This month the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF) officially announced next year’s inductees. Radiohead, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, the Cure, Roxy Music and the Zombies will all join the class of 2019. With apologies to Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone and the rest of the band, this announcement has re-ignited the annual backlash from rock and roll fans of a certain age about the 50s and 60s artists who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame but are not.
The rules for the nomination are simple artists are eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single. There is a voting body of over 1,000 members who determine the nominees and the public has a chance to be involved in the final selection on line or in person in Cleveland with the top 5 artists the public votes for tallied along with the other ballots.
And this is where the rub comes in, there are so many 50’s and 60’s artists who deserve RRHOF recognition but are not included in the nominees. And as time passes, there is a smaller and smaller chance to make the nominees list as the older members of the nominating body and the public fan base age out.
It started off pretty good for the old rockers; on January 23, 1986 the first group of inductees included Elvis Presley, James Brown, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Other awardees included Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, and Jimmy Yancey, who were inducted as Early Influences. That year John Hammond received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Radio DJ Alan Freed who coined the phrase “rock and roll” and Sun Records’ Sam Phillips were inducted as Non-Performers.
But since then there have been several voting controversies like the charge that there is a bias against some genres. According to Boston music critic and author Brett Milano, "entire genres get passed over, particularly progressive rock, '60s Top 40, New Orleans funk and a whole lot of black music." In contrast, since the mid-2000s, numerous hip hop artists have been inducted, including Tupac Shakur (class of 2017), N.W.A (class of 2016) and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (class of 2007). The Dave Clark Five got six more votes than Grandmaster Flash. But the powers that be felt that the RRHOF couldn't go another year without a rap act. So votes that were received between the technical deadline and when the votes were tabulated were not counted that year. The Dave Clark Five were nominated again the following year and easily made the inductees list. By the way, I'm not knocking rap and hip hop, they have a huge fan base, but are these two genres really rock and roll? It seems to me to be the same issue of "relevance" that has moved "Oldies" off of so many commercial radio stations' play lists.
A former member of the nominations board (who I will not name here) once commented that "At one point a member of the nominating board 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." I’m not making this up, you can look it up. It seems that the annual inductees list is weighted in favor of “more commercially viable acts that in my humble opinion do not meet the definition of rock and roll.
Let’s take the Grass Roots as a great example of a band that should be in the RRHOF. They charted frequently between 1966 and 1975. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles on the Billboard Hot 100 a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they achieved Top 10 three times, Top 20 three more times and Top 40 eight more times. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide. In December 2015 the American Pop Music Hall of Fame released their 2016 inductees as follows: Barbra Streisand, The Grass Roots, Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka, The Association, Dion, The Lettermen, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Temptations and Three Dog Night. Until his death in 2011, early member Rob Grill and a newer lineup of the Grass Roots continued to play many live performances each year.
The current line-up of the Grass Roots, all hand chosen by the late Rob Grill, are still performing today as a solo act and in tours with other Rock and Roll giants such as The Turtles, The Association, Mark Lindsay, The Buckinghams and The Cowsills, Peter Asher, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Felix Cavaliere of the Young Rascals, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, The Guess Who, Jefferson Starship, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Steppenwolf, Tommy James and The Shondells and Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone.
Yet, they are not in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. A body of work of over 52 years and they are still not recognized. Much more impressive than many of the artists who came along later and made it to the RRHOF.
I’m sure that some of you feel like this is just an old guy ranting about some of his favorite music not getting proper recognition. And that is OK. I might shut up if the RRHOF nomination process which really controls the inductee list every year was more transparent. But it is not and that casts doubt and shadow over what should be a celebration of rock and roll. I stipulate that music preferences are very subjective. But I feel this foundational music needs better recognition. After all, commercials on television and sound tracks of movies frequently feature oldies music in their offerings. Can I say, “I am Groot!” Oh MY!
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