Let’s start out by stating the obvious: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is pretty much a sham of an organization. Everyone knows this. Countless bands should be nominated, but aren’t. The nomination process is very much behind closed doors and arbitrary, everything culminates in an awards show that’s hit or miss, and the public voting is inconsequential. Regardless, this year’s lineup of 15 nominees has been announced, and boy are there a lot of surprises! Oh wait, no. In fact, it seems like it’s entirely made up of bands that have been nominated in the past and haven’t made it in. Usually, when an artist reaches eligibility after 25 years of putting out their first recording, there’s a rush of nominations. Not this year. Here’s who we’ve got:
Deep Purple
Nine Inch Nails
Cheap Trick
Yes
The Cars
Steve Miller
Chicago
Los Lobos
Janet Jackson
N.W.A.
The Smiths
Chaka Khan
The J.B.’s
The Spinners
Nope, this isn’t a typo, even though Yes, N.W.A., Deep Purple and Chic were nominated two years ago and The Smiths, The Spinners and Nine Inch Nails were nominated last year. Nothing new or exciting to be seen here. This has about as much edge as a Michael Bolton concert, or actually less, because Bolton has written with KISS. Yes and Deep Purple should absolutely be inducted, but now that Chris Squire and Jon Lord aren’t around, does it really matter? N.W.A. have been nominated the past two years, but will probably make it in this year because Straight Outta Compton was a huge hit commercially and critically. Nile Rodgers is having a moment and Chic should also be inducted. There’s nothing wrong with The Cars or Cheap Trick either, but they also should have been nominated or made it in years ago. If the lack of new nominees is any indication, 1990 was a shit year for music as far as the Hall of Fame is concerned. At any rate, if these bands keep getting nominated and no new ones are cropping up, everyone will win eventually. If you’d like to place your meaningless vote, you can do it at Rolling Stone. And we do mean meaningless, because the biggest vote-getter with the general public makes up one ballot out of the many others.
