Don’t Know Where I’m Goin’…

A “long, strange trip” down a “long and winding road” may be great to sing about. But if your music resembles that, don’t expect to be inducted into the Rock Hall. 

The Hall tends to favor music that is melodic, structured, and direct. There are very few inductees that indulge in meandering musical exploration— prog rock, jazz-rock, jam bands, and the like.

Guitar solos seem fine, as long as they are short. And a jam or two in the course of a concert is also acceptable.

But don’t commit those to record, or expect them to be played on the radio, or make them a regular part of your identity… and then expect to be inducted.

A long song or two in your catalog might be OK, but again, the song should be highly structured and melodically predictable. No noodling and doodling for them.

"TL;DR" is Internet-speak for “Too Long; Didn’t Read.” Except for the Hall, for whom it stands for “Too Long; Don’t Regard.”

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/jazz/jazz-musicians-look-to-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame-for-inspiration/

Did We Run Out of Early Influences Already?

As with the Non-Performers/Ertegun Award, the Hall seems to have lost steam in giving out the Early Influences Award.

It was given every year, from the inaugural year— 1986— to 2000.

Then, not for nine years, until 2009. It can be understood if, during that time, people just assumed that anyone worth receiving it already had.

But then, they started giving it again… every three years, for some reason: 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018…

In fairness, it is potentially possible to run out of people who one can say both lived before rock music was a “thing” and also contributed to its development. Reasonably speaking, they would have had to be active between 1920 (the early days of blues and jazz) and 1950, probably in the US… and have not just performed, but likely recorded and been broadcast somewhat widely.

Still, it’s hard to fathom that-- even with those narrow parameters-- only 33 people qualify.

Rock pulls from so many other genres, and in so many ways. Rock is not just about the music— it’s about stage presence, dance moves, costuming, vocal inflections, and that rock attitude and energy that electrify.

Certainly, we can look across a three-decade span in one of the most musically fertile places in world history and come up with someone every year to who contributed to rock music.

I have an idea. The Hall began inductions in 1986, and as of this post's first posting, it has inducted the class of 2020. That’s 34 years of inductions. And, as of 2020, there are 33 Early Influencers.

So let’s call that “close enough for jazz” and just say that the Hall has inducted, at least on average, one Early Influence per year.

How’s about, then, going forward, they induct one more Early Influence every year, to keep the average going… until they really run out.

https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/11/53debedacc4690/rock-roll-hall-of-fame-20-earl.html

Update: in 2022, they Inducted music preservationist Elizabeth Cotten, who like Pete Seeger kept the old songs alive by always singing them. 

In 2023, Link Wray, an early rocker, was inducted as an Earl Influence after multiple nominations.

“Later” Influences

It is one of the impressive things about the Rock Hall, that it recognizes that the music it honors did not come from nowhere. Its “Early Influences” category honors just that— the roots of rock.

Thus far, these influences have been shown to be blues, country, folk, gospel, jazz, doo-wop… everything from New Orleans stride to Western swing. One notable exception is classical; not a few inductees incorporated classical themes, modes, and even specific pieces into their music, sometimes their entire oeuvres (how’s that for classical?).

Wouldn’t it be something to see Bach or Beethoven inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

In any case, other genres didn’t stop influencing rock, once it got going. Artists emerged in the late 1960s and since who, while not rock, were borrowed from by rock. 

Since they weren't "early" influences, they can't go in that category. They were "later" influences...

Now, the Hall recognizes this, and inducts such artists as… Performers. But some of them are so far away from rock that— unlike rap or country— they don’t even fall under the overall banner of “popular music.” I mean, jazz, classical, movie scores, and modern and experimental music (like what Philip Glass does).

There are already enough categories, but I wonder if these artists don’t belong in the catch-all “Musical Excellence” category, instead of taking some of the precious few slots available each year for Inductees who play, y'know, rock 'n' roll.

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/pop-songs-sample-based-on-classical-music/

Update: The Hall seems to have really embraced this idea. In 2021, they Inducted two-- Gil Scott-Heron, who was an Early Influence on rap... and Kraftwerk, an Early Influence on electronic music. 

Then in 2022, they Inducted Harry Belafonte, an Early Influence in world music (well, its influence on rock, anyway-- world music had existed for a while). 

In 2023, the Hall inducted DJ Kool Herc, another rap pioneer, into this category, alongside Link Wray, an early rocker.