2026 Inductees and Snubs-- an update

The 2026 Inductees to the Rock Hall were just announced, so let's take a look at how well the Hall did at inducting those of the type they have hitherto snubbed.

Those nominated-but-not-inducted will be listed where there SHOULD have gone, but in [brackets]:

1950s: I guess Ed Sullivan counts here; he received the Ertegun award.

1980s: Phil Collins, as a solo artist. Billy Idol. Iron Maiden. The New Order half of the Joy Division/New Order induction. Sade. Luther Vandross. Really, the whole slate of inductees, aside from Wu-Tang Clan. 

[INXS, New Edition.]

Rap: Wu-Tang Clan. Queen Latifah got in as a "Musical Influence," which is insulting-- she is a Performer. The category was first called "Early Influences," but was expanded to include the early influences of those genres that emerged after rock, like electronica and hip-hop. Except the early days of hip-hop were in the 1970s... and Latifah released her debut album in 1989, when hip-hop was well underway. 

[Lauren Hill]

Arena Rock: Billy Idol, maybe. It's really a band-based genre, but I guess if any solo artist fits, he does.

Blues: None. 

Country: None. But that's OK. They inducted Wille Nelson and Dolly Parton in consecutive years, so they can take a break from country.

Metal: Iron Maiden. And in the Performer category, too... not in "Musical Excellence," where they shoved Judas Priest. 

Folk: [Jeff Buckley was the closest]

Disco: None, although maybe some of Vandross' songs count.

Guitar Gods: None.

Lighter soul: None. Both Sade and Vandross are heavy soul. [Lauren Hill]

Novelty: None. Still.

Non-English: Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti... both over there on the side, in Influences. It may be kinda OK to place Cruz with Influences, since her first album dropped in 1958, which is arguably early in rock terms. But Latin music goes back way before that. And then Kuti dropped his first album in 1970. What was he an early practitioner of, exactly? I just really don't like that all the "Influences" this year are POC with two singing in not-English; it's not the best look. [Shakira]

Later Influences: See above note.

Experimental: None to the degree of, say, Bjork-- but Joy Division and Wu-Tang were innovative.

Long Shots: None. All of the Inductees are safe bets. 

Critical Darlings: Joy Division, maybe [Jeff Buckley] 

Singer/Not-Songwriter: None [Mariah Carey]

Brainy: Joy Division, Wu-Tang. [Buckley]

Piano: None. 

Synths: Joy Division/New Order

Backing Bands: None with the "and the" wording

Women: Sade. In side categories: Celia Cruz, Queen Latifah, Linda Creed. [Mariah Carey, Melissa Etheridge, Lauren Hill, P!nk. Yeah, I know!]

Weird: None, really

Accompanists: None, really. The Influences are all performers (and so should be inducted as, ahem, Performers) and the Excellence inductees are mostly producers (and so should be inducted as Non-Performers). They really do NOT understand their own categories, in a weird way that insults inductees as well as honoring them. 

It was not a hugely impressive field this year, aside from Phil Collins and Wu-Tang. Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti having been among the Performer inductees would have fixed that. At least the Hall is looking outside the English-speaking world altogether, so that's a start. 

Now that Phil Collins is in, maybe Sting has a better chance of solo induction. It should be noted that a couple of those nominated several times did finally get in now... so as the Cubs fans say: Wait 'til next year.

2025 Inductees & Snubs-- an update

The 2025 Inductees to the Rock Hall were just announced, so let's take a look at how well the Hall did at inducting those of the type they have hitherto snubbed.

Last year, I listed those nominated-but-not-inducted separately. This time, I will add them where there SHOULD have gone, but in [brackets]:

1950s: Chubby Checker (I think of him as a one-hit wonder, but OK)

1980s: Cyndi Lauper, Salt-N-Pepa [Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order]

Rap: Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa

Arena Rock: hmm... Bad Company are more classic rock than arena rock

Blues: None

Country: None (but it should not be a priority anyway)

Hard Rock/Heavy Metal: Bad Company, The White Stripes, Soundgarden [Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Oasis]

Folk: None. Warren Zevon was a singer-songwriter, but not a folk one. [Same with Ian Curtis.]

Disco: None. Well, maybe some of Thom Bell's R&B work counts. Is it pre-disco? 

Guitar Gods: None. The above-mentioned Hard Rock acts all have vocals.

Lighter Soul: OK, here Thom Bell definitely counts, even as a non-performer.

Novelty: None. I mean... if you stretch the definition, maybe The Twist and Push It are novelty songs.

Non-English Language: None. Still. [Mana, from Mexico, was nominated at least!]

"Influences": If I still had hair to spare, I'd tear some out. HOW is Warren Zevon just an "influence?" He was a Performer. Did he play stadiums? No, but neither did Randy Newman or Tom Waits, and they are in as Performers. 
And Salt-N-Pepa DID play stadiums! This is a really inappropriate way to treat pioneering women of color. This is beyond insulting-- it's shameful. I hope there is a backlash. Outkast released their first album in 1994. Salt-N-Pepa dropped their first album in 1986.

Jam Bands: None. [Phish]

New Wave: Cyndi Lauper [JD/NO; Billy Idol, maybe?]

Longshots/Fringe Acts: Warren Zevon [JD/NO]

Singer/Not-Songwriter: Joe Cocker; he did write and co-write some of his songs, but his signature songs were covers. [Mariah Carey]

"Smart": Zevon. Maybe White Stripes and OutKast count. [JD/NO]

Piano: Warren Zevon. He was not known for his playing the same way, say, Billy Joel or Steve Winwood are, but it was his primary instrument.

Synth: None. 

Backing Bands: None have the "and the" that I mean.

Behind the Scenes: One Ertegun winner, Lenny Waronker, and well-deserved.

Singles: Still no new ones inducted

Women: Three! Cyndi Lauper as a performer, Meg White as part of The White Stripes, and iconic session bassist/Wrecking Crew member Carol Kaye for Musical Excellence. So glad Kaye got in while she is still kickin'-- she's 90! 

OK, the also-rans... here's the deal:

Black Crowes: I never thought they really had a chance. Their big hit is an Otis Redding cover.

Mariah Carey: Oh, she'll get in. She was snubbed two years running, but she'll get in.

Billy Idol: I thought he had a shot.

Joy Division/New Order: They will get in when the Xers take over.

Phish: You know the book "He's Just Not Into You?" That's the Rock Hall's book about jam bands.

Oasis: They will get in. At some point, all the 1990s rock acts-- rock's last gasp-- will get in. I mean, both Soundgarden and White Stripes made it this year.

Mana: Hey, at least the Hall is thinking outside the English-language box...

When I first started this mad endeavor, I made a list of all the acts who-- taking into account all of these snubbed genres and sub-genres-- should get in. I am pleased to report that it grows ever shorter.

2024 Inductees & Snubs-- an update

I wrote the majority of the posts of this blog in 2020. Since then, I have updated the posts in response to the latest years' inductees in the categories outlined in each individual post. For example, I updated the post about women (not) being inducted by updating that post with the women who were inducted in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

By now, those posts are very long. The 2024 inductees were recently announced, but rather than update those posts and make them even longer (and longer again in 2025) I have decided to add new posts each year to track how the Rock Hall is doing in fixing the problems I had outlined in 2020, regarding those genres and eras that have gone under-recognized.

1950s: No Performers inducted. At this point, they may be done inducting anyone from this time as anything more than an Influence, but not a Performer. 

1980s: Foreigner, Kool & the Gang (both also had hits in the 1970s)

Rap: A Tribe Called Quest

Arena Rock: Foreigner. I guess Peter Frampton could count here.

Blues: No Performers inducted, but some were inducted as "Influences": Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Big Mama Thornton

Country: No Performers inducted, but I imagine they are taking a break after inducting Willie Nelson last year and Dolly Parton the year before that. 

Hard Rock/Metal: Ozzy Osbourne. He had previously been inducted as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006.

Folk: No Performers inducted. They may be done with inducting folk musicians, unless Suzanne Vega or Tracy Chapman make it in at some point. This is a crime, as many more deserve to be inducted than have been.

Disco: Cher, although she has performed many other styles as well. Kool & the Gang may count. 

Guitar Gods: No Performers inducted, in that I am only counting those whose albums are mostly instrumental (while Frampton sings).

Lighter Soul: Kool & the Gang

Novelty: No Performers inducted. Just as always.

Non-English language: Nope. Same.

"Later" Influences: Well, they went and did away with the "Early Influences" idea so they could induct acts like Gil Scott-Heron (who was an early influence, just of rap, not rock) and Kraftwerk (same, but of electronic music, not rock). And they renamed the category just "Musical Influences" (yawn).
But instead of honoring this idea they went and inducted John Mayall as an "Influence" instead of a "Performer" rendering this as ANOTHER DUMPING GROUND for acts that ALMOST-BUT-NOT QUITE made the cut as "Performers." 

Early Influences: Big Mama Thornton. Not that this category exists anymore. See above.

Jam Bands: No Performers inducted.

New Wave: No Performers inducted.

Longshots/Fringe acts: A Tribe Called Quest. I would have guessed many other rap acts would have gotten in before them. Also Alexis Korner. 

Singer (not songwriter): Dionne Warwick, in the Musical Excellence category. Which is wrong twice over-- one, she's a Performer, not Side(wo)man. Two, she doesn't belong in the Rock Hall at all. Her music has no place here. It's not about "is this rock?" but "does this rock?" and no, her music does not rock at all; it is so mainstream as to be the polar opposite of rock. I blame her presence here on the induction of Carly Simon; I like her music, but it barely rocks. Who's next, Barry Manilow? Lawrence Welk? 

"Smart": A Tribe Called Quest 

Piano: No Performers inducted

Synth: Foreigner? I hear mostly guitars from them, although they have a keyboardist.

Backing Bands: Both Kool and his Gang got in. 

Behind the Scenes: Yes! And a woman this time.

Singles: Still no new ones inducted.

Women: Here, they did well-- Cher, Mary J. Blige (Performers, snubbing Mariah Carey, Sade, and Sinead O'Connor [I thought her a shoo-in]). Plus more in all other categories. 

Speaking of other categories....

Musical Excellence-- another shitshow this year. NONE of those inducted in this category should be here:
-Jimmy Buffet sold out arenas for decades. He belongs in Performers, not here-- especially since the Dave Matthews Band, which does a lot of the same things, made it as a Performer.
-Detroit punks The MC5 got dumped here after being nominated SIX times as Performers (see also, Nile Rogers of Chic) which means they belong there.
-Dionne Warwick, I am sure a nice person, but as I said her music is not rebellious, edgy, grassroots, or in any way rock-like.
-Norman Whitfield belongs with his fellow songwriters, in the Non-Performer category, as he is best known as a Motown songwriter. 

Musical Influence-- The new name is too close to, and hereafter will forever be confused with by the public, Musical Excellence (see also: Album/Record of the Year at the Grammys). Especially since its inductees are ALSO no longer easily distinguishable as early influences to rock (or a rock-adjacent genre), but also people like John Mayall who SHOULD be inducted AS PERFORMERS. I mean, DUH. That said, Big Mama Thornton belongs here (and should have been inducted here ages ago) and so does Alexis Korner-- whom now will become familiar to at least a few more people. Which is also part of the Hall's purpose. 

Non-Performer-- There was one this year, which is great. And it was a woman, which is awesome. Her name is Suzanne de Passe. She is not the first woman inductee in this category; by my count, she is the fourth, the second inducted on her own (and not as part of a man-woman songwriting team). 

In sum, the Musical Excellence category remains the biggest problem that needs fixing. And the Musical Influence one is also becoming problematic just as they were starting to fix it.

As to those nominated who did not get in this time?
-Mariah Carey-- it would not have been her and Cher in the same year, and Cher has to go first.

-Eric B & Rakim-- longshots. Best bet would be a Musical Influence or maybe Excellence; not even LL COOL J got in as a Performer.

-Lenny Kravitz-- His day will come.

-Jane's Addiction-- Them, too. The '90s will do better once the Boomers leave and the Xers take over nominations.

-Sinead O'Connor-- Damn. Not even dying can get her in.

-Sade-- A one-hit wonder. Why was she even nominated?

-Oasis-- See Jane's Addiction above.

Final Note: The Chemical Brothers have been nominated 4 times. Look for them as future inductees-- in the Excellence or Influence "Miss Congeniality"-type categories. 

Missed Congeniality

Update: More injustices have been heaped into this "category." In 2021, the Award was used as intended to induct Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads, both impressive but, in fairness, mostly sidemen.
And then also... LL Cool J? Are you kidding me? Whom exactly, did he accompany? I have seen him perform, and he was able to command the whole stage himself just fine. He's one of the youngest recipients ever of the Kennedy Center Honors-- he's good enough for the Library of Congress but not the Rock Hall? He's been given performance awards by the The Grammys, Soul Train, MTV, BET, and the NAACP-- but he's not good enough for the Rock Hall?!
If RUN-DMC gets full Induction, so does LL. How the entire rap community did not protest this, I have no idea.

And then this year, 2022. Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis get it, and they also deserve the Ertegun as producers, but in a way this lesser award is sweeter because it recognizes their amazing musicianship.
But then the Musical Excellence award went to Judas Priest, one of the seminal metal acts. I know, and I have said, the Hall has a problem with metal, but this is not the way to deal with it. Just induct bands in the category where bands go, please! To their credit, Priest is acting thrilled they are in, not upset at being only half-in. But this is Otto the Bus Driver's favorite band-- doesn't that count for anything?
Plenty of deserving accompanists are going-- staying-- unrecognized and unappreciated because of these shenanigans. Deserving acts are getting insulted and deserving sidemen and -women are being ignored altogether. 

FIX THIS. Or at least STOP DOING IT. It's EMBARRASSING. 

In 2023, they Inducted Chaka Khan for Musical Excellence. Again, she's a Performer, and one that has been nominated multiple times. Is this the Hall's plan, going forward, for dealing with those who are nominated over and over (and over-- I think 8 times for her [with Rufus and solo], 11 for Chic with Nile)? To let them in... sorta? Give baby his bottle, throw the dog a bone?

The other ones in 2023 are fine. Al Kooper is in as the Sideman he is. Bernie Taupin is FINALLY in, also for Musical Excellence. He's not a Performer, but he's responsible for writing some of the best and most important rock songs. So this is the category used as intended. Sheesh. 

In the Fringes… Not in the Hall

A page in a sociology textbook shows two photos— one of businesspeople in suits and ties, and one of hippies in fringed vests and bellbottom jeans. The caption for both?

“Conformity.”

Even nonconformists tend to conform… to each other. They rebel in the same way, forming their own norms. As my college roommate, who showed me the textbook, put it, “What if I totally believed everything the hippies did, but felt most comfortable in a rugby shirt and khakis? Wouldn’t that be truly rebellious?”

How many acts in the Rock Hall are truly like no other, in the Hall or outside it? Yes, many acts are unique, but they still fall within certain parameters.

Their songs have verses and choruses. And a 2/4 or 4/4 beat. And they use guitars, basses, drums, and keys.

Truly “out there” acts, where the music— not just the fashions— stretch the boundaries of what “music” even is? Not so much.

I can think of only a couple of acts in the Hall like this, whose music is abstract, unpredictable, left-field… just plain weird.

Then again, maybe such acts don’t belong in a hall of fame. Maybe the simple fact of their incomprehensible unapproachability keeps them being niche acts with relatively few, if ardent, fans.

Still, it would be nice to have a few more of the most influential ones in there. Putting some more in the Hall would certainly raise the profile of those artists…

And what is rock music, if not a series of sounds that raise an eyebrow or two?

Update: In 2023 eyebrow-raiser Missy Elliott was Inducted as a performer. 

The Women Issue

Yeah, yeah…. You knew we were eventually going to get to this.

Here we go: There aren’t enough women Inductees.

In one category, they are shut out almost entirely: The Award for Musical Excellence, formerly Sidemen. It might as well still be called Sidemen, because only one Sidewoman— Patty Scialfa, a member of the E Street Band (which, first, should have been inducted as Performers with Springsteen or at least by itself in 2012 along with several other “backing bands” that got full Induction)— is in.

I can think of many women who deserve to be here. If you can’t, please watch the documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom. And then see the 2008 doc The Wrecking Crew and meet Carol Kaye. In any case, there are many women who have backed big-deal acts in the studio and on tour for decades, often as singers but even as musicians (like bassist Kaye). It should be easy to find dozens of worthy candidates, and yet here we are, and here they aren’t.

The next most glaring category in this regard is the Ertegun (Non-Performers) Award.  There are 50 winners (as of 2020), all of three of whom are women. And all of those are inducted alongside a man… and as part of a songwriting duo: Mann and Weil, Goffin and King, Greenwich and Barry. Not as “producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists and other industry professional(s).” Even though women have, um, been those things.

Yes, this reflects the sausage-fest reality of the music industry. No, you can’t award who’s not there. Yes, it’s hardly the fault of the award that this has been the sad history of the industry.

But come on. Since 1986, there haven’t been one or two women “producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists [or] other industry professional(s)” deemed worthy of the award? Even looking back at the entire history of rock, which goes back some 70 years at this point?

None? Zero? Zilch?

Early Influences, you’re next. Seven out of 33. We’re talking about performers from, more or less, the 1920s to the early 1950s. Guess what? Women were performing back then, too. In all the genres that fed into rock. But only a fifth of these Inductees are female acts. Even accounting for the sexism of those days, they should be around 40%, not 20%, of this category.

OK, now for the Performers. There have been other websites crunching the figures here, but I’m going to take a different approach, closer to the Bechdel Test for women in movies.

We’re going to see if there are any years in which more than two women got inducted as Performers in the same year:

In 1988, three women got in, but all were Supremes, so three women but one act got in.

1998 (ten years later): Four women in two acts; this time each act (Fleetwood Mac, The Mamas and the Papas) had two women.

The following year, 1999, The Staples Singers made for three of the four women who got in, so still two acts.

That also happened in 2007 (eight years later). Four women got in…but three were Ronettes, so again only two acts.

And in 2013, three women got inducted in the same year. Two were in the same band (Heart). So three women, but again only two acts.

So… did it ever happen that three or more different acts, each one with female members, got inducted in the same year?

Yes. Once. In 1996— after 10 years of inductions… and not since, in almost 25 more years of inductions.

In that year, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Grace Slick (with Jefferson Airplane), Maureen Tucker (with Velvet Underground) and all four Shirelles were inducted. So, seven women inducted as Performers in one year..!

Along with 19 men.

I found at least nine years in which no female Performers were inducted at all. There were zero years in which no male Performers were inducted at all.

Have men simply been the ones more “allowed” to make music in all that time? Maybe. But… given all the music that gets in? I mean, think about how wide a variety we are talking about here, from disco to punk, from folk to rap.

Women are slightly more than half the population. Given the historic sexism of the music industry, maybe allowances have to be made. You can’t award someone who wasn’t there.

But to say that there are simply no women worth inducting in some years? And only one or two the rest of the time? Impossible.

There are many lists online of women who are both eligible and deserving. In 2021, everyone who dropped their first album in or before 1996 will be eligible, Maybe not enough women were making records in the very early days (which I doubt), but by the mid-1960s, they had likely caught up. At this point, there is really no excuse. There aren’t enough women Inductees.

“When you know better, do better,” said a great singer (and poet, and author…), Maya Angelou. So, Rock Hall… do better.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/796717978/41-women-who-should-be-in-the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame

Update: They did better! 

In 2021, three different acts with women were Inducted as Performers: The Go-Go's, Tina Tuner (solo this time) and Carole King (both solo this time and as Performer this time). Several other women were nominated, as well.

In 2022, four different acts with women in them were Inducted as Performers: Pat Benatar, Dolly Parton (yes, really!), the Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, and Carly Simon. Additionally, folkie Elizabeth Cotten got in as an Early Influence and there was even a women winning the Ertegun-- Sylvia Robinson. 

This is very gratifying and heartening. Keep it up! 

2023 was another banner year for women: as Performers, Kate Bush (after several tries), Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott. None in the other categories, but three women with very different styles all in one year should be the norm. 

The One That Rankles the Most (Updated: She got in!)

[I originally published this post before its subject was inducted, which she was in 2021.]

I promised myself that I would not discuss specific or individual acts, but keep this blog about genres and subgenres which are unfairly (if they are) excluded from the Rock Hall.

But there is one person I really feel I need to talk about: Tina Turner.

Yes, she is inducted, but as part of a doubles act—  with Ike.

And I feel that she more than deserves an individual induction for her much-longer solo career. Now, that’s true of several other acts who are also in only as part of a band, and not as solo artists.

What is specifically upsetting in Turner’s case is her well-known mistreatment by Ike. And it is beyond upsetting to me that she had to work as hard as she did to be free of him… only to find her name linked to his, for eternity, in the annals of the Hall.

Inducting Tina Turner as a solo artist would send a very clear message that the Hall recognizes her as a person, as an artist with boatloads of talent and sterling integrity.

The Hall already has received a lot of criticism for not including more women. Tina Turner is a shoo-in. She is universally beloved. She had a bio-pic movie way before some of the other Inductees. And she lives in Europe, so her induction would be worldwide news. She's already in her 80s, so the clock is ticking loudly here.

If you want ratings for your Induction broadcasts, I bet you could get Oprah, an avowed fan, to induct her. In case you needed more incentive to right this wrong, or to induce Turner to fly from Switzerland to the States for a statuette.

Update: Turner has been nominated for solo induction for 2021. 

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/tina-turner-should-be-in-the-rock-hall/

Update: She got Inducted in 2021! At least she was alive to know about it.

This documentary was released prior to her Induction, and no doubt helped that Induction happen: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8399720/

Also, she won the Fan Vote. I will have to see how much this, historically, has helped acts get Inducted, but I doubt it could hurt: https://www.vulture.com/2021/05/tina-turner-wins-2021-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-fan-vote.html

The Case (Study) of KISS

While this blog is not about the merit of this or that act, the reasons KISS was Inducted are worth discussing, because they could help other bands (and genres) under the same situation. 

KISS was one of the most contentious inductions to the Rock Hall. The Hall seemed dead set on keeping them out… and yet, they did get inducted. Eligible since 2000, they did not get in until 2014, with only one other nomination along the way, in 2010— a decade after they were first eligible. 

I feel that there are two factors at work here, neither of which have to do with the quality of KISS’s music. They both have to do with the fact that the Hall is also a Museum. It’s right there in the full name of the place: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Museum set itself up, from the get-go, to embody a huge oxymoron; they want you to come see what you ordinarily only hear: music. So they have to have some things, some physical objects, to put in the displays, right?

And, say what you will about their musicality, few bands are a visually arresting as KISS. What are you going to display about, say, Nirvana? A flannel shirt? A notebook? With KISS, you have a guitar shaped like an executioner’s axe, and sky-high boots with skulls on the toes. Those, my friend, are some museum-quality artifacts worth selling tickets for.

Further, as a Museum, they need to sell tickets to stay open. And when tens of thousands of people— who call themselves an “army,” no less—  say they will not buy a ticket until you do a thing, but they will when you do do the thing, well… after a few years, you start to wonder if doing that thing just might be worth it.

TIME magazine once asked Spinal Tap to explain their longevity. They responded, and I’m paraphrasing: “We weren’t the strongest. We weren’t the smartest. But we were the loudest.” 

So there’s your lesson from KISS. You want your favorite band or genre in? Get organized, get stubborn... and get loud.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tom-morello-salutes-kiss-army-in-rock-hall-induction-speech-244529/

Singling out Singles

If you walk up to the bell, the saying goes, ring it.

So the Hall inducts songs now, as of 2018. And that’s great. It inducted six songs in that year, and another six in 2019.

And in 2020… zero.

Please don’t tell us this is going to be like the Ertegun (Non-Performer) and Early Influences and Musical Excellence (Sidemen) all over again… where you say you’re going to give an award but then forget to actually do so.

Is this a consolation prize? Steven Van Zandt explained: “…not to say these artists will never be in the Rock Hall. They just are not in the Rock Hall at the moment.” Uh-hunh. And I have a bridge to sell you.

Look, it’s fine to have a consolation prize. The Musical Excellence award should not be that— at least not for Performers, as it has become.

But Singles will work. Or could, given a chance. How many times have you heard, “How could (act) not be in? (Song) is one of the best rock songs ever!” See, OK, yeah, maybe that song is… but can you even name any other song by that band? Even if you can name five, that doesn’t make them Induction-worthy, necessarily.

And so— induct just the song, then. If the implication is, “You’re getting this one song in, but never your whole band,” while that sucks on some level, it’s at least an answer. And it’s not a loss; your song— and your band’s name, attached to it— will be in the Hall. Forever. While that’s not an induction, it’s way better than nothing. Tons of great bands will never get anything at all, Hall-wise.

Would you rather hear, from your crush, “Maybe… someday…” and be strung along for ages? Or get a simple, devastating— but final— “Ain’t gonna happen,” so you can mourn and move on?

I would further argue that having a song in the Singles list is better than being considered a “sideman/woman” when you— and everyone else— knows you were in the damn band.

How can I say that? Turns out, there have been studies done on Olympic medalists. Gold winners are happiest, of course. But Bronze, third-place, winners are second happiest. They didn’t lose, they medaled! “Hey! Got an Olympic medal! I will have ‘Olympic Medalist’ in my name here on out. I got to stand on the podium, see my country’s flag flown at the Olympics, come home with a prize…”

Silver medalists, meanwhile, were the least happy. Remember, in some Olympic competitions, you can lose by a tenth of a point, or a hundredth of a second. All that came between you and Gold was a hangnail, an eyelash!

So while the fact that the Hall is already— in just the third year!— skipping a year of Singles inductions is upsetting, the fact that they are doing it at all is a good thing. Now they have to, y’know, actually do it... not just step up to the bell, but ring it.

And let six songs in every year. We may run out of “Early Influences” at some point, and even “producers” (who knows how the industry will change?!)… but it will take ages to run out of Singles to induct, even at the rate of an EP’s worth a year.

https://www.futurerocklegends.com/blog_files/The_Rock_Hall_Singles_Category_Clings_to_Life.html

Update: I do not see that any Singles were inducted in either 2021 or 2022. Harumph.

Getting Behind in “Behind-the-Scenes”

So… the whatever you want to call it—  the Non-Performers Award or (since 2008) The Ahmet Ertegun Award— which once were two things and now seem to have merged, even retroactively (all those who won Non-Performers when it was called that are now considered Ertegun winners)…

You know, the award for contributing to rock history without being on stage? That one.

Well, since 2015, they have only given it out in two of those years— once in 2016 and twice in 2020.

Thing is, before that, it was annual. It was given to at least one person or (usually songwriting but sometimes producing) team from the inaugural year—1986— to 2003.

That’s a pretty solid run. Enough to encourage anyone who could reasonably be up for it to think, “OK, maybe this year.”

Then… they stopped giving it. For five years! Then they gave it in 2008.

Then in 2010, they gave it to six recipients! It seems like they suddenly remembered: “Oops! We forgot we give this award! Better make up for lost time. Just give a bunch out at once.”

OK! Whew! Back on track! They gave it every year again, from 2010-14.

Then… 2016. OK, skipped a year. That can happen.

But then, not again until this year, 2020. A four-year gap!

What the hey?

Here’s the thing. This category is HUGE and vague. It encompasses “songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists and other industry professionals.”

And there is not even a 25-year built-in time lag between when you began in the music biz and when you become eligible, as with performers. Everyone in rock-industry history is a candidate right now! 

And they’re telling us that four or five years go by and you can’t think of anyone worthy? Year after year?

While most websites tracking snubs focus on performers, there are critics out there who have made lists of pros who should get an Ertegun. They can also see if the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, or Radio and Broadcast halls, have inducted anyone who also needs one.

I am not going to sit here and sift through all 50 current Ertegun awardees to determine what percentage are execs vs producers vs songwriters (and many are two of these things, or all three)… vs DJs or journalists. A quick glance reveals far more execs and producers. I see 9 or 10 I would consider songwriters.

But if someone wants to do a breakdown of who’s there based on what their actual contribution was, I’d love to see it (and comment on it). I predict there would be clear patterns that would suggest which kind of Ertegun awardee is missing.

And so maybe another 10 people who deserve one can, in 2021, stop waiting. That’s right, it’s time for another 2010-type clean-up sweep. Maybe consider doing a sweep in every year that ends in zero? Or is a multiple of 5?

Of course, then the Hall just has to go back to giving one or two out every year, making sure not to ignore the songwriters (again, take a peek at their Hall)… without whom we would have far less music to begin with.

But, if you're gonna bother having the award? Bother awarding it.

https://www.audiovisualrepository.com/blog/Producersrockhallsnubs

https://www.songhall.org/

Update: In 2021, there were two inductees as Early Influences, three for Musical Excellence, and one Ertegun. In 2022, two more Early Influences, two for Musical Excellence, and three Erteguns.

Good, good. Let's keep that up, shall we? 

There were two Early Influence, three Musical Excellence, and one Ertegun inducted. 

Small Words, Big Difference (a Question of Backing Bands)

What words? The words “and the.”

Some acts are just considered solo acts; One Person. Some are considered a band, a bunch of people, a Group.

And then there the halfway-between acts, the ones with “and the” in the names. They have names like One Person and the Group.

For a while there, the Hall seemed to divide the “and the” groups into two further categories. If the backing people also sang, but only sang (and maybe danced), then they were ushered right in along with the lead. But if they played instruments? Well, then-- maybe yes, maybe no.

In 2012, six backing bands got full inductions. All of them were “and the” acts. Their leads had already been induced, as One Person-type solo acts, despite (or because of) the “and the”in the band's name.

Yet, there are still bands out there languishing in “and the”-land. In one famous case, they did get inducted… but in the Sidemen/Musical Excellence category. Even thought they had been together— as a band with the frontman (who got full induction as One Person)— for 40 years, and made all but two or three of their 20 or so albums together.

What almost makes this worse— and what definitely makes it more confusing— is that more than 15 acts with “and the” did get in as such-- both the One Person, as well as the “and the” Group-- in one fell swoop of an induction. And that other six “and the” groups who got separate induction from their frontman, but are still fully inducted as Performers.

All we’re looking for, here, is a little consistency. And for the Rock Hall to stop even caring about the “and the” thing. That they have cared at all has caused— still causes!— nothing but consternation and indignation from the fans, the critics, and the musicians themselves.

New Rule: From now on, and retroactively, a band called “One Person and the Group” is just as much a unit fit to be inducted all at once as a band simply called “The Group,” “The Adjective Group” or even just “Group.

And the “and the” should not mean so much. As far as Inductions are concerned, those words should mean nothing at all.

Also, if a One Person act has had the same backing personnel for 40+ years? That’s a band.

Here are the members that did not get in with the rest of their bands:
https://www.futurerocklegends.com/Snubbed_Members.php 

Update: In 2022, Pat Benatar got in... but so did Neil Giraldo, her longtime musical partner, along with her. My sources tell me she stuck to her guns so he would get in, too. Are you listening, Mr. Springsteen? 

The Sin of Synth

Can you play rock on a guitar? Uh, yeah. Especially if it’s electric, but even if it’s acoustic.

What about a piano? Well, sure. Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard have to be in the Rock Hall, and they rocked plenty hard on their pianos. So did Elton John, Billy Joel… we talked about this already.

But for some reason, electrifying a piano makes it rock… less? And once you add a computer chip to it, and turn it into a synthesizer? Well, now you have almost completely turned off the Rock Hall.

There have been some ’80s acts— ones that debuted or peaked in that decade— in the Hall. But it feels like ’80s acts haven’t gotten in, because the ones that we identify as “’80s acts”— the New Wave ones, the ones that “sound like the ’80s”— aren’t in, as a rule.

Similarly, prog rock fans have been long lamenting the Hall’s shunning of their pet subgenre. Starting from a whole 'nother decade.

These two subgenres— New Wave and prog— have little in common from a compositional standpoint. But what they do have in common is the use of synthesizers. And their general exclusion from the Hall.

For some reason, the Hall does not consider synthesizer music worthy of inclusion. Sure, if your band has one, that’s fine. But if a synthesizer is the band’s lead instrument, don’t bother selling— the Hall ain’t buying.

But why? Again, it doesn’t matter to the Hall if a guitar is electrified or not. But it seems to matter way more than it should if you plug in your piano.

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_keyboard.html

Update: It seems the stigma has been lifted! Glory be! In 2021, the Hall inducted Billy Preston (Musical Excellence), Kraftwerk (Early Influence), and Todd Rundgren (Performer). 

Then in 2022, they inducted Duran Duran and the Eurythmics (Performers) and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (Ertegun Award). Also, Devo got their third nomination. 

Synth is no longer a sin, it seems, and synthesizers can be synonymous with rock. 

In 2023, Al Kooper-- who mostly played electric piano and organ-- was inducted with an Award for Musical Excellence. 

Piano Rolls (and Rocks)

Let’s face it— the primary instrument of rock music is, and has been for a while now, the electric guitar. 

It’s not the only music you can play on that instrument, and other instruments can play rock… but few things are as associated with each other as rock is with the electric guitar. If you were cataloging recordings by genre, using universally recognized icons and symbols, you’d use an electric guitar-shaped label for the rock albums.

But yes, pianos have been used to make rock music— and make music rock— from the get-go. Plenty of rockstars, including Rock Hall inductees, use it as their primary instrument. And plenty of others, whose main instrument is the electric guitar, will “bring it down a bit” in concert by plinking out a plaintive ballad on the ol’ ivories.

I’m not saying that the Rock Hall needs to induct more piano players, or start prioritizing them. Well, I am implying that. And I do think it would be nice to acknowledge just how much rock music has been made on these instruments.

It just might induce the Hall to take another look at synth-led bands… in my dreams…

Perhaps, the next time the Hall looks for a “special exhibit” topic, it can spotlight the piano and all of the Inductees-- and Early Influences-- who have rocked the house with, well, the instrument that uses as much lumber as the house.

Seriously, wouldn’t you like to see, and hear, a history of rock ’n’ roll piano? I’d watch that documentary and buy its box set.

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_keyboard.html

Update: Billy Preston was inducted with an Award for Musical Excellence in 2021, and also that year keyboard-based band Kraftwerk was inducted as an Early Influence (in a later genre: electronic music).

Then in 2022, Duran Duran was Inducted, as was Lionel Richie, who plays piano when he plays something, and composes on piano regardless.

In 2023, keyboardist Al Kooper was inducted for Musical Excellence, which is good because he belongs in, and that's how he belongs in. 

Can Rock be… Smart?

Rock ’n’ is party music, and the Rock Hall is totally fine with that. And as long as the party keeps going, it kind of doesn’t matter what the lyrics are. They can even address a political issue, make a point, or “send a message.”

And, as long as— and the kid in American Bandstand says— “it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it,” it’s all well and good.

But then there are the acts that prize brain over beat. And for those acts, the Rock Hall, well, takes a beat.

No doubt, there is tremendous literature-type brainpower among the Hall’s inductees as they stand. Some have been compared to, and even are, published poets. One has won the Nobel Prize for Literature!

But there are an equal number of such acts who have not gotten in… yet.

Again, nothing against straightforward lyrics. Sometimes a simple lyric is very powerful, and surprisingly hard to craft.

Also, nothing against nonsense lyrics. I have a dream to collect all the nonsense lyrics in one book; it could even spin off into a game in which players had to guess which na-na-na-na or sh-boom or shang-a-lang came from which song.

But it seems that only one, or maybe zero, poetic— OK, fine: “nerdy”— lyricist gets in a year. Meanwhile, many more wait to get picked. As nerds are used to doing.

Out of the 100 greatest songwriters in rock history, many (while eligible) are not yet in the Rock Hall:
https://www.rollingstone.com/interactive/lists-100-greatest-songwriters/

Update: Thinky performers Kraftwerk and Gil Scott-Heron were inducted as Early Influences in 2021. 

Singer-but-not-songwriter

 Insane as it may seem, there is a book titled How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll. Also, the song “American Pie” insists that “the music” died when Buddy Holly did. In 1959.

In the book, the author explains that rock was written by pros and sung by teenagers who could sing but not write songs. That has been the template for pretty much forever, with one group of people composing and another group performing. True for pop, jazz, gospel, and much of classical. Even much of folk music was performances of traditional, older material. Some people did perform their own work, of course, but the real idea was to hand that part of the job to the experts-- the same why an architect did not build the house, nor did the carpenters ink the blueprints. Two separate jobs.

Then along came The Beatles and ruined everything by knowing how to sing and write their own songs! Now, neither those non-singing composers nor those non-composing singers could get work!

Well, the Rock Hall kinda wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, they honor those Brill Building songwriters who, pre-Beatles, wrote and composed the rock music of the 1950s, as Ertegun (previously “Non-Performer”) winners.

On the other, they almost entirely induct Performers who write their own material. Only maybe 20 or so— of 200+ acts inducted as Performers— predominantly performed what was handed to them.

So… where are the rest of those? All those non-singing songwriters wrote all those songs for someone to sing. If it was OK to write but not sing... why is not OK to sing but not write?

And it’s not true that all of such acts are pre-Beatles. Some of them are Motown acts. Even some major rock acts were more vocal interpreters than writers.

Which is fine. It’s just strange that not being able to write songs doesn’t disqualify you from being inducted…

…until it does.

Update: Tina Turner, who to my knowledge did not pen her hits, was Inducted in 2021.  

Longshots and Critical Darlings

In linguistics, there are two main schools of thought. Prescriptivists would say that “alright” is unacceptable, since it should be “all right.” Descriptivists would say “alright” is… fine, because so many people have used it for so long, it has become acceptable. 

So the question is… what is the purpose of the Rock Hall? To tell people which rock acts are important, or to reflect which acts the people themselves already think are important?

Since its very inception, the Rock Hall has been about prescription, not description. It is run by experts, we are told, who really know which acts are really important for us to know about and listen to.

And that’s fine. After all, the acts that are on the radio and loudspeakers in public places and in superhero movie soundtracks… you already know about those. They are easy to find out about. You don’t have to attend a class or visit a museum— just sit down, turn on the closest music-playing tech, and there they are.

If museums serve a function at all, it’s to educate. And that means telling you things you don’t know, and can’t learn from the TV and radio.

If they serve another function, it’s to preserve history. In pop-culture, “history” is last week. Come on, name last year’s winner for Best Picture at the Oscars.

There is a story about a boy on an archaeological dig in the Middle East. He excitedly shows the dig’s leader a pottery shard he found, with some writing on it. “Nice,” says the leader. “That’s 200 years old.” The boy gets even more excited, until the leader says, “You can keep it. We’re looking for things that are 2,000 years old.”

But this not rock science, it’s rock music, which has been around less time than some people still living. Still, even music that’s 25 years old is… “old” in music terms.

Once, in the mid-’00s, my own wife referred to a 1980’s song as “old.” I took umbrage; I listen to that era’s music, but also jazz and blues from the 1930s, folk music that’s even older, and classical that’s older yet. “No,” I said, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic is an ‘old’ song. That song on the radio is younger than you, and I am not married to an ‘old’ woman.”

So it’s important to tell people about music they don’t know, whether it’s because it was always obscure, only popular among a certain group of people, or— gasp— made before they were born!

On the other hand, if the Rock Hall did not induct bands people know, they wouldn’t sell any tickets. It’s a balance.

There is a book I have called The Rock Snob’s Dictionary. I suppose I am to a degree a musical snob. But because I am, I can introduce my kids to music their friends can’t. I know what songs the songs on the radio sampled, or plagiarized, from. When my kid doesn’t recognize, say, a sitar in a song, I can tell him that’s what it is.

It’s the job of the experts in the Hall to tell us what, and who, we don’t know, not to just echo what’s popular. “Fame” runs both ways. It can be a “hall of the already-famous,” or a “the famous-because-they-are-in-the-Hall.”

A TV station once advertised the reruns they broadcast by saying, “If you haven’t seen an episode, it’s new to you!” even if it is, you know, old. And education is about what’s new to you, even of it is “already knew” to others.

So there should be at least one inductee every year that makes people go, “Who?” Because the next step after that can be, “Well, if they got in, they must be pretty good! I’m gonna go check ’em out.” Which is when the preservation and education happen.

And that’s pretty damn alright.

Update: Todd Rundgren got Inducted in 2021. 

New Wave, one last time

I know… I already spoke about New Wave bands when lamenting the Rock Hall’s bias against synth-led bands. And I already said that, when the Hall’s nominating committee changes generational hands and Generation X takes over, ’80s bands will be indicted in droves regardless.

But I still think I have to make the case for New Wave bands. It’s hard to tell through all the computerized sounds, but musically, I think New Wave is the second coming of sock-hop music. It’s simple and fun, and it’s got a good beat you can dance to.

Still, those computerized sounds put some people off. Some feel that electrified guitars can make rock music… but electrified pianos can’t.

Yeah, I know, they are not just electric (amplified with electricity) but electronic… and computerized.

But… so what? When computers, synthesizers, and the sampling of sounds (not to be confused with “sampling,” which refers to reusing a phrase of existing music) made it into the studio, it just created a new playground for music-makers to explore. Is a kitchen table made with newly invented tools and materials no longer a table?

After all, the same was true of the studio itself altogether, when feedback, reverb, doubling (having a singer harmonize with themselves), and other then-new effects could be introduced to a song, during or even after recording.

New Wave is going to get into the Rock Hall, sooner or later. It’s time to realize that this genre is part of rock history, that it defined a generation… and that it’s pretty good music at that.

It would be nice if some of New Wave stars made it into the Hall while they were still alive to accept the honor in person, though. Some of them are... getting up there. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-new-wave-brought-rock-n-roll-180952447/

Update: I thought we would have to wait until all the Boomers were off the Nominating Committee, but I have seldom been happier to be wrong.

In 2021, The Go-Go's got Inducted, as did Tina Turner as a solo act. LL Cool J got in, also, but with an Award for Musical Excellence even though he if very much NOT a sideman. 

And then in 2022, Duran Duran and the Eurythmics got Inducted, as did Pat Benatar and Lionel Richie as a solo artist. So look for much more of the same-- Devo did not get in, but they did get their third nomination. Whip it good, as they say, it's not too late.

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.