The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is preparing to induct its class of 2021 in a ceremony on Oct. 30 in Cleveland. But which inductees will show up is still an open question.
As a casual observer of the Rock Hall, it’s clear to me that the institution has a lot of work to do to mend fences with the music industry and its fans.
The
2021 class of inductees is a good start. To begin with, the hall is inducting 12 groups and individual artists. That’s double the six performers inducted in 2020. (The hall also is inducting one non-performer this year: music industry executive Clarence Avant. That makes a total of 13 inductees.)
Technically, the Rock Hall is only inducting six acts in its “performer category” this year: Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and Todd Rundgren. But it found a backdoor way to induct Kraftwerk and LL Cool J as well as session musician Billy Preston (known as “the fifth Beatle”), heavy-metal guitarist Randy Rhoads, “Father of the Delta Blues” Charley Patton and soul-jazz performer Gil Scott-Heron. The hall used its “musical excellence” and “early influence” categories to induct the additional performers.
Some observers complained about the use of those categories to induct artists. But in the absence of a veterans committee to install other deserving artists, I have no major problem with it. However, the hall might need to change its extra categories.
My
biggest complaint about the Rock Hall has been that it’s been too stingy about installing new acts. With the sizable backlog of worthy acts not inducted, adding five to seven performers a year just doesn’t cut it. Adding 12 artists this year is a positive step.
Another positive this year is that the hall appeared to pay attention to the online fan poll. The fan poll winner, Tina Turner, was inducted this year.
Three of the five acts picked for the fan ballot this year were inducted. The Go-Go’s and Foo Fighters also were in the top five. (Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and heavy metal band Iron Maiden didn’t make the final cut.)
A year earlier, the hall snubbed the top vote-getters – Dave Matthews Band and Pat Benatar.
Some pundits thought Foo Fighters shouldn’t have been inducted in their first year of eligibility. I disagree and think it’s great that a rock band that’s still culturally relevant is getting honored. (Consider the
Foo Fighter’s recent trolling of picketing members of the Westboro Baptist Church, its support of Covid-19 vaccinations and headlining of Lollapalooza 2021.)
Too often it seems like the hall waits until acts are deceased or no longer touring to induct them.
Finally, there’s been a lot of reports in the media of music acts criticizing the Rock Hall for its policies. For instance,
making inductees pay for tickets to their own show is a dick move.
The hall has created much ill will with the music industry related to its snubbing of certain acts and its mandates for inductees.
This animosity partly explains why prog-rocker Todd Rundgren doesn’t plan to attend the induction ceremony. He has a concert booked for Cincinnati that same night.
The Go-Go’s also are a question mark for performing at the ceremony. Lead singer Belinda Carlisle has a solo concert set for Sheffield, England, that night. The group had been ignored by the hall for about 15 years.
Tina Turner, 81, is in poor health and highly unlikely to travel from Switzerland.
Jay-Z has been silent about whether he’ll perform at the Rock Hall induction ceremony. If he and his superstar wife Beyonce are no-shows, it would be a major diss of the institution.
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters, Carole King, and LL Cool J are seen as the safest bets for performing at this year’s show.
