Rock and Roll Hall of Fame???

This week the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as questionable as that may be of a name now) inducted the class of 2007. Included in this years honorees are/is R.E.M (deserved but perhaps a little bit early they haven't had nearly enough reunion tours), The Ronnetts (Ronnie Spector lead singer and wife of Phil, their producer were the group responsible for "Be My Baby", "Baby I Love You", and a lot of other songs with Baby in the title from the '60s.), Patti Smith (the Poet Laureate of the feminist movement in punk rock as well as a Glassboro State College dropout), Van Halen (aside from being one of my favorites, which probably carried little weight in the decision to put them in, they are also in the Guinness Book of World Records for most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock List as well as fifth on the list for album sales by rock bands. The top four being Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Def Leppard.) With that being said, it's all a big sham because I left one honouree out. Grandmaster Flash. Now I don't have a problem with his art per se, just the fact that he is in the RNRHOF I find highly suspicious. By description alone he should be discounted, he is a hip-hop musician and DJ not a rock musician or artist. Beyond that fact, I also find it odd that while Grandmaster Flash is being inducted, which let me point out "White Lines" and "The Message"are two of the best and most ground breaking songs in rap history, they are that, rap. However the Moody Blues and Rush are still not in the RNRHOF. So what gives?
Perhaps the main criticism is that the nomination process is controlled by so few. Three of which are founder Jann Wenner, former foundation director Suzan Evans, and writer Dave Marsh, and the inductees are reflected in their tastes rather than the views of the rock world as a whole. A former member of the nominations board once said:

"At one point Suzan Evans lamented the choices being made because there weren't enough big names that would sell tickets to the dinner. That was quickly remedied by dropping one of the doo-wop groups being considered in favor of a 'name' artist ... I saw how certain pioneering artists of the 50s and early 60s were shunned because there needed to be more name power on the list, resulting in 70s superstars getting in before the people who made it possible for them. Some of those pioneers still aren't in today — but Queen is."

Petitions with tens of thousands of signatures were also being ignored and some groups that were signed with certain labels or companies or were affiliated with various committee members have even been put up for nomination with no discussion at all.

Another criticism is that too many artists are inducted, allowing for several lesser acts to make it in. In fifteen years, 97 different artists have been inducted. A minimum of 50% of the vote is needed to be inducted, although the final percentages are not announced and a certain number of inductees (5 in 2007) is set before the ballots are shipped.

The Sex Pistols, inducted in 2006, refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum a "piss stain."


Perhaps the Sex Pistols were correct, but we should have known it was going to be a joke since they chose Cleveland over Philadelphia for the site in the first place. I know Cleveland is the better choice, oh sure Philadelphia had "Bandstand" and was the place where much of the early days of Rock and Roll was rooted in but compared to Cleveland which was where... um ... Rock and Roll in Cleveland is ... well it was where ... oh, I'll go think about it and get back to you on that one.