It's been a while since I blogged about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but that doesn't mean I am any less fascinated by it. We are still a couple months away from the nominations, but I thought I'd be proactive and rant about it now.
What makes the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so fascinating--what makes all Hall of Fame fascinating--is not who's in but who's not in and why.
If you judge strictly buy the name, any musical act that has sold a certain number of albums and has a certain number of fans in their fan club should be in the Rock Hall. But it isn't truly about "fame". The Rock Hall organizers say acts need to be "influential" and "innovative" to be inducted the Hall. They also ignore these qualifications almost immediately. Because you don't get much more influential or innovative than Rush and KISS, Peter Gabriel or The Replacements, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Beastie Boys, yet none of them are in the hall. Few have even made the nomination short list.
The Rock Hall has been in remedial housecleaning mode the last few years. The five inductees last year--Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love, Dr. John and Tom Waits--have had an average wait on the eligibility list of 16.8 years. That's over a decade and a half wait to get in. Waits had it fairly easy. He only had to wait 11 years. Diamond and Love were on the waiting list for 21 years!
This is another irksome quality about the Hall of Fame--the hierarchy of the hall induction. If you are a special artist, maybe, maybe, you'll get in on your first year of eligibility. If not, you'll have to wait until they deem you worthy of entry. The Baseball Hall of Fame does the same thing. You hear baseball writers say "He's not good enough to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Maybe next year." I figure if he worthy of being in the Hall of Fame at all, he worthy of being in the Hall on the first try. But that's just me.
It seems silly to call out any Hall of Fame as being too elitist--it is a Hall of Fame after all. But the Rock Hall is especially elitist. The nomination board is composed mostly of rock journalists, pretentious group that they are, and music executives who let their biases speak for themselves. I've seen a quote from one board member, it might have been Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis, where he said he'd rather die than vote for KISS. That's nice.
It doesn't help that while they nominate eleven acts, they only elect five. This does create a false air of prestige for induction to the Hall, but pretty much guarantees that every year some worthy acts are left out.
This is the list of possible eligibles for 2011-2012 from Future Rock Legends.com:
The size of the font indicate who visitors to the site think have the best chance of being inducted into the Hall. Arguably, Guns 'N Roses does have the best chance to get a nomination, with perhaps Soundgarden as a longshot. Eric B. and Rakim are deserving, the Hall is a couple years behind on inducting rap stars into the Hall. They'll have to get in line behind Beastie Boys and LL Cool J.
So, this year should be another housekeeping year. Will those two make it in? Will Rush finally get nominated? We'll find out in the fall.
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