In an interview with the website BANG Showbiz, Chris Squire, the long time member of the Progressive Rock band, Yes, discussed his thoughts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the perpetual snubbing that the band has received. We thought some of those comments were worth mentioning here.
“There were bands nominated who had been up before so I didn’t really think we would get in there this year. We missed it by a few votes or something I was told, but I’m sure it will come up again.”
Yes has been eligible since 1994, but until this past year had never been nominated. It is has been suggested by many (us included) that this was due the Hall of Fame’s bias against the Progressive Rock. This has certainly not gone unnoticed by Squire.
“Most of the time they’re not prog rock sort of people. In the past couple of years they’ve made an effort by putting Genesis in there and Canadian rock band Rish, but generally they’ve always stayed away from prog rock people. I can’t say whether that’s fair or not but people have different tastes. Punk rates a lot higher than prog rock on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Squire’s assessment is completely correct. Traditionally, the genre of Progressive Rock has been the red headed stepchild of the Hall of Fame (with Heavy Metal being its twin) and we only have to look at our top fifty annually to see a plethora of those type of acts who have not been inducted, or even sniffed a nomination.
He continued to mention the dilemma that would occur should Yes get in, the same one that plagued KISS, when they finally received the call. That would be which members of the band should be selected to enter the Hall of Fame, and what the resulting controversy will be.
Yes has had many members, many of which we feel would be locks to enter as part of a potential induction. That would include Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Jon Anderson, Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin.
That total is eleven, which is already a lot, and more than enough to send Paul Stanley whining on Twitter. This still leaves out a lot of people who were a part of the band at one point.
Now that Yes has finally received their first nomination, we think that there is an excellent chance that they will be the next Progressive Rock band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They can’t keep trashing this genre forever can they?
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