I have been interested in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for quite some time now. I suppose it goes back to when the Hall was opened in Cleveland, Ohio back in 1995. It seemed a rather odd yet intriguing premise: a building and history project that sought to honor and determine who are the most important rock artists and non-performers in the Rock and Roll medium. Unlike a sport hall of fame where statistics and numbers are of the most importance to determine an induction, recorded and performed music has no such obvious criterion. Getting a number one hit album or song, for example, does not thankfully indicate Hall of Fame worthiness.
As the years have gone by, the RRHOF has become quite important to merit worldwide attention and a fair deal of hand-wringing debates and responses. For myself, I feel as if I and a number of others have helped to steer the influence. You see, for the past 7 years, I have been an active participant on the website Future Rock Legends. On there, my user name is Lax followed by the number of my current age. I will explain why I picked the name Lax later. In any matter, the Future Rock Legends website itself has grown to include numerous polls and ballots to determine what are the best Songs and Albums of all time. Our Crown Jewel though is the Revisited/Projected Rock Hall Project.
It was initiated in 2010 as a way for the FRL community to look back at prior RRHOF inductions and determine what would we do and who would we induct each of those years through 2010. We then went through a phase of looking 16 years in the future to determine what our own Hall of Fame would look like by adding more inductees through a projected 2026 induction. We stopped there as we fit 10 years in the real world would be a sufficient amount of time to determine on FRL who would make the Hall, either in our website or the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame itself.
Since then each successive year we have added a new class of inductees from our own ballots of 7 Performers, 2 Non-Performers, 2 Influences and 2 Sidemen. Whichever artists, groups and non-performers get the most votes to make it to the top positions in each category are thereby inducted. Now, perhaps this may not mean much; yet here is an interesting anecdote.
Last Summer, many of the posters on FRL had come to a consensus that Bill Withers had ben massively overlooked for induction. Indeed before the October vote began, many of us mentioned on the message boards our intent to add Bill Withers on our ballots. This might likely have struck a nerve with the RRHOF Nominating Committee; for in early October, Mr. Withers was announced as one of the 16 nominees for possible induction into the RRHOF in 2015. I should point out that we at FRL voted right after the announcements. Within a week, when the votes were tabulated, Bill Withers was easily inducted into our Revisited/Projected Rock Hall Project; indeed, Mr. Withers had more votes than any other person or band.
Well, flash forward to December when the RRHOF announced their 2015 inductees. One of the 8 inducted was indeed Bill Withers. As an added bonus, Lou Reed was posthumously inducted right after the Revisited/Projected ballots had Mr. Reed obtaining the second most votes of any other person or band. I would like to think we at Future Rock Legends, not to mention the fan ballot by the actual Hall of Fame website, had a hand in getting these two important artists to be inducted into the actual Hall of Fame.
In September, the RRHOF Nominating Committee will meet in New York to discuss which 16 artists and/or bands will be put up for nomination as Performers for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction class of 2016. The only specific qualification for induction is for the artist or band to have made a record of some kind (debut album, demo tape, home recording) at least 25 years ago. For this year, it means any artist who started out by 1990 is now eligible. We at Future Rock Legends will concurrently be planning for our newest Revisited/Projected class with the cutoff date for the first recording being 2005. This allows our more recent induction classes to be an indicator of what the Nom Com may likely put up for nomination this year. Here is who I think at this time will be the 16 artists and/or bands nominated this year.
Alice In Chains: Easily one of the best alternative/grunge bands in their time. Their music was far much heavier and darker than many would initially realize, fueled namely by Layne Staley's autobiographical lyrics and singing alongside Jerry Cantrell's interesting counterpoints. Alice In Chains has continued onward long after Staley died of a drug overdose in 2002; this time with newer lead singer William Duvall.
Blur: Four British chaps who became the defining faces and forefathers of Britpop, including a most sophisticated intelligence and musical outlook. Their mixtures of soul, pop, rock, intimate singer-songwriter approaches, and even a bit of musical parody has not been duplicated by other artists since their initial recordings.
The Smashing Pumpkins: Growing up in the 1990s, there were only a select few artists and bands that when they came out with a new album and tour, everything stopped to take all the newer material in. The Smashing Pumpkins were one of those bands throughout the 90s that would release a new album or tour and everyone just had to follow them. For an Alternative band, they were at the edge of defying labels and just putting out what they felt they needed to put out. A lot of this was and still is due to the near singular vision brought forth by Billy Corgan, an awesome lyricist, singer and instrumentalist that showed a great deal of intelligence and song craft that is varied and rather thoughtful. Like many, I have felt the best years of the Smashing Pumpkins were when James Iha, D'Arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin were in the group; adding subtle layers and textures to Corgan's ideas. None the less, what we have are the records and concerts that still to this day matter as being influential for newer artists. It has been 20 years since Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness; and it still sounds fresh and energetic today as it did back then.
Chic: The preeminent dance-soul-funk-disco band of all time, as far as I am concerned. Nile Rodgers to this day remains one of the most gifted and accomplished people in the music industry.
N.W.A: Before Dr. Dre went out on his own, there was N.W.A., a rap and hip-hop group that were brash, politically charged and did not give a crap if you cared for them or not. Much of what hip-hop is positioned as today comes from the likes of Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Mc Ren, DJ Yella and of course Dr. Dre in their relatively brief tenure.
The Eurythmics: Perhaps the most important New Wave act to come out of their era, certainly the most interesting. Annie Lennox is clearly one of the best singers of her or any other time; quite the good instrumentalist and producer with a keen songwriting approach is Dave Stewart. Both In their writings and performances were doing things not seen before or really even since with their brash outlook.
Depeche Mode: The forefathers of Emo and EDM that made personal songs at a time when superficiality ruled the airwaves. what Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher have done in some 35 years is very astonishing. Gahan is the voice, Gore is the guitar and the words, Fletcher is the one that puts it all together; and while with the band, Alan Wilder was the trained musician. To still be innovative today as you were back then is a rare accomplishment that Depeche Mode have uniquely been able to succeed at.
Nine Inch Nails: be it a band or just a name for Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails defined the Industrial subgenre which has since been expanded by many newer artists.
Yes: The most progressive, eclectic and proficient of the Art Rock groups. Quite a number of lineup changes; each one quite excellent in its own way.
Janet Jackson: The youngest of the Jackson siblings and the most accomplished female from the family. During her prime, Janet was just as equally innovative as Michael was; and perhaps a bit more proficient in material coming out. Fortunately, Janet Jackson has a new album coming out this year, her first since Michael Jackson passed away. I cannot wait to hear it.
Kate Bush: A rather left-field nominee, to be sure. Yet, Bush is one of the absolute best singer-songwriters with a very unique approach to performance and recording.
Kraftwerk: Perhaps the most influential group not yet inducted. To list their firsts and their innovations would need to take a longer essay. And that may happen if it is needed.
Link Wray: The innovative guitarist that brought the power chord to a wider audience; along with being an important figure for people of Native American heritage. I feel Link Wray is best suited for an induction in the Performers category.
Jeff Lynne/Electric Light Orchestra: It is interchangeable in whatever approach is given. None the less, one of the most brilliant minds in the rock field may hopefully get the recognition long sought after.
Nick Drake: A most mercurial and mysterious singer songwriter who passed away at age 26. No concert footage or film of Nick Drake is readily available. Yet we do have Drake's music; and what great music it was. Sparse yet effective, wistful yet a tinge of hope sought in each lyric.
Deep Purple: A band that I think would have already gotten in if past relations with living former bandmates were not as tenuous as they have been now. Still to this day a most varied and harder rocking band that have influenced countless newer artists.
Well, those are the 16 I think will be nominated. Tune in by tomorrow, I hope, where I will explain my preliminary picks for induction into the Revisited/Projected Rock Hall Project. Who knows; perhaps one or two may wind up as nominees on the RRHOF ballot.
Have a good night; more to come,
Robert
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