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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Music is subjective, not objective. There is no such thing as best song, best guitarist, etc. There should not be a Hall of Fame for music. There should be a Rock n’ Roll museum. That way people could have a place to go see Elvis’ suits and EVH’s guitars or whatever. But saying one band is better than another and more worthy for a Hall of Fame is stupid.
Eddie, you’re right. The RRHOF is a joke and it’s not worth the aggravation it causes all of us. Deep Purple was snubbed again? I thought for sure this was their time. We all know what’s right and the bands we all love know that we, the fans, love them. So who needs a bunch of elitist old jerks who are keeping the greatest bands out of their little club picking and choosing yet ignoring who really deserves to be recognized. It’s heartbreaking in a way but there’s not much else we can do.
I think it’s a joke that bands like Cheap Trick,Foreigner, Journey .and even a solo artist like Pat Benatar are not in the Hall Of Fame.Other bands obviously that also belong in there as well are:Bon Jovi,Def Leppard,Scorpions,Deep Purple,Iron Maiden,J.Geils Band,Chicago,Toto,Styx,Joan Jett,Reo Speedwagon,Judas Priest,Bad Company,The Cars,The Doobie Brothers,INXS,Thin Lizzy,Warren Zevon,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Steve Miller Band,Todd Rundgren,The Runaways,and even The Monkees
We’ve been saying till we have turned blue and all shades of colors in the face. These guys like the record industry itself are clueless. Most of the music listening public here in the US is clueless, just take a look at the musical landscape and see what is popular. Bottom line is among the music buying public in the US, they simply don’t know these bands because they were never exposed to them, thank you again the record industry. You see, in order to make todays modern acts look good, they had to make people forget what real music with real musicians really was like. Back to the list, Eddie, I dont know where your head is sometimes when you do your lists. I know they are not complete, and we ALL have Deep Purple on there and we know some will be omitted on short list, so how does Motley Crue get on your short list? So Scorpions and UFO are left off but Motley Crue is on because ?
Glad to see Joan Jett, Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, and Stevie Ray Vaughn among others being nominated, but at this point with KISS, Rush, and Alice Cooper all in there I could date less about the whole thing as justice as done early this year.