All the greatest artists are already in there. We are now scraping the second- and third-tier just for the sake of ushering in new names to a nonsensical institution.
Interesting thoughts, but here in 2023 the music industry is vastly different. No more Motown, or great bands changing members (or even bands with talent at every instrument), no Woodstocks, innovation is technological, not as musical. Not sure anyone can shock us like Prince, Bowie, Kiss or Alice Cooper. There are rarely “albums” that move the needle with numerous great songs anymore. I am sure that young people have favorite, memorable songs as we did but the landscape is full of individual artists with their own streaming station and tour well. How does a well intentioned institution navigate forward? Does it just “lock the door” and claim , like the US Patent Office did in early 1900 “everything that could be invented has already been invented”? Some Boomers try and be open minded but maybe this is one of those times more celebratory of the good old days and less of the music and industry that followed and at least slow the inductions down to make it a bit more selective, thoughtful and, in doing so, honor the true pioneers and talents that established rock and roll.
Another nail-on-the-head observation. I like to think we all have our own (insert music genres here) halls of fame in our private collections. But it is fun to walk around the museum and see all the cool stuff on display, I guess.
Rock in common parlance is often used to encompass any popular music—and genre designations are kind of nonsense anyway. Given that, I'm perfectly happy to see Willie Nelson in the hall...and especially to see Missy Elliott; the hall is crap at honoring Black woman. (Kate Bush too. who is a good bit more important to where music is now than most of the rockers you cite, I'd say. She's in a lineage that goes through Bjork and Grimes and hyperpop and a lot of what's on the charts now, whereas the Beatles and Dylan are mostly irrelevant. Not bad! just not what the most cutting edge performers are interested in.)
As this suggests, I also disagree that the greats are gone, or that we should really want the next great thing to be in line with the last great thing. It's an incredibly exciting time for music right now, and there's a lot of innovation; it's just somewhat more diffuse because people have more listening options available. I mean, I like Bob Dylan...but I like Beyoncé more, and she's not in the hall yet (though will be no doubt at some point.) and then there are people like R.P. Boo and Khanate working in genres that the Rolling Stones probably couldn't even imagine. (They're both fantastic and have new albums out this year; worth checking out if you're not familiar with them.)
I do think the hall matters too to some degree. canon formation has an impact on who gets listened to, and getting into the hall can be a catalog boost, so there's actual money at stake. And I think there are issues of inclusion as well; again the hall, and the rock canon, is shaped by ideas about race and gender that I think have made it harder to acknowledge quality and greatness when it doesn't come packaged in a certain way. Pushing against that is a moral imperative, imo.
Los Lobos should be in the rock and roll hall of fame.
Totally agree.
Interesting thoughts, but here in 2023 the music industry is vastly different. No more Motown, or great bands changing members (or even bands with talent at every instrument), no Woodstocks, innovation is technological, not as musical. Not sure anyone can shock us like Prince, Bowie, Kiss or Alice Cooper. There are rarely “albums” that move the needle with numerous great songs anymore. I am sure that young people have favorite, memorable songs as we did but the landscape is full of individual artists with their own streaming station and tour well. How does a well intentioned institution navigate forward? Does it just “lock the door” and claim , like the US Patent Office did in early 1900 “everything that could be invented has already been invented”? Some Boomers try and be open minded but maybe this is one of those times more celebratory of the good old days and less of the music and industry that followed and at least slow the inductions down to make it a bit more selective, thoughtful and, in doing so, honor the true pioneers and talents that established rock and roll.
Another nail-on-the-head observation. I like to think we all have our own (insert music genres here) halls of fame in our private collections. But it is fun to walk around the museum and see all the cool stuff on display, I guess.
Rock in common parlance is often used to encompass any popular music—and genre designations are kind of nonsense anyway. Given that, I'm perfectly happy to see Willie Nelson in the hall...and especially to see Missy Elliott; the hall is crap at honoring Black woman. (Kate Bush too. who is a good bit more important to where music is now than most of the rockers you cite, I'd say. She's in a lineage that goes through Bjork and Grimes and hyperpop and a lot of what's on the charts now, whereas the Beatles and Dylan are mostly irrelevant. Not bad! just not what the most cutting edge performers are interested in.)
As this suggests, I also disagree that the greats are gone, or that we should really want the next great thing to be in line with the last great thing. It's an incredibly exciting time for music right now, and there's a lot of innovation; it's just somewhat more diffuse because people have more listening options available. I mean, I like Bob Dylan...but I like Beyoncé more, and she's not in the hall yet (though will be no doubt at some point.) and then there are people like R.P. Boo and Khanate working in genres that the Rolling Stones probably couldn't even imagine. (They're both fantastic and have new albums out this year; worth checking out if you're not familiar with them.)
I do think the hall matters too to some degree. canon formation has an impact on who gets listened to, and getting into the hall can be a catalog boost, so there's actual money at stake. And I think there are issues of inclusion as well; again the hall, and the rock canon, is shaped by ideas about race and gender that I think have made it harder to acknowledge quality and greatness when it doesn't come packaged in a certain way. Pushing against that is a moral imperative, imo.