The first thing to greet anyone who steps foot in a record store, is, likely, an extensive selection of rock and roll albums from the late 60s to the early 80s. One might expect to find the psychedelic whimsy of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, the hard-rocking hits of Aerosmith or, perhaps, the mild-mannered Merseybeat of The Dave Clark Five.
Yet, apparently this year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF) has decided to elect the hip-hop of Salt-N-Pepa and Outkast, the uninspired indie nothingness of The White Stripes, and the 80s pop schlock of Cyndi Lauper in the same class and categories as such legends of rock history.
This is far from the first time the Rock Hall’s nominating committee has made questionable decisions concerning which artists are deemed worthy of nomination and induction into the hall. In the past four years, artists the likes of Cher, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, Dolly Parton and LL Cool J have all been granted a place amongst the legendary bands that have defined nearly five decades of music history.
According to the RRHOF website, the mission of the museum is to celebrate “the sound of youth culture and honor the artists whose music connects us all”. And while that is a perfectly fine mission to strive towards accomplishing, I can’t help but be bothered by the fact that, for a museum that christened itself the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has called itself by that name since 1983, the committee who runs it insists upon inducting artists who are unequivocally not rock and roll.
Of course, even before 2021, there were some interesting decisions being made regarding who should be included in the umbrella term “rock and roll.” As early as 2008, people like Madonna and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were being grouped in with artists such as Leonard Cohen and Van Halen. But it is not like the pickings are slim when it comes to rock acts who have been barred from induction. So how exactly do groups qualify?
There are four categories for which someone can meet qualifications to be inducted into the RRHOF: Performers, Musical Excellence, Musical Influence and the Ahmet Ertegun Award. The primary focus tends to be put on the first two categories, so that is where I will focus.
According to a suspiciously now defunct page on the Rock Hall’s website, in order to be inducted as a performer, a band or artist’s first album must have been released at least 25 years prior to their first nomination. The “influence and significance to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll” is considered for each nominee. However, the site does not specify what qualifies as “rock and roll.” Such a vague description, or lack thereof, has now given rise to debate.
Rock and roll, though a specific collection of musical aspects, sub-genres, events and places, is notoriously difficult to explain to others without delving into a rather verbose history of popular music and social culture, beginning in the 1950s. It is, however, generally understood that rock music began in the ‘50s, with the rise in popularity of Chuck Berry & Little Richard, and continued onwards until it crashed and burned with the Grunge of Nirvana and Soundgarden in the 1990s. And while many other music genres developed simultaneously to rock music’s advancement, it is a shockingly easy task to pick out which bands belong to which subgenres of rock and which do not.
Though the specific membership of the nominating committee for the Rock Hall is kept secret, it is reportedly made up of musicians, music journalists, music historians, industry executives and insiders. One might think that tasking these alleged professionals with deciding who is and who is not rock and roll would not be such an insurmountable request, but apparently FM radio station programmers who have been recycling the same tired playlists for fifteen years have a better idea of what rock is than they do.
Of the fourteen choices on this year’s nominee ballot for the Performers category, only half are bands and artists who are undoubtedly rock and had a big enough influence on rock music to be considered truly worthy. The other options were as follows:
- Mariah Carey
- Cyndi Lauper
- Maná
- Oasis
- Outkast
- Phish
- The White Stripes
From the rock choices on the ballot, the groups and artists who managed to get inducted were Bad Company, Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker, and Soundgarden, leaving The Black Crowes, Billy Idol and Joy Division/New Order, who have been twice nominated, to fall to the cutting room floor.
While who gets inducted in the Performers category is primarily left to the voting public and all living inductees, the entirety of the blame should not be placed on the voting public. They were not exactly spoiled for choice this year. Instead, the blame should be placed upon the committee itself for selecting such limited choices for the ballot in the first place.
While not every single band to ever release an album in the 1960s or ‘70s has had enough of an influence and impact on rock music to be inducted into the hall, there is far from a dearth of options of ones who did.
One criticism the RRHOF has been receiving for years is its extreme hesitation to induct bands belonging to the progressive rock genre–prog for short.
In the 1970s, music journalists were notorious for labeling prog bands as “pretentious,” putting them in a box that belied their virtuosic artistry and influence. Groups like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull and King Crimson are all widely popular and greatly praised for their musical styles but have been continuously relegated to the sidelines in favor of bands whose genres of choice do not even come close to rock and roll. I guess everyone will have to wait until Carl Palmer kicks the bucket before he and his dead band members are allowed to get any recognition.
Aside from the prog rock scene, there are still plenty of bands and artists who should have been inducted a long time ago and yet continue to be ignored in favor of those who do not deserve such status. The Punk, Metal and New Wave subgenres are rarely awarded inductions, and apart from the induction of T. Rex in 2020, glam rock has been completely ignored as well. Not to mention, the more accessible bands such as Thin Lizzy or Badfinger, who have been eligible for decades and still too evade induction.
There are three performers inducted this year for whom it is glaringly obvious are not worthy of “music’s highest honor.” The most egregious choice was not Outkast or Cyndi Lauper; it was The White Stripes.
Though it can be argued that The White Stripes qualify as some cheap brand of alternative/indie rock and should therefore be considered, they are merely a footnote in music history. Their first album was released in 1999, two years after the death rattle of Grunge ended. They stopped releasing music in 2007, a mere eight years after they started, with only six albums to their name. If they have had any significance or influence on the post-Grunge, rockless world that we live in now, it is so nominal that it is immeasurable. Unless omnipresence of their music at sporting events counts.
By those standards, it could be argued groups such as Buffalo Springfield should not have been inducted either, having only released three albums in their two years of existence. But, Buffalo Springfield has something The White Stripes do not: a legacy.
Without Buffalo Springfield, we would not have Crosby, Stills & Nash or Neil Young, two of the most influential names in modern music history, nor would the world have Tom Petty, the Eagles or Led Zeppelin as they are known today. All have been greatly influenced by the band. I can not think of anything reliant on the existence of The White Stripes.
While I am certain Outkast and Cyndi Lauper have had some palpable amount of influence on hip hop and pop, respectively, if I were to ask somebody if either of those names had influence on rock and roll, they would laugh in my face. However, the ridiculousness of inducting these artists is trumped by inductees in the Musical Excellence category.
The Musical Excellence category was established in 2000 and “honors those musicians, producers and others who have spent their careers out of the spotlight working with major artists.” The inductees of this category are not decided by voting; rather, they are selected by a separate committee, primarily comprised of music producers.
Being added to this category that includes people like Leon Russell, Randy Rhoads and this year’s fellow inductee, Warren Zevon, are ‘90s hip hop girl group Salt-N-Pepa.
This is far from the first time that the Rock Hall’s choice of Musical Excellence inductees has caused them to draw criticism. In 2015, Beatles member Ringo Starr was inducted in this category, while every other Beatle had been inducted in the Performer category twice, once as the entire band and separately for their solo careers. Last year, singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett–the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” guy–was also inducted despite being a prevalent, well-known staple of 70s music and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.
Coincidentally, the circumstances surrounding Salt-N-Pepa’s induction are not much different.
Salt-N-Pepa, who formed in New York City in 1985, are one of the most popular and best-selling rap groups of all time. The sales of their entire discography combined amassed a total of 15 million copies worldwide, and their albums have been certified gold and platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. They have a total of five Top 20 hits, two of which are Top 10, and they have earned such wide critical acclaim to be designated with the honorific title “The First Ladies of Rap.” Their music is extremely accessible and can be heard just about anywhere, from the car radio to the speakers at a Safeway.
Even if Salt-N-Pepa were a rock and roll group, they still should not have been inducted in the Musical Excellence category simply because of their insane popularity. And just like with the Performers category, committee members are far from running out of rock musicians who are “out of the spotlight” and have actually made an impact.
Why not induct Ry Cooder for his work as a session musician, contributing to albums by lauded musicians such as Neil Young, The Rolling Stones or The Doobie Brothers? Or perhaps, honor Nick Lowe, who helped to pioneer pub rock and bring New Wave to the forefront by producing Elvis Costello and The Pretenders? And why not consider Gram Parsons, the most major figure in the development of country rock or even Big Star, the critically acclaimed influencers of R.E.M. and Kiss?
The list of people who belong in the RRHOF and yet have not been granted that honor could go on and on. If I tried to list them all, we’d be here all day.
I do not believe that being in the Rock Hall is the end all, be all when it comes to measuring a band’s worth. I am also not claiming that this or any other year’s inductees are not worthy of some degree of recognition for their work. I do believe, however, that deliberately choosing to ignore musicians such as the ones listed above in favor of groups that nobody in their right mind would even give a second thought to does a disservice to those not inducted; it robs them of the chance to gain wider recognition by the general public.
One of the most commonly purported solutions to this issue is that the RRHOF should simply change its name to the Popular Music Hall of Fame or something of that ilk.
The problem is, the existence of a Popular Music Hall of Fame would render the existence of any music-related hall of fame obsolete and would probably call for a merge with other halls, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and a plethora of others, thus minimizing the contributions of everybody in it and making every performer appear as a mere drop in the bucket of their respective genres.
Renaming the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be a ridiculous solution simply on the basis that it has held its name for 42 years. Even if a name change were to take place today, it would still be comprised almost entirely of rock bands and musicians and would remain, effectively, a hall of fame dedicated to rock and roll. The only thing that can really be done is to hope and pray that the nomination committee will cease picking out non-rock nominees. If everything is rock and roll, then nothing is.
