# Let's start over with the rock n' roll Hall of Fame **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279 "2016-11-28T15:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/41 "2016-11-29T19:15:08Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > it should of been in either Memphis or Detroit … My first thought was Detroit. But, we actually want people to _go there_. And _survive._ Austin, Texas would be a good choice. They already have a Stevie Ray statue. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/42 "2016-11-29T19:51:21Z")
I think Cleveland’s claim is that the term “rock and roll” was coined here. Though I’ll agree that the name of the genre isn’t as important as the genre itself. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/43 "2016-11-29T22:40:58Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > it should of been in either Memphis or Detroit … Detroit? What claim does Detroit have to being a founding spot of rock ‘n’ roll? Memphis has Sam Phillips, of course. But Chicago has Chess Records, which trumps Sam for total importance. And New York has the Brill Building writers (even though most of them were in other buildings in real life) and they swamp Chicago for sheer numbers. Freed and Cleveland’s claims are pretty solid. He made the genre by naming it and finding records that fit into the name and playing them encouraging producers to create more stuff he would play, in a virtuous circle. He started the concerts and the hysteria of teens. Memphis and Chicago and New York each made a single type of music. Rock needed to consolidate each of those and many more to emerge as the all-encompassing giant it is today. That’s a big reason I find these purist arguments ridiculous and historically ignorant. Rock always was a mongrel. It embraced everything and pureed the originals into a new form of music. The HoF has to recognize that. If you want to celebrate one particular strain start your own HoF. Just don’t call it rock ‘n’ roll because it won’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/44 "2016-11-30T23:42:24Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Define “most part”. They do a few “covers”. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/45 "2016-12-01T01:42:41Z")
> [@Smitty](#): > > Well, it is called the Hall of FAME. And, as said, thus they should give the award to the producers and record labels who scouted and made the bands. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/46 "2016-12-01T02:51:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Detroit? What claim does Detroit have to being a founding spot of rock ‘n’ roll? I don’t know that Detroit has a greater claim than the other cities, but a whole bunch of notable acts came out of The Motor City. To name a few: ``` Alice Cooper Anita Baker Aretha Franklin Bob Seger Brownsville Station Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen Del Shannon Edwin Starr Eminem The Four Tops Funkadelic Gladys Knight & The Pips Glenn Frey Grand Funk Railroad Iggy Pop Jack White Jackie Wilson John Lee Hooker Junior Walker & The All Stars Kid Rock The Knack Madonna Marshall Crenshaw Martha Reeves & The Vandellas The Marvelettes Marvin Gaye Mary Wells MC5 The Miracles Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels Question Mark & the Mysterians Rare Earth Ray Parker Jr. The Romantics Smokey Robinson The Spinners Stevie Wonder The Stooges The Supremes Suzi Quatro The Temptations Ted Nugent Tommy James & The Shondells Wilson Pickett ``` Detroit was home to the legendary Grande Ballroom and CREEM magazine. The city also has a kick-ass Kiss anthem going for it. “Cleveland Rocks” is a fine song, but it ain’t got nothing on “Detroit Rock City” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/47 "2016-12-01T03:31:12Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I don’t know that Detroit has a greater claim than the other cities, but a whole bunch of notable acts came out of The Motor City. To name a few: Yeah, of course it has a great lineup. But the claim was a “founding” city. Detroit’s ascendance came in the 1960s. That’s a decade too late. Might as well throw in Los Angeles or San Francisco if you want to go there. (Hint: You don’t.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/48 "2016-12-01T03:39:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Yeah, of course it has a great lineup. But the claim was a “founding” city. Detroit’s ascendance came in the 1960s. That’s a decade too late. Might as well throw in Los Angeles or San Francisco if you want to go there. (Hint: You don’t.) So which city _was_ built on rock ‘n’ roll? _flees_ ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/49 "2016-12-01T10:16:27Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Every year I drive my daughter up to Cleveland to visit the R&R HoF. We make a mini-vacation out of it. The night before, we eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. And then the next day we visit it. > > We both enjoy it, but I am also annoyed on the selection criteria on who gets inducted. > > Take **Joan Jett** , for example - a _ **very** _ mediocre guitarist/musician who has never written a song - was inducted in 2015. But **Jethro Tull**? Nope. :dubious: By any objective standard, the talent possessed by Tull is many orders of magnitude greater than the talent possessed by Jett. > > And don’t even get me started on **Sonic Youth** , which (IMO) should be inducted yesterday. > > Now some people thinking I’m joking about this, but I’m completely serious: **The Residents** are more than worthy of being inducted. I came in here to say something similar. No Jethro Tull, no Blind Faith, no Alan Parsons, no Ten Years After, no Kansas. At least Frank Zappa is in there, and Traffic. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/50 "2016-12-01T16:13:49Z")
> [@eulalia](#): > > I came in here to say something similar. No Jethro Tull, no Blind Faith, no Alan Parsons, no Ten Years After, no Kansas. At least Frank Zappa is in there, and Traffic. (oooo! I only know one song by Ten Years After, the one in the Woodstock movie, and to this very day it still raises the hairs on the back of my neck. For that one song, they deserve ‘in’.) ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279/51 "2016-12-01T16:39:36Z")
I agree with your sentiment as well but you can’t base requirements on sales, charts, Top Ten, #1s, Billboard, etc… A lot of the most popular, influential, genre-bending artists who ARE deserving have never had that kind of success. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-over-with-the-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame/773279.md?page=2)