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.
Menu
189 Responses
If there is only one band or one artist chosen out of this group, it damn well better be SRV. Just induct he and Double Trouble and spend the entire evening doing some great blues and boogie woogies with past inductees and guests. And The Police is where it should end with Sting….he is not solo material worthy.
I’d watch that. SRV all the way!
One word – liberalism! That’s why the self proclaimed RRHOF hasnt, isn’t & never will be anything more than an elitist liberal country club. And if any liberals are offended by what I say, GREAT! Ted Nugent should get on the roof of that mofo and bring it to the ground playing Stranglehold!
It’s held as an honor by the few that keep getting there ass kissed by the hall…I.e. Springsteen. The worst nominee this year has to be Green Day. What exactly have they done that is so original and groundbreaking to say they inspired anyone to do other than SUCK? I understand Chic being nominated because they were on the ground floor of funk/disco but only because I think the RRHOF has become a long time ago the Music HOF, not just ROCK AND ROLL…but no Deep Purple, or Vanilla Fudge and Green Day is voted in?? Please
“Cheap Trick isn’t in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame? I thought they were in….they should be…”
That’s what a friend said to me at work earlier this year, and she doesn’t listen to the genre. Cheap Trick is my fav band, so I admit I’m biased, but this band continues to tour. This band was one of the first, if not THE first, band to perform an entire album live. This band influenced Poison, influenced Anthrax, influenced Green Day, influenced Pearl Jam, influenced Nirvana, influenced Motley Crue, influenced The Foo Fighters, including countless others, in different genres.
And yet, Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos, are not in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame.
If I win the lottery, I’m buying property in downtown Nashville (Music City USA) and making the Hard Rock/Metal Hall of Fame.
Yeah, BCC0224, Cheap Trick wasn’t the first to play an entire album live. That’s probably The Who with TOMMY in 1969.
Appreciate your post, Stevedrums. But wanted to mention that it is called The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… and Museum. Seems to me there’s a distinct difference; the curators of the museum sound like they’re doing a bang-up job of presenting artifacts in an appreciative way and I doubt anyone has a bone to pick with the museum. I mean, what could you harp about other than how things that are there are displayed? It’s the first part of that organization that people like Ed and many others (myself included) are frustrated with. The Hall is so tangential with their nominations, that it’s so confusing to the layperson – the fan – that many have become uncaring. And that’s the proof; the Hall shows no concern for the consumers of the very product they claim to be enshrining in posterity. As Ed says, “It is a private club of the music industry snobs and never was the voice of the fans.” Yet, they’ve managed to acquire the ONLY name that can accurately honor the genre of music we’re all nuts about.