Rock and Roll Hall of Fame specifics

If you want to look at the entire list, it's here:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame currently does not include:

The Hollies
Kansas
Journey
Ted Nugent
The Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa by himself - yes. But
in my opinion is best stuff was when he was leading the
Mothers of Invention, so why not include them all?)
The Moody Blues
Procol Harem
Darlene Love -- why're so many black but non-rock and roll
artists included but not this black woman who certainly did
sing terrific rock and roll!
Alice Cooper
Neil Diamond
The Dave Clark 5
Paul Revere and Raiders
Jan and Dean
Herman's Hermits -- these last 2 did mostly humorous stuff, the Hall of
Fame includes (correctly, in this case!) The Coasters. And Jan and
Dean also did penultimate car race song in DEAD MAN'S CURVE.


It's impossible to really discuss some of the unfairness without mentioning
some of the people who are on it.

Sam and Dave -- not bad guys, but Rock and Roll Hall of Fame material? Please.
Hank Ballard
The Platters
John Lee Hooker
Bobby Blue Bland
Booker T and the MGs
Johnny Cash -- great country artist but did little in rock and roll
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers -- one great song
Etta James
Sly and the Family Stone -- yes, rock and roll artists but not great enough output to be here,
in my opinion
Duane Eddy
Al Green
Martha and the Vandellas
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Little Willie John
Joni Mitchell
Lloyd Price
Del Shannon
Dusty Springfield
The Moonglows
Bonnie Raitt
James Taylor
The Flamingoes
Brenda Lee
Gene Pitney
The Dells
The Righteous Brothers
The Ojays
Percy Sledge

That list turned out to be longer than I thought it'd be! And please note that it
does include a fair sampling of white performers who I think shouldn't be
there. And many of the African-Americans should be in a soul Hall of Fame.

And I think many of the African-American performers in the Hall of Fame
SHOULD be there, because their music is rock and roll enough -- and
good enough -- Supremes, Temptations, Prince, Solomon Burke and
many more.

And why isn't Tina Turner there by herself? Percy Sledge is there for
one song (When a Man Loves a Woman). So are Frankie Lymon
and the Teenagers (Why Do Fools Fall in Love?), so why can't Tina Turner
be there by herself (she is there with Ike, which is totally appropriate)
for River Deep, Mountain High -- as transcendant a rock and
roll song and will ever be recorded?

And why not The Ventures for Wipeout? The Troggs for Wild Thing?
And, of course, The Kingsmen for Louie Louie? Procol Harem for
Shine on Brightly?

Where's Grand Funk Railroad? Ignored by the critics as they always
were.

I'm not sure I'd include them, but they deserve the honor more than
Sam and Dave and Booker T and the MGs.

Ditto for Neil Diamond.

And just to really get down to it, why John Lennon by himself?

"Imagine" has great music (I hate the pro-communist words),
but is any of the rest of his post-Beatles output really that good?

Ok, Ok -- he deserves it more than Sam and Dave and Booker T
and the MGs -- but (by himself) not 1/10 as much as Darlene Love.


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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame issues

If you want to look at the entire list, it's here:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

Now that I've had more time to think about it and to
look over who's listed and who's not, I have to agree --
while it's 80-90% correct, there're certainly people on
it I would take off, and people I'd add.

There're artists I'm not sure that I myself would add, but
earned enough popularity as well as quality.

1. Perhaps part of the problem is that although it's called
a Hall of "Fame" -- we assume it means Hall of Quality.
But these are not necessarily the same thing.

However, if a given artist is popular enough, shouldn't
they be added due to the "Fame" part?

2. There's a real question of just what is rock and roll.
As I mentioned in prior post, Miles Davis was a jazz
genius and certainly should be in any Jazz Hall of Fame --
but not rock and roll.

Yet there's a definate bias in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
for rhythm and blues/soul artists. There's certainly a link
between that form of music and rock and roll -- and
certainly an overlap.

And certainly pop music of that period included both
white rock and roll and soul artists, especially from
Motown. My local station in St Louis played all the
top songs from everybody.

Still, I think the concept of rock and roll was definately
stretched in some cases.

Maybe it's justified in that there is NO "soul" or "rhythm and
blues" hall of fames, at least in Google.

And not all the bias is toward African-American artists (who
are good in their own genres) -- why are Bobby Darin, Johnny
Cash and Dion in it?

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm referring only to
the "Performers" section of the Hall of Fame. Of course
the "Early Influences" will not be rock and roll
themselves.

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