The nominees are: ABBA, The Chantels, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, The Hollies, KISS, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Stooges and Donna Summer.
As a reminder: a band or artist is eligible 25 years after their first release of album or single.
ABOVE: After years of being snubbed, fierce advocacy by the KISS Army (including a march on the Rock Hall museum in Cleveland a couple of years ago) and equally fierce resistence by sworn KISS enemies on the Rock Hall Nominating Committee, KISS is finally nominated for possible induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Hmm. They seem to be covering a lot of bases this time out. Generally there are 8 or 9 nominees, but this time there are 12. They cover pop, disco, reggae, prog rock, classic rock, hard rock, rap, girl groups, singer songwriter, alternative, proto punk. Overall, I'm impressed and happy with this year's nominees.
Two of the most overlooked bands who have sworn enemies on the Committee finally managed to get nominated: Genesis and KISS. I recall Dave Marsh swearing that he will do everything in his power to make sure KISS never gets nominated, and considering his sway on the Committee, I am pleasantly shocked that they finally made it. Perhaps James Hetfield's scolding of the nominating Committee at last year's induction of Metallica and his specifically mentioning KISS as one of the most egregious omissions had an effect?
Love them or hate them, Genesis' continued snubbing has been equally ridiculous. The Committee has a long standing hatred of all things prog rock (King Crimson, Yes, Moody Blues, ELO have all yet to get a single nomination). Perhaps the prog rock door is finally opening beyond Pink Floyd? Cool.
ABOVE: Genesis finally gets a shot at broadening the Rockhall's prog rock contingent beyond just Pink Floyd. Peter Gabriel (right) should already be in twice by now, once with Genesis and secondly for his solo career. But this nomination is a start. This is the best line-up of Genesis, by the way. When Phil Collins (bottom Left) was just the drummer.
Grandmaster Flash and Run-DMC are the only rappers in so far, so LL Cool J is the next hesitant nomination in that regard (Afrika Bombaada and Beastie Boys have been nominated, but not inducted). The Chantels and Darlene Love show that the Committee still hangs on to the Fifties and early Sixties, even though they have already inducted almost all of the worthy acts from that era by now. They seem to keep holding on to that era as a way of avoiding moving into the early 80's. While The Police, REM and Pretenders are in, bands like The Cure, Sonic Youth, The Smiths and Depeche Mode are eligible, but have not been nominated at all.
The Hollies are pretty minor league, but they have many influential boosters on the Committee like Elvis Costello and Steve Van Zandt who have been pushing them for years. Crosby (Byrds, CSN), Stills (CSN, Buffalo Springfield) and Young (solo, Buffalo Springfield) are all inducted twice, so I guess they want to complete the circle by giving Graham Nash his second induction as a member of The Hollies. But, I kind of dig The Hollies, so I would not be too upset to see them inducted. There are simply much more deserving bands who have yet to make it in, much less even get nominated.
ABBA and Summer, although I'm not a fan of the genre, are both deserving disco-era representatives who could join The Bee Gees, who are already in the Hall. Seeing as Bob Marley is the only reggae artist in the Hall so far, I'd like to see the great Jimmy Cliff get in as well. Nyro represents the token obscure singer-songwriter nominee, but I don't see her having much of a chance with this year's competition. The RHCP's get a nomination their first year of eligibility, which is rare. Deserving though. And The Stooges are nominated again. Maybe the 9th time will be the charm (hey, it took Black Sabbath 8 nominations to finally get in).
The fun part is predicting.
First, if I had a vote, my five out of this list would be:
Genesis
KISS
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Stooges
The Hollies or Jimmy Cliff (I'm having trouble deciding on my fifth slot)
Who do I think will actually be inducted from this list? That is tough because it is longer than usual and more eclectic than usual. There will be some serious vote splitting this year. Most of the voters are older, so that is important to consider. But they are making a concerted effort to make up for some past omissions, so that is equally important to consider. I guess the following will be inducted:
The Hollies
Genesis
RHCP
KISS
Donna Summer
I am not confident in that prediction at all, by the way. It could go any way this year. The Inductees will be announced in January.
Thoughts? Predictions?
3 comments:
My first thought is that the RRHF is completely ridiculous. The Cure, The Smiths and Sonic Youth haven't even been nominated, and they might vote in the Red Hot Chili Peppers??! Good lord.
My second thought is that KISS won't make it in on their first try. Do the nominations get made a new every year, or once you're nominated are you essentially an option to vote for every year?
RHCP are a good choice, but not before some earlier bands like the ones you mentioned. There are many on the Committee who don't look kindly upon the 80's.
Yes, the nominations are made new each year. So if KISS does not make it in this year, they will have to be renominated to get another chance. Sometimes they will nominate someone year after year, but other times they will wait several years before renominating someone. Out of this year's nominees, ABBA and The Stooges have been nominated before.
Oh, Donna Summer was also nominated before.
I think The Stooges now hold the record for nominations. This year is the 9th year that the Committee has put them up for induction. Before this, Black Sabbath had the record with 8 attempts before finally making it in.
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