Well, here we are. After another way-too-long voting period, the RRHOF Class of 2022 has been named. If somehow you don’t already know, that class is: Performers: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon; Early Influences: Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotton; Musical Influence: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Judas Priest; Irving Azoff Award for Non-Performers: Allen Grubman, Jimmy Iovine, and Sylvia Robinson.
It’s a great class. As hackneyed as the expression is, it’s literally got something for everyone: hip hop, country, pop, a singer-songwriter, and lo and behold, metal. At least in term of act totals, it’s not bad for female representation. There aren’t a lot of female-dominated bands out there, and an all-female class is a likely non-starter, so vote parity isn’t going to come from the performer ranks. And it does, albeit posthumously, finally honor a woman with the Ahmet Ertegun Award. Sylvia Robinson is a wonderful place to start; precious few industry captains can claim to have left their mark on a genre that dominates the cultural landscape the way she did.
I didn’t predict this year; I listened to too many podcasts and read too many posts from critics and writers and then couldn’t decide what the 65-year-old voters would do. Duran Duran and Eminem were locks and I didn’t think Pat would get shut out again, but I wasn’t sure if they’d look fondly on the era of Bachrach-David and honor Dionne Warwick or if Lionel Richie’s undeniably massive reach would do it. And then there was Dollygate – how many voters would honor Dolly’s wishes and how would that actually play on their ballots? You have to have sympathy for the Hall on this: They were damned either way in the whole bizarre, strangely comical scenario.
Quite a few people did predict the entire class or most of it though, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. With a ballot this stacked, things should be more competitive. There should be a positive surprise. The biggest negative surprise for me was the name I was absolutely convinced since this time last year would be there under Musical Excellence: Chaka Khan.
Not that beauty precludes talent, but I’m starting to worry a little.
And that leads to something that Eric and Mary from Hall Watchers expressed in their reaction episode – something I’d felt but hadn’t put into words even in my thoughts. Everyone truly deserves to be there. Absolutely, no question. But as they said, this is a safe, ready-for-TV class. There’s no edge, no one who’s a misfit. The Dolls and MC5 have once again has been left out. John Sykes talks about the “music that impacts youth culture” (Lord, that’s a cringe-worthy expression — we’re talking people who debuted 25 years ago minimum. It sounds like something Ed Sullivan would say to announce Herman’s Hermits). But did Lionel Richie, as charming as he is and as tremendous as his career has been, impact “youth culture” even in his MTV heyday?
Speaking of MTV…five of the seven acts here had videos played on MTV, and four of the seven were mainstays on the channel for most of its 80s glory years. When Sykes took the helm two years ago I worried that the ballot would become a sleek parade of video stars. When Fela Kuti and Todd “Mr. Grumpy” Rundgren made the ballot last year, and Todd got in, I felt reassured. (Todd’s a video pioneer, but he didn’t get the massive airtime). But Devo is rapidly becoming sort of the exception to what I hope is not becoming a hard and fast rule of classes made up of Beautiful People. Not that beauty precludes talent, but I’m starting to worry a little.
Kuti’s inclusion this year feels doubly odd, if welcome. They had to have known he wouldn’t get in that way; it was a slot that could’ve gone to a competitive artist while Kuti went in the only way he will, as an Early Influence or Musical Excellence. If by chance they were banking on the same ecstatic reaction from voters in Nigeria and across Africa for excitement, that’s a cynical take that deserves the radio silence that greeted it.
The edginess that’s made it onto the ballot isn’t getting in. By all accounts, the Hall’s been tinkering with its voting committee for a while now, but it’s not translating into classes that include what the Nom Com so clearly wants.
And that brings us to categories. When the Hall slipped Starr in 2015 under Musical Excellence, formerly the “Sideman” category, the distinction largely went under the radar because it was unexpected. Two years later, when it was used to end our long national nightmare and induct Nile Rodgers after 11 attempts to induct Chic, the questions started to fly and it looked for all the world like a consolation prize.
Now the Hall’s been wielding the category with a vengeance, using it last year to right a long-standing wrong and make sense of hip-hop inductions going forward by finally welcoming LL Cool J, and this year finally putting more metal into the mix and inducting Judas Priest. Hear, hear to both of these inductions. Both long overdue and necessary steps. Combined with the larger classes, things are starting to move in ways we can see.
There’s a school of thought that the ends justify the means and the category meanings should be flexible. The Hall maintains that the Musical Excellence awards are true inductions, and it’s true that there’s not distinction at the ceremony in terms of performances, or speeches. It’s been said that it’s a distinction only Hall-watching types pay attention to, that to the public it’s all one big happy ballot.
When you have to spend most of Announcement Day explaining that yes, Artist X is really inducted, you have a problem.
But that’s just not true. These “side door” inductions — what the press always calls them — are very much noted by the public, fans, and no doubt the artists. The night of the announcement, I scrolled through the responses to the announcement tweet by the official Judas Priest account. Most of them were at least mildly happy, but there were quite a few that were keenly aware of the special category and were disappointed at what they felt was a second-class honor. A number were bummed that “It’s not a real induction” and Priest “Wouldn’t be able to perform; they’d just get a certificate.” This despite Rob Halford’s adorably enthusiastic spin on it being even better than just a plain old Performer induction because it meant someone had “dug deep” into the catalog. Metalsucks.net posted a poll asking “Is Judas Priest officially in the Hall of Fame?” (Almost half — 46.54 percent — flat-out said ‘No.'”)
Folks, when this kind of stuff happens, when you have to spend most of Announcement Day explaining that yes, Artist X is really, honestly, for truly and for reals inducted, you have a problem. Defining things makes my pedantic little soul happy, but more importantly, it lays the foundation of meaning for the award. Right now, it’s not clear what the awards mean, and Musical Excellence has devolved into what Garrick Groover aptly called on Twitter “Artists B.” And it may even tweak the voting for a certain extent, because when voters see an artist return to the ballot now, how many think they don’t need to vote for them and go for the shiny new first-year-eligible model instead, because that artist will likely get rolled over into a category? Not to mention that all this likely fills the category as much as it can take in a given year with the broadcast limitations and so takes a slot away from an actual side musician.
I think back in 1995 no one thought about all these subgenres, how much scrutiny everything would get, and how the voting body wouldn’t yield the results the Nom Com and other interested parties wanted, even for legit reasons. But psst, Foundation: You don’t have to devise band-aid fixes to get around the Rock Hall. You ARE the Rock Hall! You can create a system that makes sense and covers all these contingencies so that people understand the award and people don’t end up feeling insulted. It’s likely going to be a combination of defining terms and divvying up the class among factions, but it can be done. Take a stand! I’ve probably said it before, but the prestige in an award comes less from whom it’s given to than it does from the professionalism of the awarding organization.
There’ll be plenty of time starting November 6 to talk about what we want to see going forward. For now, let’s appreciate the definite merits of the Class of 2022. And spare some sympathy for the showrunners, who’ve begged for less of an embarrassment of riches. They’ve got their work cut out for them. Just give us Rob riding Dolly in on his Harley.
Iconic Rock Talk Show 