Huey Lewis & The News Worthiness For Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame

They were very popular in the 80's but it's not just about inducting who was very popular. We don't need a hall of fame to tell us who was popular.

This is the problem with having a hall of fame in an artistic field though. And the R&RHoF has hardly done an adequate job of defining itself through its induction process.

 

Ha! Saw what you did there. Good picture also.

 

It's hard for an act to perpetuate rock 'n roll without being "very" popular, given that rock 'n roll competes with rap, country, pop, and other genres within the music marketplace. Without being "very" popular, an act doesn't perpetuate rock 'n roll like acts that are "very" popular.

 

And the trolling continues. Who wants this one?

Ed

 

Pass. I do grudgingly admire your tenacity though @S. P. Honeybunch

 

It's not so much tenacity as it is a natural outpouring of gratitude for what Huey Lewis and the News have blessed us with in terms of the rock and the roll.

 

Tack the boldface onto the end of this thread's title and you've got something.

D.D.

 

Hall and Oates i don't get at all. Fine hitmakers. Great hair. But, never in my player. i didn't know they were in. Same as the others i listed.

 

I don't think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is worthy of Huey Lewis & The News.

 

So when will Pete Rose get in the Hall of Fame?

 

Very similar.

All around good prom king kind of guy forms a band and writes radio friendly hummable tunes.

I would say that Huey appealed more to the baby boomer generation and Bon Jovi appealed more to the post boomer generation.

They had similar levels of hit records but Huey was a bit more bunched and Jovi was spread out.

I'd say because Bon Jovi appealed to the pre-teen/teen girls as he was coming up, he audience largely still attends concerts and sells out arenas for the past 30 years. He is a much bigger touring act.

Huey and the News has a few prime years of touring arenas in the 80s. The hits dried up and the large Boomer audience weren't enough to keep him in the arena echelon.

By the mid-90s Huey was now playing the theater circut (1000-3000) seats. Certainly enough to keep going as a very good living, but hardly Hall of Fame.

Now the weird thing...a very similar act, Hall and Oates, sank to the theater circut in the 90s. I saw them at a great show at the house of blues (maybe 1200 people) in the late 90s. Somehow, probably due to a hit cable show, they made the rock n roll Hall of Fame AND can pair with a silmilar level act to play arenas again!

 

So you're saying H&O don't belong in the Rock Hall because you never play them?

 

OP will need one of these to pile this stuff much higher :



D.D.

 

Well, artists can also become more noteworthy outside of their time.

 

I think Huey Lewis still has a chance in the RRHOF, it may just take another 10-20 years.

 

I think they have more than a right than some of the artists already there.

 

15 pages in and the thread remains near the top tells me they are worthy of being in the RRHOF.

 

John Hiatt is in that ballpark.

 

True, but the Hall has inducted dozens and dozens of acts. The acts perpetuated rock 'n roll by doing the grunt work and helping the genre to get off of the ground over 60 years ago or popularized it by themselves being massively popular.

Since Elvis popularized rock 'n roll, the record companies and mass media have given ample coverage and opportunities to talented artists who wants to rock 'n roll for a living. The cream rises to the top and makes themselves prominent in their own day. Huey Lewis and the News are the kind of rare talent that made a name for themselves in their own day while popularizing rock 'n roll and perpetuating the genre.

 

John Hiatt is 100 times better than Huey. Look at all the covers of Hiatt's songs

 

He's certainly a better songwriter than Huey Lewis and more influential as a result. In terms of respect, Hiatt makes Huey look like Rodney Dangerfield.

D.D.

 

Kudos to Hiatt for being a prolific rock 'n roll songwriter. That's something that the following inductees can't claim: Madonna, Elvis Presley, the Coasters, The Supremes, The Temptations, Four Tops, The Platters, LaVern Baker, The Staple Singers, Percy Sledge, Grandmaster Flash, The Ronettes, Run DMC, Jimmy Cliff, Darlene Love, and N.W.A. Hiatt's songwriting talent is a moot point, however. The Hall inducts performers for being performers rather than for being rock 'n roll writers.

 

I was referring to the similarity of their vocal tone and range. I am well aware Huey hasn't wrote anything close to the quality of Hiatt's songs.

 

You obviously haven't named a single rock n roll artist here so how could any of them write rock n roll songs? You know that, though, and this is likely more trolling.

Ed