Rock and Roll Hall Fame Class of 2020 is...

The fact that the Rock Hall was an incoherent wreck from its beginnings isn't an argument to continue the incoherence.

I regret to tell you that while rock isn't ONLY Iron Maiden, Zep or AC/DC, it most assuredly DOES include those groups and definitely far more than it does rap artists or pop artists like Whitney who have no relation to rock.

Rock has many branches but Whitney and Biggie aren't on any of those branches.

 

But I honestly don't think Whitney would've ever been considered if she had the career of an Evelyn Champagne King or Cheryl Lynn. Big sales and success pushes a lot of people in. Look at all the more deserving punk acts yet to be considered while Green Day got in as soon as eligible, Green Day sold tons of albums, it got them in.

You have to be as uberinfluential as The Stooges or Velvet Underground to get in if you don't have big hits and sales figures by your side.

 

This whole thread has been discussing Whitney and Biggie and you have to ask which non-rock acts have been inducted. Astonishing.

 

The fan vote counts as 1 vote. They say there are 1000 voters, 1 is the fan vote. It doesn't matter if they get 50 million fans votes, whoever gets the most fan votes gets 1 actual vote.

 

Yeah, but Whitney is rock royalty in a sense. Her mom was Cissy who was in the original backup “girl group” the Sweet Inspirations with Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick (Whitney’s cousins) and Doris Troy. Everyone knows Dionne, who should be in the Hall herself. Dee Dee Warwick had a shorter career but released the great single “You’re No Good” later covered by Linda Ronstadt. Doris Troy released “Just One Look” another seminal rock single, and later recorded an album on Apple Records produced by George I think (which is great).

Anyway . . . .

 

I was shooting for satire.

 

And I’m guessing The Dave Matthews Band got exactly 1 vote out of the 1000 possible.

 

Was this tongue in cheek? I sure hope so.

 

Agreed.

 

It's now The Politically Correct Hall of Fame.

 

Satire and sarcasm is really hard to pull off here, as I find out on a daily basis.

There are lots of differences in culture, background and brain type that make it easy to be misunderstood.

Also, some folks take things very, very seriously at all times.

We are an interesting bunch, to say the least.

 

Stray Cats would have added some (rock and roll) credibility here.

 

It's all a hoax!

 

The groups you mentioned evolved out of one thing and became their own genre, Whitney evolved out of some of the 50s influences and became her own thing that was different. Both have the basest influences in stuff that might've happened in the 1950s, they just went in different directions.

You're just getting defensive and skimming things because of a baseless hatred of a woman who died eight years ago. Nobody has ever said guitar rock wasn't rock, that's an insane assumption and nobody here would ever say that with a straight face. But Whitney's influences in fact are some of those same people who influenced rock musicians who got in the Hall early on with no controversy.

 

Unexciting list. Can't get worked up either way.

You want influential? Then they need to vote in Taylor Dayne and Vanilla Ice. These two actually set the template for a lot of the hyperventilating and posing we see now. Ridiculousness that took itself seriously. (And, yes, I like some of it, but really.)

I'd have said Tiffany, but she was actually too sincere sounding to have influenced most singers on the scene today.

 

The ultimate problem, I think, is that there's no criteria for induction beyond the 25 year rule.

It pretty much started out as "people Jann and his buddies like" and devolved from there.

The fact that we're still arguing about who should and should be considered is a testament to how poorly thought out the whole thing is.

 

Nothing shocking here. Same old crap, artist get in over artist that should be in. Fans even voted for Dave Matthews Band, yet, they are not in. A joke, not worth getting or giving any emotional response in truth. The Rock N Roll Hall Of Shame indeed.

 

I really think it should be called the Rolling Stone Magazine Hall Of Fame. If that's what it was called, I think that would end all these discussions about who should or shouldn't be in.

 

Motörhead not in. The panel are wankers.

 

It kind of makes you wonder when the only two emotions elicited, over an off-hand remark about Greg Kihn Band, are amusement or outrage.

 

With the 25 year rule. The only real problem is that music started to get more fragmented and more audiences with different tastes came along as music progressed. There seems to be a collective agreement on the 60s into the early 70s but by the time punk, new wave, disco, early hip hop, etc... took force, you started seeing people going into different musical directions instead of how everyone was in unison that The Beatles, The Stones, Zeppelin, Bowie, Pink Floyd deserve to be in, it's really shown its ugly head as the 80s and 90s got old enough to be inducted and we still have the old guard rockists who seriously believe hip hop is some form of audio cancer with no lasting value are contrasting with people who have listened to Tupac and Biggie their entire lives and consider them to be no-brainers.

 

I think they are whittling things down to a formula now. A female artist, a rap artist, an artist from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and a wild card. Certainly things are influenced by who you know who’s on the voting committee (see the Doobie Brothers/Irving Azoff connection mentioned earlier).

 

The groups I mentioned were ROCK groups. Whitney Houston is not and never was a rock artist. As you yourself just said, Whitney went in a very different direction from rock.

Pretending I am 'hating' her for noting she wasn't a rock artist is risible in the extreme. I love Miles Davis but he doesn't belong in the classical music hall of fame nor does Led Zeppelin belong in the Country Music Hall of Fame no matter what I think about them personally.

Once again it appears that only for rock does this radical revisionism get a pass.

 

But Whitney was so far removed from anything to do with rock 'n' roll by the time those influences got filtered through to her. It's not a criticism of Whitney. I have no problem with her and don't doubt her talent at all. She deservedly would belong in any soul, R'n'B, pop or MOR hall of fame, but rock 'n' roll? Ridiculous.

 

Not sure what his qualifications are... can someone enlighten me? The only Jon that belongs in the RNRHOF is @jon9091 !!