In the Arena… Not in the Hall

OK, fine— so New Wave acts are going to have to wait for Rock Hall induction until Gen X takes over nominations.

But New Wave was hardly the only thing on the radio in the 1980s. There was also plenty of rock. Some of these bands were so popular, it took something bigger than a concert hall to hold their fans (and their huge sound).

It took a sports stadium. And for some reason, the Hall looks favorably on 1970s acts that adapted to fill stadiums (stadia?)… but not acts that were formulated for those venues on purpose.

Yes, there are several acts in the Hall that became arena rock acts, but only a handful that were born into, and crested in, the heyday of that subgenre.

Look at any online list of the best, most popular, most successful arena-rock acts, and contrast those lists with the roster of Inductees. Only half of the entries on any such list is in, if that.

But why? Aside from the decade in which they debuted, there is not much that separates arena rock bands who are in with those who are not. They were loud and fast, popular and successful, talented and even influential… what else would they need to be?

The few New Wave bands who are in tend to be the ones that favor guitars over synths. So what about rock bands with little or zero reliance on synths?

Of all of the acts that peaked in the 1980s, you’d think the one that did get in would be the one with “rock” in their subgenre’s name.

But the overarching decade-based bias is just too much for the nominators. For them, rock died in 1979. So, ironically, non-rock acts from after that date are OK… but not rock ones. This "newer" version of rock is somehow not good, or pure, enough.

It’s like a surgeon with two kids. The one who didn’t apply to med school and became a teacher is accepted. But the one who finished med school and is “only” a general practitioner? That one is the disappointment...?

Nice try, kid… but no cigar.

This article does not list arena rock acts that are in, but it does imply that they are finally getting in at all... in 2017.
https://www.centerline.news/single-post/2017/05/01/Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Fame-embraces-the-arena-rock-era

Update: If you count Pat Benatar as an arena-rock act, then one got Induction in 2022.

The Rap "Question"

One of the most contentious controversies in the Rock Hall’s history came when rap and hip-hop came under consideration. The question was straightforward: “Does rap belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”?

Well, the question has been answered, and in the positive. As of July 19, 2020: Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five (2007), Run-DMC (2009), the Beastie Boys (2012), Public Enemy (2013), NWA (2016), Tupac (2017), and The Notorious B.I.G. (2020) are inductees. [Note: Jay-Z was inducted in 2021, and LL Cool J was given an Honorable Mention... um, Award for Musical Excellence that year. Missy Elliott got in in 2023, the first woman in rap to make it.]

(Should rap/hip-hop have its own hall of fame? Sure, the more the merrier. But...many Rock Hall inductees are also in the Blues, Vocal, R&B, Jazz, and even Country halls already, as well as the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. So, yeah… but so what? Even if there is a Rap Hall, some of its inductees will also be in the Rock Hall.)

Flash and the Five— the first rap act inducted into the Rock Hall— entered in 2007. The genre has its origins as early as the mid-1970s, and the song “Rapper’s Delight” dropped in 1979. Considering the Hall’s built-in 25-year waiting period before any act becomes eligible for induction, an act debuting in 1980 would have to wait until 2005 to get in anyway.

Still, it is now 2020, a decade and a half after that threshold. And there are still only 7 rap acts are in the Hall.

So the “Rap Question” now is not, “Does rap belong in?” or “Which rappers belong in?” or even “Shouldn’t there be more in by now?”

The real question is: “What can be done to get more rappers in?”

Let’s look at the data. So far, even in the years in which a rap act has gotten in as Performers, they have been the only ones. In other words, it has never been the case that two rap acts got inducted as Performers in the same year. 

Focusing on the years in which rap acts have gotten in, we see a pattern: The first one entered in 2007, then a two-year gap to 2009, then a three-year gap to 2012… but then, one in the following year, 2013. Another three-year gap followed, with the next coming in 2016, but the next one was the next year, 2017. Followed by, sigh, another three-year gap to 2020.

So the Hall is willing to induct rappers two years in a row (it’s happened twice), but not three years in a row. In fact, if they do induct a rap act, their attitude seems to be, “Well, now we can take a break from that for a few years.”

Rap is in the Rock Hall of Fame. That question has been answered.

Which means the new “Rap Question” is: “How do we get the Hall to increase the frequency of rap-artist inductions… maybe even to one every year?”

There are people tracking this situation:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8533130/hip-hop-rock-roll-hall-of-fame

Update: In 2021, Jay Z and LL Cool J got in. But it was still not really the first time two rap acts had gotten in, in one year, because LL was only given a Musical Excellence Award, not full Induction. This award was meant for accompanists, and even if you can argue that some others (who I feel deserve full induction) technically are that... LL never accompanied anyone.

And then in 2022, Eminem got it, and even though he was the only rap act at all that year, it was still a milestone-- it was the first time two rap acts had been inducted in two consecutive years. 

And Gil Scott-Heron, who is not early as rock goes, is nevertheless in as of 2021 as an Early Influence... on a later genre, namely: rap. 

2023 saw Missy Elliot's induction, which is pretty major considering she is the first woman rapper to get in. Strange that she is ahead of Queen Latifah or Salt-N-Pepa, but it's still historic. 
DJ Kool Herc is also now in... as an Early Influence. As I had suggested on my post about that category, they are now including those who were early influences on rock-adjacent genres that emerged after rock had, such as rap and electronica. And this is the first time TWO rappers have been inducted in one year, even if one is not in as a Performer. Two rap Performers in one year? May we live to see it.

 

 

The 1950s and the 1980s

The unending passage of time is going to mean two things for those hoping to get into the Rock Hall. One is that some will die before they get in, which is a damn shame. Many older Inductees have remarked that they were glad to be receiving their laurels before they were pushing up daisies. But for some, even those who beat the “live fast, die young” rock paradigm, inductions came posthumously.

Better late than never, sure. But earlier is even better still.

The other thing that will happen is that even if they die, so too will anyone who remembers them. Members of the generation who grew up in the earliest days of rock— who actually used the terms “sock hop” and “soda jerk” and “getting pinned” when they were new coinages— are fast becoming memories themselves.

A rock star who was just 20 in 1950, would be 90 in 2020. If you were their 15-year-old fan, you’d be 85 yourself.

What it comes down to is this: any act from the 1950s and early 1960s (alive or not) has a handful of years left to be inducted while alive… and not that many more years after that to even be inducted posthumously-- before no one who was around when they were is around now to induct them.

I grew up watching Happy Days, American Graffiti, and Grease. But some grew up living the experiences I only saw onscreen. They have to hurry up and induct as many of these early greats as possible while someone still knows who they were, or even that they were.

Another group of artists who are very under-represented in the Hall are 1980s acts-- especially those synth-based, New Wave acts who “sound like the ’80s”-- but also arena rock.

We'll discuss the Hall’s dislike for synth-based acts in another post (this bias also affects prog rock). But as far as that decade of music getting in, the aforementioned steady march of time will remedy that.

To define our terms, acts whose debut album came as late as 1989 have been eligible since 2014, while those who debuted at the outset of the decade, in 1980, have been eligible since 2005 (15 years now!). 

Not to be cold, but eventually, the Boomers will have to leave the Hall in the hands of Generation X. When a critical mass of Xers gets into the Hall, expect a tidal wave of ’80s acts to be ushered in, synths and all.

Already, some of the standard-bearers of ’80s music are in their 60s. And so part of me wants them to be inducted now.

But another part of me knows they will be, soon enough. Meanwhile, for the remaining deserving '50s acts, “soon enough” might not be, well, soon enough. For them, the Hall has got to get on the stick.

That's a reference to stick-shift cars, and if you're too young to know what those are... well, that's kinda my point.

I can't seem to find a list of 1950s acts that anyone thinks as been unfairly omitted... but a fan listed these in 2016-- and some have in fact been inducted since: his picks for 1980s acts that have been snubbed:

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/dd23beatlesfan1/30_artists_of_the_1980s_that_deserve_to_be_in_the_rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame/

Update: I wrote this in 2020. In 2021, some '80s acts got in: LL Cool J and The Go-Gos, and even the 1990s Foo Fighters, and Jay-Z. 2022 saw even more '80s acts inducted: Pat Benatar. Duran Duran, and the Eurythmics, as well as the 1990's Eminem.

2023 saw the Induction of Link Wray as an Early Influence. He had been nominated several times. 
'80s acts that are in now are Kate Bush (also after several tries), and George Michael (of WHAM!). Chaka Khan finally got in also, sort of, with a Musical Excellence Induction.