r/rockhall

I thought it was a pretty good honor, wasn't sure where it ranked among the many honors one can receive in music (check out the Wikipedia article to see the many different music honors there are around the world).

Museums can be thought of as square. Although in reality they're generally a lot of fun I'd say. But to some degree they are showing the past and rock probably tries to live in the present? And rock and music in general is somewhat about an experience, that of listening to music, rather than objects like the artifacts you might see in a museum. Although I read there is music at the Rock Hall Museum (don't know, haven't been there).

2027 will be a pretty solid year in terms of artists who will become eligible! There's a lot of strong contenders, and I'm excited to see at least some of them hopefully be nominated within the next few years. So I went ahead and decided to rank some of those possible nominees, starting from least likely to be nominated/inducted to most likely to get in. Let me know if you agree or disagree!

Wildcard: Kanye West (I really don't know how the last few years are going to affect his Hall chances, so I'm at a loss as to how to rank him lol)

17. Xiu Xiu

18. Natalia Lafourcade 

19. Solange 

20. Cee-Lo Green

21. Maroon 5

22. The Mars Volta

23. 30 Seconds to Mars

24. Between the Buried and Me

25. Kelly Clarkson

26. Audioslave 

27. The Black Keys

28. LCD Soundsystem

29. Fall Out Boy

30. Justin Timberlake 

31. Avril Lavigne 

32. My Chemical Romance 

33. Beyoncé

 

The Hall gets criticized by many for inducting artists from genres other than straight up rock 'n' roll. But if it did only rock music it wouldn't be as interesting, would it?

Has anyone attended the Induction ceremony in the past? My husband & I are thinking of buying tickets to this in November. I know the tix will be expensive but Oasis & Sade are 2 of my favorites & they will be honoring Luther Vandross’ music that night, too! I’ll be getting a presale code in the Fall. Should we go?

My family has a trip planned this Saturday and we were going to stop at the Rock n Roll HOF. Now seeing that the Cavaliers have a home game that day for ECF should we reschedule our plans? Or is Cleveland still easy to get around during a large sporting event? thanks

My vote is Jason Becker. Maybe Yngwie, but his flow is kind of generic.

Obviously we have to start with Eddie. No Eddie, no shred movement. Hendrix is another must.

Kurt Cobain? Maybe not the most technically gifted but certainly influential.

With the election of Phil Collins, Genesis joins the rare club of bands who have multiple members inducted twice.
The others: The Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, The Yardbirds and The Faces..
Did I miss anyone?

In 2010, VH1 released a list of the Top 100 Artists of All Time. With Sade (#50 on the list) getting in this year, there remain only 5 artists from that list that are not yet in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

• #52: Beyonce
• #66: Justin Timberlake
• #67: Coldplay
• #94: Mariah Carey
• #100: Alicia Keys

Who's next?

While there have been a few threads about Frank Sinatra, I thought I'd start another one laying out the case for him to get in, probably as an Early Influence. I think there are five fairly compelling arguments for him.

1. Microphones were a fairly new technology when Sinatra's career began and he was one of the first singers to fully take advantage of it, to create a more subtle singing style that doesn't have to project to the back of the room. I once read someone say that he is to the microphone was Jimi Hendrix is to the electric guitar, someone who really developed pop music singing technique.
2. He is possible the original frontman: a guy standing out in front of his band with just a microphone, using his charisma, his personality, his swagger to connect with the audience. Rock history is full of iconic charismatic frontmen, and Sinatra was the archetype. There's a reason why people called Jim Morrison the "psychedelic Sinatra."
3. When rock and pop musicians get a bit older and want to reinvent themselves, one of the strategies they often use is emulating Sinatra: singing the Great American Songbook, adopting a Rat Pack visual aesthetic. From Robbie Williams to Rod Stewart to Justin Timberlake to Ne-Yo.
4. Sinatra had an impact on the business side of rock music. He founded Reprise Records, which put out albums by The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and other rock hall of famers. He founded the company to gain artistic freedom for himself, and that became a corporate culture of supporting creative, risk-taking artists.
5. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has evolved into much more of a general popular music hall of fame, and Sinatra is one of the great, iconic popular music artists. He had a lot of success through what we'd call that rock era. If that era begins with Beatlemania, then it contains some of Sinatra's most iconic songs: "Strangers in the Night," "My Way." His last top 40 hit was in 1980 and he was still a concert draw through the 80s and even into the 90s. The Rock Hall is a broad tent, with pop/r&b/soul/rap/etc. artists inducted. Is Sinatra's pop that much of a stretch?

Yes, he famously hated rock and roll in the fifties. But he also performed with Elvis and covered The Beatles a few years later. And I think he had enough artistic and economic influence on rock music to be a hall of fame candidate.

If so, in what ways?

For me, As a Y2K baby who actually likes classic rock, .I think the problem with the rock hall of fame right now is they are adding ‘hip and cool’ nominees to bait Gen Z viewers. I love Em and Jay in the hall of fame but skipping BOC, Styx, Boston, and Kansas for decades just to stay 'trendy' is fucked up to me.

I can see next year gonna be the ultimate clean up class with them finally inducting belated ahh snubs

I can trade timeless over trendy any day 😩👌🏽

Who will follow Joy Division/New Order is actually an open question.

The Smiths

The Smiths may unfortunately be snubbed again because either a lot of people in the committee room cannot stand Morrissey, to the point that they may not even appear on the ballot, or because many voters may refuse to vote for The Smiths simply because they do not want Morrissey inducted.

They should theoretically be the No. 1 option, but due to politics outside of the music itself, they may still be passed over again. In theory, if they appear on the ballot, they should perform no worse than Joy Division/New Order. However, if a certain number of voters strongly dislike Morrissey, they could still fail.

Devo

I am not really sure why the Rock Hall suddenly seemed to forget about Devo from 2023 to 2026. It could be that the Rock Hall has already decided to give up on them as a main performer-category inductee. Or it could simply be because the Hall decided to focus on Joy Division/New Order, who were viewed as a slightly more important snub, and Devo were temporarily pushed aside because of that.

They should still have a good chance with a potential fourth nomination because of the changes in voting politics, but it is not guaranteed, and they could still fail on a fourth attempt. If the Rock Hall wants to play it safe and make sure they induct a local hero for the 2027 ceremony in Cleveland, then they could simply give Devo an Early Influence Award instead.

The B-52's

I remember former committee member Alan Light talking about The B-52's. He basically said the band had momentum, but Cyndi Lauper was considered more influential. And John Sykes once said that he believed The B-52's would appear on the ballot one day, which makes me think they came close to being nominated in at least one cycle. Now that Joy Division/New Order are in, the top priority in that alternative/post-punk lane has been removed from the snub list, so maybe The B-52's now have a clearer path to the ballot. It is definitely possible they were previously pushed aside because of both Joy Division/New Order and Cyndi Lauper.

INXS

INXS will of course continue to be pushed. And with the current voting politics, there is definitely room for induction combinations like INXS/Devo, INXS/The Smiths, or INXS/The B-52's, similar to Billy Idol and Joy Division/New Order this year: one mainstream MTV rock star and one alternative/post-punk act from the 1980s.

Tears for Fears

I think Tears for Fears will eventually become serious contenders, but I am not sure if it will happen as soon as next year. Usually, if an act is not included relatively early in its eligibility period, it often has to wait for older acts to get inducted first. That is why they may still be behind artists like Devo, The B-52's, and The Smiths in the queue.

Pixies

Pixies are an act that could appear on the ballot at almost any time. I am not sure if they will directly take the Joy Division/New Order spot as soon as next year, but they are probably very inductable now that Joy Division/New Order are finally in. They might only need one or two nominations now before getting inducted.

After Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr,Polvo needs to be in for guitar originality.

Anyone have some random Rock and Roll Hall of Fame trivia they want to share? Here are some fun ones I did through researching.

* Richie Valens is the youngest inductee, aged 17 when he died in 1959 (inducted posthumously in 2001). However, the youngest inductee inducted during their lifetime is Ilan Rubin (inducted in 2020 as a member of Nine Inch Nails). Born in 1988, Rubin is both the first inductee born after the hall's establishment in 1983 and the most recently-born inductee (at time of writing).

* Willie Nelson is the oldest inductee (at time of induction) at the age of 90.

* The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established on April 20, 1983, making Madonna the first artist whose debut album was released after the foundation's formation; her debut album was released on July 27, 1983.

* The most inductees for a group is Parliament-Funkadelic with 16.

* Phil Spector and Little Willie John are the only convicted murders inducted into the hall (Spector was inducted before his conviction, John was inducted posthumously).

* Ahmet Ertegun (inducted in 1987) was the first Asian-American inductee; the Non-Performer Category is alternatively named the Ahmet Ertegun Award in his honor.

* Freddie Mercury was the first African-born inductee (inducted posthumously as a member of Queen in 2001). However, as Mercury was born a British citizen, the first African-born inductee was Trevor Rabin (inducted as a member of Yes in 2017).

* José "Chepito" Areas (inducted in 1998 as a member of Santana) was the first inductee born in South America.