Commentary
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
2017 Nomination Class
By: Joseph Suto
To many rock fans the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame is a complete joke. Not only were some artists who may be worthy, jilted from even appearing on the nomination ballot, they were seeing bands and artists who achieved far less make their way into enshrinement. It wasn’t until the past few years the Hall woke up and bands who should have been in long ago, finally found their way in. Rush, Kiss, Heart and Cheap Trick all were recently inducted after years of being snubbed. Do all of them belong in? That is for another debate.
There are many artists in the Hall today that in my eyes don’t belong. To be enshrined, in my eyes, you have to meet certain criteria that should include most of the folowing.
- A solid career with a good 5-10 years of hit songs or albums
- A major influence in a certain style of music, where other artists cite as an inspiration
- For the most part a sound and stable lineup for bands
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should include the best of the best. It should be made a more prestigious honor and I would say no more than 2-3 acts should be inducted on a yearly basis. Most Hall of Fame’s whether it be NFL, Major League Baseball or any of the acting Hall of Fame’s tend to only recognize the standouts. That is they way the Rock Hall should operate but they added too many artists, too fast.
When the Hall started inductions they should have started with three artists who most can concur with their selection. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley would have been a great firm foundation for the Hall to build upon. One of the very reasons why the RARHOF has more than its fair share of criticism is for nominating too many artists from too many genres, some not even rock/pop related. R&B, Blues, Country and Gospel all have their own Halls of Fame. There really wasn’t a need to include those into the Rock Hall.
While it is too late to do anything about the Hall at this point (not like you can evict members who were already in), the only worthwhile solution going forward is to make sound and worthy nominations. With that here is the 2017 Class who will be on the ballot.
Pearl Jam*
Tupac Shakur
Depeche Mode
Electric Light Orchestra*
Jane’s Addiction
Janet Jackson
Journey*
The Cars*
The Zombies
Yes*
The J. Geils Band
Bad Brains
Chaka Khan
Chic
Joan Baez
Joe Tex
Kraftwerk
MC5
Steppenwolf
*- denotes our choices for induction
You can vote here https://www.rockhall.com/vote
