The latest list of nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are out, and once again Rush, Genesis and Yes have been ignored by the nomination committee. Run D.M.C., Metallica, The Stooges, Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic are the nine nominees that have been selected as this year’s potential entrants by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
At least this batch of nominees is better than last year’s group, but why the hate for prog-rock? Metallica, The Stooges and Jeff Beck deserve to be in the hall no questions asked. In fact both Metallica and The Stooges were listed by HT Contributor Sleepy Floyd in his B List on 10 Bands That Should be in the Rock Hall of Fame. Yet, the HOF needs to open its doors to some Proggy Goodness.
Does the committee really think that covering Walk This Way with Aerosmith makes Run D.M.C. more important to the legacy of rock than Peter Gabriel, an artist who broke new boundaries with every solo album he released? And don’t even get me started on Chic. More than 500 musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the inductions, but perhaps it’s time to let them vote with a blank slate. If you trust these people to make the right choices, why limit them to a short list of potential inductees?
This leaves us with a number of questions for our readers. Are you content with this year’s list of nominees? If you could pick three bands from the previously mentioned list of nine, who would you pick?
Let us know by leaving a comment below…
12 Responses
I would probably go The Stooges, Jeff Beck, and Chic.
i thought Sonic Youth was just inducted, right?
if not, I’d say:
Sonic Youth, Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck, The Cure and The Beastie Boys.
also, get KISS off any list related to the MUSIC HoF, ser.
Haha! Good call Goff. I’d like to see both Genesis and Peter Gabriel inducted.
The whole HoF thing’s kind of silly, IMHO. At first, when they were inducting all the forefathers and British Invasion bands it made sense. I mean, James Brown and Jerry Lee Lewis should be in there along with Elvis and Creedence, right? No argument from me.
But the last couple of years have been a bit thin. I’m not saying that REM and John (Cougar) Mellencamp aren’t worthy, as they most certainly are. But Leonard Cohen? Is he even rock? Madonna? Seriously?
Chic were great–their 2 hits still get the booties moving on the dance floor, and probably always will. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards’ production credits are worthy unto themselves aside from the band. Worthy of the HoF though? Pretty shaky.
It’s never clear to me what criteria are used to establish the nominees. Metallica’s nomination is sensible–anyone who tries to argue that they didn’t change the game back in the 80s is being naive. All the other nominees are right there, too: Jeff Beck should be there, even though he’s likely already in it as a Yardbird? I’m not sure.
Agreed, though: the big three of prog need to take their seats at the table of greats. It’s time.
It’s also high time for RUSH to release an album called, “That’s Bullshit,” as suggested by Stephen Colbert’s producer.
I am really surprised Rush isn’t on the list – Rolling Stone just published a long article on them and their historiucal significance. I figured it was timed by Wenner, et. al. to help start the campaign to get them in.
It is unreal that SRV is not on the list. Really kills me that Cohen is in, but Rush, SRV, Chicago and many other greats are not. But I like the Wanda Jackson…she really should have been there a long time ago.
Rush is not rock’n’roll
mostly a band for teenagers who like to show off with neil peart’s drumming
Is SRV eligible yet? If so, he’s priority #1. They should change the name to Pop Music Hall of Fame if they want to keep watering it down with these dated R&B and etc. acts.
SRV is one of the major Blues/Rock heavyweights. Any HoF without him loses credibility.
Rush recorded 2112 on steroids. That’s what’s keeping them out.
AGef, what isn’t rock & roll is you telling people what isn’t rock & roll. Knock off the snobbery, please. That said, I don’t even like Rush all that much…but they DO rock! Anyway, Jeff Beck is certainly my fave of the bunch…but where is Alice Cooper and Yes?!
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