The annual nominees for the R&R Hall Of Fame have been released today. And with that usually it’s a day I go crazy and rant and rave about who is and isn’t on the ballot as I have since the thing opened. But I have thought about it and decided I’m done doing that. Why? Not because it has been fixed at all, quite the opposite actually. It is SO damaged and SO clueless and SO disrespectful of real rock bands that it has actually become irrelevant and not worth my time or aggravation. After years of screaming about Rush, Kiss and Alice Cooper, all who finally did go in, I noticed something else, it was forgotten about 24 hours later. I mean it had zero impact on any artists careers. It did nothing to spike sales of albums or tickets. Many don’t even see it because it is expensive to go to and the TV broadcast is now on a premium pay channel. Having attended the induction last year as a guest of Ace & Peter’s it was a really nice moment of course, and of course there are tons of worthy bands in the Hall. But looking at the nominees this year as far as who is on it and who is not even in the conversation after being snubbed for over a decade I realized something. Why get upset? This is NEVER going to change! It is a private club of the music industry snobs and never was the voice of the fans. They have run this thing into total irrelevance in my opinion because they are so hung up on what they think is cool vs what millions of music fans buy and care about. It just doesn’t matter at all in the big picture because the history of who has and hasn’t gone in (and how long some waited to finally get in) just taints it. If you are a real rock music fan and take a step back you just have to laugh at all the obvious bias going on. I get the sense the same people that made fun of me for liking Kiss in high school have all moved to the Hall nomination group. It’s that type of elitist music snob vibe. It always has been but I thought when Rush, Kiss, Alice, etc finally got in the tide would turn and progress would be made. But nothing has changed. Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, Dio, Motorhead, Motley, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Journey, Styx, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and COUNTLESS other huge selling and influential acts are still snubbed in the rush to get Green Day, or Sting solo in. I have decided by ranting about it I am giving this thing way too much credit and validity. I kind of thought that all along but actually thought some progress was finally being made. But it is as disrespectful as ever for real rock music and to the millions of fans these bands have. So it doesn’t move the needle, half the artists don’t want to go, most fans can’t go or even see the broadcast, and fans have very little to do with it and THEY make the bands careers! It’s irrelevant to me now and a total time waster. Yes I get it still means something to some artists to go in, and I would never belittle that moment for anyone. But it really has become irrelevant in so many ways to REAL fans of REAL rock bands that sold MILLIONS of albums and INFLUENCED generations that it isn’t worth my time and effort. And I know many will say “somebody needs to start their own Hall”. Heard that a million times, tried and still try to find an interested partner with the resources. Maybe one day. But until then I, or any other real rock fan, shouldn’t acknowledge this joke of a private club. I did for so long because I thought it would help change the tide, but I see that is just not going to ever happen and it’s time to move on. Especially when you consider in the big picture the way it’s done it means very little in the end.
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189 Responses
If it doesn’t matter……why the big rant year after year? Every stinkin’ year the same thing! My only (minor) complaint about the new nominees is that Deep Purple isn’t on the list—wow— now thats a snub. Trunk’s list is a bunch of his childhood favorites and the rock hall is attempting to be a serious museum. Styx does not belong in the same category as Metallica, the Beatles, or the Who. Many hard rock acts are in the hall already and many will get in the future. Green Day is a deserving act—even by Trunks standards of being influential and selling records. The Hall can’t be the “Rock and Roll Hall for Bands Liked by Teenage Boys from 1975 to 1985”. That is all Trunk pushes…….the bands he liked while he was sitting in his room thinking about the girl in his second period class. It is a place for everything from Bill Haley to the Black Keys and includes all different types of rock……Trunk would leave out Fleetwood Mac, the Ramones, or the Talking Heads………sometimes I think the guy would leave out the Beatles and the Stones! The guy is a reverse snob….with a chip on his shoulder.
Really? Perhaps just ignore the sentence OF COURSE THERE ARE TONS OF BANDS IN THAT SHOULD BE IN. Unreal
nominees this year are SRV & Double Trouble(long overdueJ) and NIN (someday). Where ‘s Priest, Maiden,Foreigner,Motorhead,Purple,Journey,Scorpions,ELO,Crue,Free/Bad Company etc etc. Green Day are overrated, mediocre at best
This has got to be one of the most pathetic inductee lists to date. Joan Jett? Seriously? The best thing she ever did was prance around in a bikini in that Gary Glitter cover video. War? Come on. Chic? NWA???? Good gosh this is sad. How is Foreigner not in, and Lou Reed gets a nod? In fact, the majority of this list is one-hit wonders! Outside of SRV, the list is a complete joke.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????
There are so many problems with the RRHOF:
1. What exactly is rock & roll? What is not? If Bill Withers, Chic and The Spinners deserve to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, then shouldn’t The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple be in the R&B Hall of Fame? I suspect that those in charge of that Hall would object! The RRHOF therefore enforces certain double standards of the music industry.
2. What should be the criteria for induction?
3. Who should decide? Many people would say that the fans alone should decide, but if that were the case, it would just be a popularity poll and many obscure but influential artists would be excluded and remain forgotten. I think that many of the artists who are in the Hall would want to be joined there by such artists who influenced them. This brings me to the next point…
4. As many have said, the Hall institutionalizes something (rock music, loosely defined) that was probably never meant to be institutionalized. On the other hand, it provides some cultural recognition to many great artists who might otherwise be forgotten. That would be a shame. However, as many have said, the inexcusable elitism of the RRHOF undermines its legitimacy.