“Rock and Roll” Hall of Fame lacking Rock and Roll

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Tony Fischer

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In 1983, founder and chairman of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, established an organization known as the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation” with the goal of recognizing influential rock bands that shaped the history of music. Each year the Rock Hall of Fame inducts a handful of rock bands, recognizing them as some of the best in history and entering them into a sort of “best of the best” list, similar to sports hall of fames. Recently, the Rock Hall of Fame has gotten some backlash for the artists they’re inducting.

Originally an organization founded to recognize rock and roll influencers and pioneers, this organization now inducts mostly non-rock artists, such as country artists, rappers, and pop stars. This year’s 35th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees were Todd Rundgren, Kraftwerk, T. Rex, Motorhead, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Judas Priest, Soundgarden, The Doobie Brothers, The Notorious B.I.G., Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, MC5, Thin Lizzy, Whitney Houston, Dave Matthews Band, and Pat Benetar. 

Ultimately, Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex were inducted. Now, the induction process for the Hall of Fame is done through several stages of online voting on the artists that anyone can partake in. This method is fair for the most part, but the question still remains: why are non-rock artists nominated at all? Why do real rock artists lose out to pop and country artists?

Famous classic rock artists are still not in the Hall of Fame. Non-inductees include Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Oasis,The Monkees, Soundgarden, Pat Benetar, Supertramp, Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Temple Pilots, Boston, Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, Motley Crue, Blue Oyster Cult, Scorpions, Styx, Foreigner, Thin Lizzy, The Commodores, Grand Funk Railroad, Alice in Chains, America,  Peter Frampton, and Poison. Some of these names seem like no-brainers, yet they still haven’t made the cut to be in the hall. Most of these names haven’t even received nominations.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognizes non rock artists over actual rock influencers. If it was called the Music Hall of Fame, artists like Notorious B.I.G., Miles Davis, Dr. John, Whitney Houston, and N.W.A. would be acceptable inductees. The fact that these kind of artists are even NOMINATED and actual rock gods aren’t is criminal and needs to be changed.