bad. Jann Wenner has veto power over nominations - if he doesn’t like the band or performer, they are not getting in his little clubhouse. I don’t expect Kate Bush to be inducted, in spite of how influential she has been. Hell, Todd Rundgren’s not in there, when he should be there as a producer (“Bat Out Of Hell”) as well as a performer.
It’s like Groucho said “I’d never join a club that would have me as a member.”
The only criterion, I think, is that your first album came out 25 years ago. There are a lot of silly things about the Rock Hall, including the fact that plenty of artists who are not in rock by any definition have gotten in, and not just as influences. They also require that five bands be inducted every year, meaning the thing is already overcrowded after 20 years of existence.
I’ve long since stopped paying attention to this thing. Maybe it’s a good museum, but there is zero logic behind a Rock Hall of Fame that inducts Madonna and doesn’t even nominate Stevie Ray Vaughan in his first year of eligibility. And I say that as somebody who regards SRV as a pretty one-dimensions Hendrix imitator.
The only rule is that the artist has to have been performing for 25 years. So, any band that first hit the scene in 1983 is eligible this year.
Look, the sad truth is that Jann Wenner and his voters have no use for “art-rock” in any of its forms. The Moody Blues, Yes, King Crimson and ELP aren’t in the Hall either.
So, what are you gonna do? Music isn’t like baseball, where you can use stats to judge who’s worthy. This comes down to the opinions of a small group of people. The kind of people who love Lou Reed and hate Rush, who dig Patti Smith and loathe Genesis.
They take an expansive view of rock and roll. I’ve always been dubious about the inclusion of hip-hop, but I think the logic is that it’s hard to exclude hip-hop and include R-n-B, and you can’t really exclude R-n-B.
The whole thing is a joke until KISS gets inducted, anyway. Say what you will about them, but they were the biggest rock band in the world for a long time and they set the tone for the rock and roll of the next decade and a half. They might have brought a lot of silliness and theatrics, but they made those things a part of rock and roll.
I’m not even a huge Rush fan, but I’d vote for them over just about anybody on this list.
