2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominations

Thanks for posting, Clayton.

I'm surprised at the support for Hall and Oates.

Let's see what the voters have come up with . . .

I wonder if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has now peaked with the induction of both Nirvana and KISS. I would say Nirvana was the most anticipated future candidate and KISS might have been the most popular omission.

I agree that Hall nominees and attendant snubs have peaked, and there are a couple of related reasons for this. One is that the Hall has already harvested all the major eligible talent. The other is that we've entered the eligibility period marked by what I call the Great Expansion and the Great Bifurcation.

The Great Expansion, which began in the 1980s, is the exponential broadening of popular music as more genres emerged, and they in turn begat even more genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres as popular music continued to expand. You could argue that in the Rock and Soul Era that has always been the case, but I identify the late 1970s and certainly the early 1980s as being the dividing line between the "classic" period and the "modern" period. The Great Bifurcation, also begun in the 1980s, saw the viability of the underground to rival the "overground" in terms of production and distribution of music. The upshot has been, over the course of three-plus decades, much greater niche marketing, with it becoming harder for an artist of any genre to gain universal recognition and possible fame even as that artist could in fact become famous within a genre or set of related genres.

The example I like to use is that we will most likely never see another Beatles or Rolling Stones, not because those two bands were so far off the charts that no other artist will ever match them musically, but because the conditions that enabled them to become so famous 50 years ago did not exist 30 years ago, let alone today--the channels were so limited 50 years ago that it was difficult not to notice the Beatles or Stones, but that was not the case 30 years ago, and it certainly isn't today.

Our definition of "fame" is going to have to change to a recognition that within the overarching label of "rock and roll" there are a number of "kingdoms" in which artists belonging to those "kingdoms" indeed rule within those "kingdoms"--but they could very well be all but unknown to listeners from other "kingdoms."

Put another way, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame may very well become "Balkanized."

I completely disagree about the peaking of the Rock Hall. Just because the two loudest fanbases have been heard, that doesn't mean the Hall has done close to an adequate job of getting everyone in who should be in. Large drumbeats will start forming behind other artists we haven't thought of having large followings yet. And their record on female artists is abysmal (I know, I know ... I need a new topic to harp on, but seriously not even a nomination amongst Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, or Cher at this point is an abomination).

And I do agree that Balkanization has and is happening, there are still big artists coming down the pike in the next few years. Pearl Jam, Green Day, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Tupac, Biggie, Jay Z, Mariah Carey, Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Usher, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce ... the list goes on and on. None of them may have the overall caché of Nirvana, but they're not exactly Percy Sledge or Darlene Love either. While the disposable boy bands and bubblegum pop stars are out there in the years to come, I'd like to think the Hall will always be smart enough to keep the true pretenders out and make sure the worthy talents get in, even if it takes a complete turnover of the nominating committee.

I am astonished that Deep Purple are only now nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their live album Made in Japan was such a big influence on aspiring Rock musicians all over the world that it is an artistic crime that Deep Purple have been ignored for such a long time. Would the Americans ignore Jimi Hendrix in the same fashion, perhaps so if Jimi Hendrix's talents were not recognised in the UK when he visited the shores of UK.

Deep Purple was in 2nd or 3rd place on the online voting ballot behind Nirvana and KISS. I suspect they'll be back on the ballot this year and will finally be inducted.