The ceremonies have been held, but not televised. April is almost over. I’m late, and I apologize. But in all fairness, it works out for the
better. In less than six months, we’ll
have the nominees for the Class Of 2015.
There’s still awhile to go, but that’s one of the reasons we do the
mid-season report: to sort out how we feel now and see how those feelings
change as the time for the ballot’s announcement looms semi-ominously on the
near horizon, just on the other side of a patch of fog.
The main reason it’s good that this year’s mid-season report
is later than normal is because of what happened at the actual ceremony. A lot of the people there, whether in
speeches made by inductees or just by their mere presence, seemed to be trying
to shape the upcoming ballot. A lot of
that is where we begin.
First off, the new NomCom members that got their big pushes
in immediately: Questlove and Tom Morello.
On Future Rock Legends, I chuckled a comment about Tom Morello inducting
KISS, and to be honest, that same amusement also applies to Questlove and his
support of Daryl Hall And John Oates.
As the auto insurance commercial says, just another reason life is
funny. But between the two of them
chatting it up afterwards, it became clear that they are simpatico in a lot of
ways, musically. I don’t know enough
about the proceedings to say how powerful an alliance between only two people
is, but it’s not something I would ignore either. So it’s pretty safe to say at this point that N.W.A. will
be back on the ballot. We know Toure
will continue pushing for rap acts, and these two new members are behind the
rap group’s induction as well. It also
sounds like they’re agreed on trying to put Sonic Youth on the
ballot. I’m not as confident about
Sonic Youth, though, since with the Cure and the Replacements recently failing,
they may resurrect attempts to induct them, rather than creating a logjam of
‘80s alternative artists that are past nominees. Nevertheless, with Kim Gordon as one of the women to lead Nirvana
at the ceremonies, in what Krist Novoselic dubbed “Hervana”, her appearance
could be seen as an appeal to the NomCom’s sensibilities. The same could also be said on behalf of Joan
Jett And The Blackhearts—who were surprisingly absent from this past ballot
after being on the previous two—with Jett also one of the Hervana leaders. Additionally, with one of the Meters
reportedly being there behind Peter Gabriel on his set, it looks like there’s
still plenty of push from within to get them in the Hall as well.
I don’t remember if the KISS members themselves said
anything about acts they were championing, but KISS’s induction, much like
Rush’s last year, points toward the popular pick being an inductee. With KISS and Rush both inducted now, the
attention of the classic rock devotees is actually pretty well-focused on
getting Deep Purple inducted. I
think they may have even been name-dropped by Morello sometime after the
ceremonies. I don’t remember, and I
don’t have the time to go re-wading through the marsh of the tweets from the
event. I think the same is true of
Questlove mentioning Link Wray as well (hopefully to include the Ray-Men
this time as well). Maybe he said Dick
Dale. Don’t recall. Unfortunately, what I do clearly remember is reading about Daryl Hall And John Oates bleeding their hearts for more
Philadelphia acts. “Unfortunately”
because I see their pleas going unheeded.
So no Chubby Checker, Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, Stylistics,
etc. It’s a shame, because it’s one of
my favorite regional dialects of soul, but the Hall doesn’t give it too much
love. I’d be ecstatic if any of them
appeared, especially Checker or Melvin & Co., but I’m just not holding out
hope
While there were no direct pleas or ploys for Lou Reed,
the passing of the legendary leader of the Velvet Underground could very easily
be motivation to stick him on the ballot for 2015 as a soloist. Lastly, while not directly dealing with the
Hall itself, Daft Punk’s cleaning up at the past Grammy’s could help maintain
the NomCom’s tenacity for Chic, while the televised specials celebrating
the 50-year anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in America, peaking with the
onstage reunion of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, may have served to
remind the powers-that-be that the sweep isn’t complete in that area, even with
the induction of Brian Epstein this year.
Nine names already amassed just from the special events
earlier this year. The ballot of recent
tends to list around fifteen or sixteen names, so we’re already over halfway there,
and we haven’t even looked at the newly eligible artists yet. A recent article, which quoted the main man
behind Future Rock Legends itself, stated that of the newly eligible crop, the
only likely names we’ll see on the autumnal agenda are Green Day and Nine
Inch Nails. Green Day is a lock,
but Nine Inch Nails isn’t quite as certain for immediate induction, though
fairly certain for eventual honors.
