The Rock and roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio, announced their class of 2020 inductees this week and many fans of Rock and Roll are pissed, myself included! This year’s inductees are The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, T-Rex, Nine Inch Nails and the Notorious B.I.G., along with industry veterans Irving Azoff and Jon Landau. On the surface, there are some very deserving artists making it in to the Hall (Doobie Brothers, T-Rex, Nine Inch Nails).

The Hall offers fans the chance to cast a vote for five nominees once a day during the open voting leading up to the announcement by the Board. More than 8 million votes were cast and the top five vote getters were the Dave Matthews band, Pat Benatar, the Doobie Brothers, Soundgarden and Judas Priest. Whitney was sixth (6), Depeche Mode was seventh (7), Nine Inch Nails were eleventh (11), T-Rex was twelfth (12) and B.I.G was thirteenth…out of sixteen (16)!

While I recognize that Whitney had a great voice and sold lots of records, in my opinion she is Pop and not Rock. Nor is she as great an impact on Rock and Roll as Pat Benatar. Dave Matthews was snubbed big time. He took the greatest number of fan votes but was overshadowed by others who barely registered with voters. While B.I.G. was huge in the Rap world, he was not a major influence on the world of Rock and Roll. If the Hall wants to recognize industry veterans such as Azoff and Landau, why not create a special category for different types of music. I object to Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode and B.I.G.  getting in ahead of and instead of the likes of Dave Matthews, Pat Benatar and Judas Priest. It was noted in Rolling Stone magazine online newsletter (1/15/20) that the majority of inductees this year “built their legacies with more synthetic, machine-made rhythms than any traditional means of providing a back beat”. The author, Kory Grow, notes that only the Doobies and T-Rex had a live drummer anchoring the rhythm section. Originality should count for something!

There has long been criticism of the Hall for ignoring Heavy Metal bands and it is tough to argue with that history. There is major disagreement in the fan world about who the Hall is letting in and who they are ignoring. Why not have categories that would represent the best in that genre/style, allowing the Hall to recognize more rock and roll artists. Fans are always going to gripe about someone, in their mind, who was left off the list or someone who got in undeserving. If the Hall is going to open the voting to the fans, then the actual inductees need to place greater emphasis on the votes of those who buy the tickets, the music and the merchandise!!

 Rock and Roll came about as a rebellion of the musical landscape that preceded it.  If you’re going to play it safe and PC, then it’s no longer the Rock Hall! Come on, R&RHOF, grow a set!

#DaveMatthewsBand #DoobieBrothers #WhitneyHouston #DepecheMode #T-Rex #NineInchNails #PatBenetar #Soundgarden #JudasPriest #RockHall #RockandRollHallofFame