I’ve never really cared about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Even as someone who’s employed to write about music and culture, the yearly spectacle and induction ceremony for the long-running museum does little for me other than as fodder for a quick news post or maybe as the eighth coolest thing to do if I’m ever in Cleveland for a week. With its confusing, wildly inconsistent and oddly political selection process; often groan-worthy, male-dominated inductees; and off-base snubs (seriously, Chic has 11 nominations and hasn’t been inducted yet and more acts, such as Whitney Houston, have gone without nominations), to me, the Rock Hall has always been a self-congratulatory industry fest that deserves snark rather than seriousness.
After all, the ceremony’s become so corny that last year, Steve Miller, of “The Joker” and “Jungle Love” fame, managed to be the most punk person there not in Cheap Trick or N.W.A. when he told reporters after he won: “This whole industry fucking sucks and this little get-together you guys have here is like a private boys’ club and it’s a bunch of jackasses and jerks and fucking gangsters and crooks who’ve fucking stolen everything from a fucking artist.” He added, continuing to not mince words, “And if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wants to be taken seriously, they need to put their books out in the public. They need to fucking become transparent.”
That’s why last week, when the Rock Hall unveiled its 2017 shortlist of nominees, which included first-time nods like Bad Brains, Depeche Mode, Joan Baez, Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur and more, I quickly deleted my screencap tweet with a sarcastic “lol” caption in favor of one that read, “wow, Bad Brains, that’s cool.” Along with those acts, new nominees Jane’s Addiction, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra and Steppenwolf—some of who just became eligible because of the ceremony’s 25-year rule, while some were included for no reason other than the committee felt like it—and previously nominated acts like The Cars, Chaka Khan, Chic, Janet Jackson, The J. Geils Band, Joe Tex, Kraftwerk, MC5, Yes and The Zombies can also be inducted in 2017.
While it could use more women and less Journey, that’s not really a list to laugh at. Even hardcore legend Ian MacKaye, of Fugazi and Minor, in his typically skeptical way complimented the selection: “I don’t know who the nominators are, and frankly don’t care, but the person who put Bad Brains name in the hat is either visionary, or they’re savvy and trying to bring some legitimacy to their brand.” So why does the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seem less embarrassing in 2016 than it did in years past?
Well, for one, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame got predictably roasted this year for not inducting a single woman in its 2016 class. It got so bad that even Rolling Stone, the publication owned by Rock Hall co-founder Jann Wenner, wrote a post decrying its lack of women. When the Rock Hall has 321 members but only 44, or a paltry 13.7 percent, are women, it’s not only ridiculous for its disparity and lack of reflecting the actual musical landscape, but also really weird. So not to knock on Chicago or Steve Miller, who were inducted last year, but when it’s 2016 and those are some of the year’s inductees, it’s tough to get excited.
Long the subject of criticism, the Rock Hall knows it. In 2015, it purged several older members of the nominating committee, the 40 or so bloc of voters who pick the acts that make the ballot, as opposed to the 800 or so voters who actually induct artists into the Hall. “We’ve made a conscious effort to diversify it,” Wenner told Billboard that year. Notable artists like Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and the Roots’ Questlove Thompson have recently been added to the nominating committee to add more diverse voices to the fray. But, as Wenner also notes, change is going to be hard: “The nominating committee is a more educated, elite and sophisticated group of people. The broader voters are more like me—I loved a certain period of music, but I’m not deeply committed to knowing everything that’s going on.”
So, while the nominating committee this year produced the most diverse list of Rock Hall nominees in over 20 years, there’s still a lot of work to do. While, of the 19 acts this year, there are only three women, it’s a step in the right direction. Tupac is finally nominated and, wow, again, but I still can’t believe Bad Brains are there, too. But, if the Rock Hall of Fame is going to continue to surprise us with well thought-out nominees and a diverse array of artists who actually reflect the culture, one of the only ways we can do that is to keep them accountable by making fun of it. But please, tease away as long as you’re not criticizing it for including acts from hip-hop, disco and pop—don’t sound like geezer-in-chief Gene Simmons in 2016.
@joshhterry | jterry@redeyechicago.com