Journey's first album with Steve Perry was 1978. 36 years ago. It is disgusting that the R&R HOF has excluded them. Heart is there. ABBA is there. The Staple Singers is there. No Journey? No Foreigner? No Boston? No respect for this group excluding groups like that.
@ Raul. I think--could be wrong--it has to be 25 yrs. after the release of the first album--only a couple of more years. Though they might make an exception for Bieber (barf).
Why would they make an exception for him? They know if they don't then he will have been totally forgotten by his... hm.. what's his age + 25 years? ..by his 38th birthday?
I remember a News article that came out when they were inducted. First line was "I guess they chose a ready guide in some celestial voice, 'cause they're IN!" Made me smile.
Come on guys, I thought everyone had agreed by now that the hall of fame is pointless and meaningless. I mean they included Madonna and call themselves the 'Rock & Roll' Hall of Fame. They didn't even have Alice Cooper until last year and still don't have Dio, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.
I'm with you. This is more of the Modern Music Hall of Fame. The entire spectrum of hard rock is almost not even noted, but the Beasties, Grandmaster Flash, Madonna, Little Anthony and the Imperials etc are- nothing against them but it isn't really "Rock".
If you want to be picky, the "Rock and Roll" era ended when the Beatles gave birth to 60s pop. There's nothing particularly rock and roll about pop or "hard rock"- this is really the popular music continuum since 1954, although I find it interesting that there is a place for Blues and Country legends such as Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash but not folk legend Woody Guthrie.
Also surely the Cure must deserve to be on the list by now.
True but his solo career was just as important, they have several names where they are part of a group and solo artist inductions, 3 of the Beatles, Turner, Clapton, Reed, Simon and Michael Jackson come to mind right off hand.
My top two people I'd like to see in the hall of fame: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ted Nugent. SRV will get in eventually, but Nugent may remain permanently snubbed since he is possibly the least PC guy of all time.
Beastie Boys were very much rock and roll, especially in their early years where they combined heavy riffs with rapping/hip hop, eventually moved away from guitars but they were very much rock influenced.
I may catch flack for this, but I think one of the biggest snubs that will never get in is Weird Al Yankovic. He has a VERY long career, popularized a genre that nobody else has, and is very musically talented.
Totally agree. Guy is a master at what he does, has had a career much longer and more fruitful than most of the artists he mocks, and you're right he and his band are super talented. I've been to several concerts and they can play *anything* from any genre, and often better than the original artists do themselves.
I am also amazed that he is still the best parody song guy out there. It's one thing for him to be famous in the 80's when no one else was doing what he did. But now, with YouTube, you've got people releasing new song parodies everyday, and they're never as good as Weird Al's. "Word Crimes" (his take on Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines") is the most amusing parody song I've heard in a very long time.
Steven Thompson from NPR music talks about how much he wants to see Weird Al in HoF. To be able to move in and out of so many subgenres of rock so seamlessly is pretty amazing. He's got skills.
I like your list. I would also add Three Dog Night, The Turtles, The Chiffons, Grand Funk Railroad, Sheryl Crow, Jim Croce, Jose Feliciano, Jan and Dean, Steppenwolf, The Tokens, and John Denver. (Yes, I said John Denver. It's my list. Deal with it.)
Nine Inch Nails is the most glaring omission in my book, but there are tons of others missing.. Tool, Pearl Jam, etc etc some that have already been named and others that haven't.
I'm pretty sure if we pooled all the deserving musicians who aren't in the R&R Hall of Fame, we could come up with a list at least as long as the people who ARE in there.
He was inducted as an early influence, not a performer. If this counts then people like leadbelly, louis armstrong, ma rainey, and howlin' wolf need to be included as well.
Shouldn't there be a quiz for those early influences too? There's 32 of them. Also the quiz says "members", aren't those members too or did I miss something?
Blind Melon would be on here if not for the death of Shannon Hoon. He was truly one of the greatest and most underappreciated song writers of all time.
I really like Miles Davis and Tom Waits, but I don't think of their music as rock'n'roll. Of course we all have to give our two cent worth on who should be there and isn't, so here goes: NIN, Dead Kennedys, Jethro Tull, The Saints, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Bad Brains, Soundgarden, Prodigy, Canned Heat, PJ Harvery. It's a travesty and a disgrace, etc etc. It's especially annoying that the two best punk bands of all time, Dead Kennedys and The Saints, are not in there; but somehow Green Day and the Sex Pistols have made it. The Sex Pistols was just one giant scam orchestrated by Malcolm Maclaren to make money. Didn't any of the people who make these decisions watch "The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle"? John Lydon has made much better music with PIL. I was very pleased however, to see Frank Zappa is in there.
Pleased too that the Stooges and Bill Withers are in there. Along with Zappa, all brilliant but often forgotten. I am surprised too that Dire Straits is not in there, even though I don't particularly like their music.
tried typing The English Beat, The Specials, Joy Division, Joe Jackson, Jane's Addiction and Jethro Tull...none of them came up...THAT'S A DISGRACE. Whoever is on the nominating committee is smoking crack.
The Rock and Roll HOF is a joke! Please explain how groups like U2, NWA, beastie boys, and other crap bands get in but not bands like Jethro Tull, ELP, Procol Harum, Uriah Heep, Three Dog Night, King Crimson, Alan Parsons, Blue Oyster Cult, Canned Heat, Camel, Caravan, Grand Funk Railroad, The Guess Who, James Gang, Kansas, Peter Paul and Mary...should I keep going, I can name a ton more! Biggest joke ever!!
The point is, that many musical acts that are not Rock and roll are inducted before important bands like BÖC or King Crimson. No, it's really not serious. I would not complain against U2 though.
Missed some obvious ones because I didn't know artists could be in here with their band and another time as a solo act (Mccartney, Paul Simon, Harrison, etc). In hindsight that was a dumb assumption :D
how is green day on here and not sonic youth????? talk about influential. there would be no grren day, no nirvana, no Radiohead, no alternative anything without sonic youth.
If it isn't strictly Rock n Roll, I could think of many influential artists that belong on this list, including artists I don't even really listen to. Where is the likes of Dolly Parton? There is other country music artists on this list - but no one is more distinct than her!
Others whom I expected to be listed were Freddie Mercury, Chrissie Hynde, Eurythmics, Iron Maiden, and even Linkin Park since they have been one of the highest selling rock bands over the past 10 years.
In my opinion, inducting people like Biggie Smalls and Whitney Houston reeks of a desperate effort to stay relevant. Rock music officially died in 1994 (just like jazz died in 1967).
Agree. I love Whitney's music, but if she is included then when are we going to see Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, etc?
Rock never died. It just went underground. The "unholy trinity" (big labels controlling ~90% of the global market) push garbage (not the band) because it's easy and fast to make and the profit marginal is good. Yes, I worked in the music industry for odd year and another.
You are right @WillemLAif. There is still some decent rock music being made, especially in places like Nashville and Austin. But it's no longer culturally relevant in the way that the Rolling Stones or the Beatles were. Nirvana is probably the last rock band that had a large amount of cultural caché.
Agree with other commenters: The Rock 'n' Roll HOF has its share of inductees who don't fit that genre. (Whitney Houston - really?) But "rock 'n' roll" as part of the name does sound cooler than the "Pop HOF" (which brings to mind Britney Spears - uh, no thanks). And the term was coined first in Cleveland. (We here in Ohio like to misinterpret that and pretend that rock 'n' roll - the music itself - was born here, because we're cool like that. LOL) Rock 'n' roll as a music form is almost nonexistent these days, sadly. But on a more important point of debate - Genesis is in, Peter Gabriel is in, but not Phil Collins?! What the heck?!
Surprised not to see Supertramp nor Bob Geldorf/Boomtown Rats on here, nor any of the soul divas (apart from Donna Summer and Aretha Franklin) and a few others I can't remember now.
I imagine (desperately hope?) that in the next few years we'll be able to see our first nu metal and rap rock bands included - Korn just passed their 25th year, and most others will be eligible within the next 5. I imagine Linkin Park will be inducted in their first year of eligibility, 2025 (or maybe the hall of fame will continue to be dumb, who knows).
They'll never admit any nu metal bands. Linkin Park is the best bet because they're the most respectable nu metal band, and Rolling Stone likes to pay lip service to genres they hate, lest they seem ignorant. So you get Metallica for metal, the Ramones for punk, Rush for prog rock, plus one or two other token entries for each, but if they don't think a genre is sufficiently hip, no one from that genre is getting in. And given that most nu metal bands are a running joke at this point, I think it's unlikely they'll see any entries. Best not to get too worked up about it. No one familiar with Rolling Stone or Jann Wenner takes the Hall of Fame very seriously. As Arlo Guthrie said when giving a speech at his father Woody's Hall of Fame induction, "I don't know where my father would be tonight if he were still alive, but I can guarantee you he wouldn't be here."
I think it's technically not Rolling Stone, but the Hall's principal officer is Jann Wenner, the founder and chairman of Rolling Stone (and a first-rate goober). He brings the same myopic and selfish approach to the Hall of Fame as he does to his magazine, so a criticism against one is valid against the other. But on the other hand, why celebrate different genres when you can just put Bruce Springsteen on the cover for the fortieth time?
This is always interesting to check back in on. My musical tastes have since (mostly) moved away from nu metal, and I've realized there are a lot more bands that should be there that are missing.
For now, the biggest non-inclusions that actually baffle me as to why they aren't there include Slayer, Iron Maiden, Megadeth (sensing a pattern here), Tool, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Joy Division, and especially King Crimson and The Smiths.
As for bands that aren't eligible yet that I really think deserve a spot, still Linkin Park (about 90% of mainstream rock music since the mid-2000s has been directly influenced by them and I'd argue that they're the most influential rock band of the century so far), Slipknot (same as Linkin Park but for metal), Thrice (one of if not the most consistently amazing catalogue in the history of rock music, although I don't know if they're mainstream enough to merit inclusion), Bring Me the Horizon (apart from Linkin Park, the most innovative and genre-defining rock artist of the century), The Strokes (pioneers of modern indie rock and some of the best hitmakers in the history of the genre) System of a Down (don’t think I even need to explain this one, they’re legends), and maybe Coldplay or Muse. I’d also like to see The Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge but there’s almost no chance of them getting a spot.
...and considering that the hall of fame doesn’t really care about sticking to rock music anymore, I’d also say that Taylor Swift definitely deserves a spot when she’s eligible, easily one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation. Same with Jason Isbell although again I don’t know if he’s popular enough. Probably Twenty One Pilots too.
Well in the last few years with the induction of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, The Moody Blues, and most importantly Nine Inch Nails, can't say this list is completely irrelevant anymore. But there are still a large number of strange omissions and inclusions.
Because War is good for absolutely nothing. Jann Wenner hates ska and punk, so the Specials are a long shot, but they might have enough cool factor to get in. Amy Winehouse is a lock for admission, but you can't be admitted until 25 years after the release of your first album, so she won't be eligible until around 2030 or so.
There's a lot of personal opinion, critic's darlings and record sales popularity, but I really am shocked Carole King didn't get in until now. She has written well over 100 songs that have made it to the charts since the 1950s when she was still in high school. Her album Tapestry was an enormous seller that ushered in the singer-songwriter era. Any female singer who sticks around for very long eventually covers one of her songs. Personal taste and popularity aside she has been hugely influential.
Deep Purple isn't on here. What's the first song people learn on the guitar?
What about the first song people learn on bass?
Obviously, smoke on the water!
It's one of the most famous bass lines ever along with another one bites the dust and seven nation army.
Also surely the Cure must deserve to be on the list by now.
- Joan Baez
- Glen Campbell
- Canned Heat
- The Cars
- Chubby Checker
- Joe Cocker
- Commodores
- Deep Purple
- Eddie Floyd
- Foghat
- The J. Geils Band
- Rick James
- Tommy James & The Shondells
- Jethro Tull
- The Marvelettes
- MC5
- The Moody Blues
- Willie Nelson
- New York Dolls
- Gram Parsons
- Peter, Paul & Mary
- Lou Reed
- The Spinners
- The Stylistics
- Stevie Ray Vaughan | Double Trouble
- War
- Mary Wells
- Wings
- Yes
- The Zombies
Where's Bon Jovi, though?
Still, it's a cool idea for a quiz!
I'm pleasantly surprised by no Meatloaf. Maybe Gary Busy trumped him behind the scenes.
Others whom I expected to be listed were Freddie Mercury, Chrissie Hynde, Eurythmics, Iron Maiden, and even Linkin Park since they have been one of the highest selling rock bands over the past 10 years.
For now, the biggest non-inclusions that actually baffle me as to why they aren't there include Slayer, Iron Maiden, Megadeth (sensing a pattern here), Tool, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Joy Division, and especially King Crimson and The Smiths.
Thank you.