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2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Finalists

WildcatFan1982

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Dec 4, 2011
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Otherwise known as 'the annual farce of The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame trying to be PC and relevant'. I've never understood the 25 year qualification - I mean so what if you're a one-hit wonder (or one/two album wonder) 25 years ago. Couldn't the Hall be for, I don't know, the best of the best in rock 'n roll and not what it is now. There could/should be some objective criteria included with subjective.

Definitely Maybe (Oasis) came out in '94. They didn't make it as a finalist? And Whitney Houston did? And Rufus with Chaka Khan? Pat Benatar? Wow. The only argument that can be made against Oasis is that they didn't make nearly as big a splash in the States as they did elsewhere. But, for a time, they were arguably the biggest band in the world. Can't really say that about any of the other 'finalists'.
 
Ah, the wonderful time of year where people have hard opinions on what other people think is rock and roll. Welcome to this year’s critics.

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No such thing as a true rock and roll hall of fame when Def Leopard is in it and Kiss sorry you terrible music lovers. Moody Blues and Jethro Tull should never be a part of this just like pat Benatar.
They should have stopped at first 2-3 years and put in real pioneers like Chuck Berry and Elvis, Bo Didley with the innovators and creators like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, BB, Freddie, Albert King types Wolf

Then you do the Beatles and Stones Bob Dylan types then next year do Cream, The Who, The Band, Creedence types all in one big inductance. Rest are just given names as bands that were popular not inductees.
 
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How is priest not in there???? Dear lord! I saw them live at ozzfest like 14-15 years ago and those guys were insane. Fast as hell and shredded it up.
 
How is priest not in there???? Dear lord! I saw them live at ozzfest like 14-15 years ago and those guys were insane. Fast as hell and shredded it up.

The RRHOF can EAD as far as I'm concerned. When Flavor Flav, (whose only claim to fame is wearing big ass clocks for a necklace), has been inducted in and Joe Cocker, (who played at effing woodstock and is a rock radio staple), isn't in you're doing something way wrong.
 
  • If you can't sell out a basketball arena in a city the size of let's say Indianapolis then you don't belong.
  • If you have ever been big enough to go on tour playing football stadiums then you get automatic entry.
  • If the vast majority of people say "Is that rock n' roll?" When you are on this list then you are in fact not rock n' roll and should be in another hall of fame
  • If your music was so douchey that less than 5 years after the height of your popularity no one likes you and you don't even like yourself anymore then you don't belong.
Just a few simple rules.
 
Not a huge fan but Pat Benatar belongs with 15 top 40 hits. She was probably the most accomplished rocker chick of the 80's. Her husband and band member (Neil Giraldo) is also an underrated guitarist. She is certainly more rock n roll than Madonna, Linda Ronstadt, Joan Baez and Janet Jackson (who are already members).
 
Benatar is fine but I don't like the push for female inductees purely because they are female. For example, Stevie Nicks, imo, is completely undeserving of being in the Rock Hall as a solo artist, but yet she is. I also don't understand why Joan Jett is in.
 
They need to send most of these folks to The Pop Hall of Fame.

Depeche Mode? Kraftwerk?
 
I am honestly convinced some of you all have no idea who is already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Your definitions are just wrong. Open up your own Hall of Fame if you want to put rules on what it means.
 
Simple criteria,
  • were they a best selling artist of their time for a sustained period (Benatar/Houston)
  • were they acknowledged as one of the best at what they did at the time (Soundgarden)
  • or did they move the needle/influence a generation.(Kraftwerk)

You could argue if Cheap Trick is in then the Doobies should be in.
Was Motorhead an influencer?
Was Priest run long enough or were they an influencer?
Matthews cult-like following is a tough one for me. Had a big hit, but did not push any boundaries musically but has the huge following.
 
Pat Benatar
Dave Matthews Band
The Doobie Brothers
Motörhead
The Notorious B.I.G.
Soundgarden
T. Rex
Thin Lizzy
Whitney Houston
Depeche Mode (two previous noms)
Judas Priest (nominated for Class of 2018)
Kraftwerk (nominated five previous times)
MC5 (nominated four times before)
Nine Inch Nails (nominated two times before)
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (three previous noms)
Todd Rundgren (nominated for Class of 2019).

Whitney
Doobie Brothers
Biggie
Rufus & Chaka
Benatar
 
Simpler criteria:

Are you an actual rock band?

If not, go to another HOF for your genre.

Of course, expecting the media to accurately define ANYTHING is expecting too much.
 
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Simpler criteria:

Are you an actual rock band?

If not, go to another HOF for your genre.

Of course, expecting the media to accurately define ANYTHING is expecting too much.
No. You're incorrect. Unless you want to go back to the mid-1980s and throw out The Coasters and Aretha Franklin, among others. The ones complaining about the nominees are the ones with a very narrow view of what Rock and Roll is.
 
No. You're incorrect. Unless you want to go back to the mid-1980s and throw out The Coasters and Aretha Franklin, among others. The ones complaining about the nominees are the ones with a very narrow view of what Rock and Roll is.
Call it the "Music HOF" and put these folks in the RnB wing, the rap wing, the pop wing, whatever... but it sure as heck ain't RnR.
 
Whitney should go in if Janet Jackson went in. But the problem is what happens in a few years. Does Pink get in? Rihanna? Chris Brown? Music over the last couple of decades is way more segmented than it was in the 60s-80s. We watched Whitney Houston videos on MTV followed by Motley Crue videos. It was all "rock" at the time. I doubt that Christina Aguilera and the like would even want to be in the Rock Hall.
 
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Whitney should go in if Janet Jackson went in. But the problem is what happens in a few years. Does Pink get in? Rihanna? Chris Brown? Music over the last couple of decades is way more segmented than it was in the 60s-80s. We watched Whitney Houston videos on MTV followed by Motley Crue videos. It was all "rock" at the time. I doubt that Christina Aguilera and the like would even want to be in the Rock Hall.
The problem I have with your analogy is MTV was never characterized itself as playing just rock and roll music. I've never in my life heard anyone say Whitney Houston was a rock and roll artist. I doubt there are any rock and roll radio stations that player her music. At least I've never listened to one that did. Even satellite radio has channels devoted to specific types of music, including rock and roll. I've never heard any of her music played on those rock and roll specific channels either. The term rock and roll has specific meaning for a lot of people and it doesn't include pop, R&B, rap, etc. I don't really care what they do, but it annoys me that they have taken a term that has been used in radio etc., to mean a specific type of music and turned it into a generic term for all music except, I guess country and jazz. Who knows though, maybe they will start inducting country, jazz, etc., along with everyone else.
 
Kraftverk is the only innovative and influential entrant. TS

the rest can get effed
 
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Jimmie Rodgers was inducted in the first class as an 'early influence' of Rock and Roll. Louis Armstrong is one, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe. The people who stick to a certain definition of Rock and Roll are just wrong. That's the whole point.

Even satellite radio has channels devoted to specific types of music, including rock and roll
Where? Where is the 'Rock and Roll' channel?

You all have it in your head that 'Rock' music and it's sub genres are the only thing that is Rock and Roll.
 
Jimmie Rodgers was inducted in the first class as an 'early influence' of Rock and Roll. Louis Armstrong is one, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe. The people who stick to a certain definition of Rock and Roll are just wrong. That's the whole point.


Where? Where is the 'Rock and Roll' channel?

You all have it in your head that 'Rock' music and it's sub genres are the only thing that is Rock and Roll.
How old are you? I'm 56. I grew up listening to WKQQ, WEBN, etc. They were all marketed as playing rock-N-Roll music. They did not play pop, R&B, Jazz, Country, etc. Check out Sirius/XM radio and channels like classic vinyl and classic rewind are categorized as rock. They don't play Whitney Houston. Channels, such as the blend are categorized as pop. They do play Whitney Houston. The radio stations that played Whitney Houston, for example, never marketed themselves as a rock stations. The expansion of the term has come about in the last few decades to include all pop music. That doesn't mean the term didn't start out as a reference a specific type of music and has been perverted over time to mean something entirely different.

Edit: Using who the Rock hall of fame inducts as an argument against people who say they are misusing the term Rock-N-Roll doesn't make a lot of sense.
 
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