The Pointless Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Debate
The organizers of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame staked their claim on the idea. They can dictate who is put into the Hall of Fame. They've got their building in Ohio. It's their party, and nobody's getting in unless they are invited. It's a worthless endeavor to debate what is a weak looking and lackluster nominations list this year (2023).
We can go on and on about how rap artists shouldn't be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We can talk about all of the great Classic Rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s that continually get snubbed. It doesn't matter. The people who control this thing don't care. They view these bands as lesser than, and some of them may never be honored.
My personal opinion is these people need to change the name from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Music Hall of Fame and have done with it. It started off with noble intent, maybe. Bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and other greats like Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard have rightly been honored. They got it right in the very beginning for sure. However, they looked at certain bands and thumbed their noses.
This is because Rolling Stone Magazine people get to make these calls and that magazine never respected groups like Styx, Foreigner, Kansas and so forth. I don't see how that's ever going to change, unfortunately. So what could be done?
One question that could be asked is do the people who run the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have the clear authority to tell us what's great and what's not? In other words, could a Classic Rock Hall of Fame or something of the like be created? This would be something that would right the wrongs created by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Clear criteria could be outlined for what makes a worthy candidate. Everything can be factored in. Ticket sales, record sales, critical acclaim, longevity, popularity at the time and so forth. Perhaps you even let members of various bands, music media and so forth have votes, while also including fan votes? Whatever needs to be done.
It's a no-brainer that if you're starting all over again, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and so forth would be honored again. This time, when it comes to bands like REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Styx, Boston, Bad Company and so forth, they will not be ignored.
I know they look down their noses at Styx. Arena Rock, they called them. This was a band that had how many consecutive platinum selling albums? This was a band that sold out so many venues in their heyday during the Cornerstone/Paradise Theater era that they had to add dates in certain towns. We're talking dates at big venues at which they needed a second night.
You've got songs like Come Sail Away and Blue Collar Man, and people still pay to see Styx perform these songs, decades after they were first popular. The same holds true for Kansas. Carry On Wayward Son and Dust In The Wind have allowed these guys to tour pretty much regularly, despite personnel changes, from the time that their newer material started getting ignored by radio stations.
Nobody is going to argue that these bands are relevant. The fact is, people still love their music. The biggest debate we get over The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame these days is do rap artists belong in there? What about pop artists? What is the criteria that puts these bands in?
Nothing is changing. I have seen no press releases from the leadership of this organization that indicates they will even give a second thought to any of these snubbed bands. The snubbing will continue indefinitely, while original members of these bands slowly pass away as age catches up with them.
The other thing about creating a new Hall of Fame with a different name to it that honors this style of music is, do we want the big building with the memorabilia to be in Ohio? This is not a slight on Ohio, but having destination spots to view this stuff on the West Coast and East Coast seems a no-brainer to me. What about a location in Europe, or elsewhere?
How does one go about starting a Classic Rock Hall of Fame? That's another question that I can't answer. This would require people with money who want to make sure the right artists finally get recognition. I can't say whether this will ever happen. All I can say is it's a pointless endeavor complaining every year as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems to gleefully get it wrong in their list of nominations. This year is no exception.
