Yeah, they’re all in the same league. Btw., are Pearl Jam already in?
ETA: just googled it myself, yeah, inducted in 2017. I think they are a tad bigger than those three bands and still going strong.
Yeah. They got in a few years back. Caught some flak from fans for not including Dave Abbruzese.
Incidentally, I visited the RRHOF for the first time last fall.
First of all, most days during the year (it varies by season) they close at 5. Boy, nothing says “rock and roll” like closing early.
Secondly, it’s honestly pretty cool. It’s very vertical; it has four or five floors, and you start in the basement if you want to go chronologically. There is a lot to see, but the neatest part is that upstairs they’ve set up jamming areas with instruments you can freely use, some set up in rooms made to look like an old basement.
The part that’s got the plaques of inductees is tiny, almost an afterthought.
It’s VERY Boomer-oriented.
Another year goes by and no Johnny Winter.
It is the Hall of Shame once again…
Joy Division/New Order deserves to be in. The second wave of punk, two essential albums, tragic death of their lead singer and lyricist… and influential. If you count bands influenced by JD - from U2 to Interpol - it’s a no brainer. Their whole aesthetic - Anton Corbjn’s photographs, Peter Saville’s album design, and of course Martin Hannett’s icy, metallic production - should get them in.
But then you add New Order. I have played JD and NO records and people can’t detect that the bands are 75% the same. The first NO album, Movement, does sound a bit JD-ish because of Hannett’s production, and the fact they were trying to figure out what they were after Ian Curtis’ death. But from Power, Corruption, and Lies, they became the embodiment of synth pop-rock. “Blue Monday” is a classic with disco/electronica roots, and their constant immersion in technology had them moving in new directions. A track like “Confusion” is very much in the vein of 1980s hip hop, with Arthur Baker’s production… and then by 1989, they blew it all up again to popularize the Balaeric beat and house music.
Let’s not forget the influence of their nightclub Haçienda on music and art in Manchester and Britain more broadly. Being the standard bearers of the indie label scene with the iconic Factory Records doesn’t hurt either. Without NO you don’t have the Happy Mondays and the “Madchester” scene.
There’s also an awful rift between the co-founders of the band, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook. Hook is no longer in the band, but has been vocal (and stroppy) about the break up, and RRHOF would force the band to at least share the stage. Hook’s chorused bass is the definitive sound of JD and NO and it would be great, and potentially provide closure, even if that rift in the band can’t ever be fully healed.
Last thing - it would shine a light on Manchester, which has birthed so many great and influential bands (The Fall, The Smiths, Oasis, Stone Roses, Chemical Brothers, etc). The Smiths should be the next Manc band nominated!
“You don’t deserve rock and roll.”
–Mark E. Smith
And the winners are:
- Kate Bush
- Sheryl Crow
- Missy Elliott
- George Michael
- Willie Nelson
- Rage Against the Machine
- The Spinners
Zero surprises, and all of them deserving.
The only one left off the list that I’d argue for is A Tribe Called Quest, but that’s based on influence, not popularity.
Man, I feel sooo old now that RATM have been accepted to the fucking RRHOF. I remember when I saw them at Pink Pop 1993, Netherlands, and being blown away by the most NON-corporate rock band I’ve ever seen, for the first time, and now this act of mainstreaming. Sigh. If I were them, I would decline, expressed with some juicy anti-establishment expletives 
.
Bah. It appears the ‘fan vote’ is useless. The final list bears no resemblance to the fan vote. People put in a lot of work, setting up web sites and facebook groups to organize fan voting.
In the fan vote, George Michael was first, Cyndi Lauper second, Warren Zevon finished third, then Iron Maiden and Soundgarden, who were hundreds of thousands of votes behind the top three.
Lauper and Zevon didn’t even make the cut, yet those two and George Michael walked away with the fan votes. Of the top 5 picked by fans, only Michael made it in. Out of 14 candidates, Missy Elliot finished 13th, Rage Against the Machine was 11th, the Spinners 10th.
Conclusion: The fan vote is a marketing gimmick, and you shouldn’t waste your time. For that matter, the entire RR HoF is a marketing gimmick.
Pretty much, though this is a known thing, and the Hall does describe what the fan vote does (though they don’t necessarily make it crystal clear).
The top vote-getters in the fan vote are used to compile and submit one ballot for the voting, amongst hundreds of ballots in total; the other voters are industry experts (journalists, music producers, industry veterans, and academics).
Well…yeah.