The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The nominees are announced for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year so I'm going to use the opportunity to talk about how I feel about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Basically, I think it's a joke.

You're telling me that this...

Once upon a time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame might have actually meant something.  But now it's littered with artists that aren't even rock.  Probably the two most notable non-rock inductees have been Public Enemy and Madonna.  However, the list is also littered with folk acts like Simon and Garfunkel which I think are good but I also feel do not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame considering that folk music isn't really rock music.  Also, there's Buddy Guy who is one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time.  But, what did he ever do that was rock and roll?  Then there's the artists that are inducted that leave you scratching your head, especially considering that Yes, Kiss, Boston, and Deep Purple aren't inducted into the hall of fame.  I mean, Deep-Fucking-Purple isn't in the Hall of Fame!?  Deep Purple only has one of the most well-known rock songs of all time (Smoke on the Water), one of the best rock guitar soloists of all time, and one of the best (and in my humble opinion, the best) rock organists of all time.

...rocks more than this!?

You may be thinking, well, is Kiss really that great?  Well, they're better than a ton of the other inductees.  Some of the laughable inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (that haven't been listed before) include: Prince, Michael Jackson (IS NOT ROCK AND ROLL!), Heart, Neil Diamond, ABBA, The Pretenders,  Blondie, etc.

And all you can do is stand there and scratch your head...

When I think of things that rock, I think of Neil Diamond.
When I think of things that rock, I think of ABBA.

I can't even type with a straight face.  It's just laughable, let alone Madonna or Public Enemy.  Give me a break.

Another thing is that metal is very underrepresented in the Hall of Fame.  We have Metallica and Black Sabbath.  However, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden are clearly absent from the list along with other metal bands that I'm not thinking of because I'm not even a heavy metal fan and I think it's bogus!  

You may be thinking, "Well, maybe they just don't consider metal 'rock'."  Well, if you have freaking Madonna and Public Enemy in your "Rock" and Roll Hall of Fame, I think you could make room for at least one more metal band.  I mean, they didn't stiff Punk.  Punk has their big three in the Hall:  The Ramones (inducted in 2002), The Clash (inducted in 2003), and The Sex Pistols (inducted in 2006).  Though I suppose most hardcore punk fans would be pissed that the Ramones are in the Hall but Bad Religion, Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat are not.  But, it makes sense that it's like this because the Ramones are a much more popular band overall than the other four major American punk bands.

There are some artists the Hall of Fame just took forever to induct as well.  Like, Jeff Beck wasn't inducted until 2009.  Prince was inducted in 2004 and Madonna was inducted in 2008.  You take someone like Jeff Beck who is more talented and emotionally invested than both Madonna and Prince combined and you're telling me that they were thought of first when it came to being inducted into the Hall of Fame?  WHAT!?  I mean, sure, Jeff Beck's music is not exactly what you would call rock and roll but it's certainly a hell of a lot closer to rock and roll than Madonna or Prince.

Some other considerably late inductees have been Alice Cooper in 2011, Rush in 2013, and Van Halen in 2007.

Well, for those of you who are curious, here's the list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year and let me tell you, I basically pissed my pants laughing reading this list.  I mean, some of these should already be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but then there are others that all you can do is laugh your ass off that someone even had the thought that this band should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Chic (I don't even know what to say)
Deep Purple (How much longer will they get stiffed?)
Peter Gabriel
Hall & Oates
Kiss
Link Wray
LL Cool J (hahahahahahahahahahahahaha)
Nirvana (First year eligible for nomination.  There's something seriously wrong if Nirvana doesn't get in NOW)
N.W.A  (Well, if Public Enemy can get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...)
The Meters
The Replacements (This kind of makes sense)
Linda Ronstadt (*sigh*)
Cat Stevens
Yes (You know, I could have swore that they were in already)
The Zombies

All I have to say is that you watch these and you tell me that they don't ROCK
 






Skip to 1:40 if you don't want to wait through the concert intro
Skip to 3:19 for Jon Lord's sick keyboard solo
Skip to 4:49 for Ritchie Blackmore's sick guitar solo





Madonna Image:  http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/00466/madonna_live_280_466780a.jpg

Deep Purple Image:  http://www.deep-purple.net/archive/a-z/poznan/deep-purple-1991-2.jpg