September is now past the halfway mark, and for those of us
who monitor the Rock Hall, that means it’s almost time for the Nominating
Committee to congregate and deign to announce who is worthy enough to be on the
ballot for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2015.
All snark aside, we really do enjoy this. We enjoy guessing who’ll be on the ballot,
reading other people’s predictions, critiquing their predictions, and cursing
under our breath when we don’t even get half of the names right. And we enjoy the list of nominees itself, I
suppose. Just about everyone else that
is expected to comment has weighed in with his or her prediction. I’ve been dragging my feet mainly because
I’ve been busy trying to beef up my badge count on Sporcle, but that doesn’t
mean I haven’t been paying attention.
So now, I’m giving my thoughts, comparing the list to my mid-season
report, and selecting sixteen names, just like last year’s ballot.
Kicking off with the
newly eligible acts, I’m going to go ahead and pick both Green Day and Nine
Inch Nails. The list was only going
to include Green Day originally, but FutureRockLegends pointed out NIN’s
placement on the list of Immortals.
That’s a kind of honor that isn’t going to be ignored. Nine Inch Nails may not be able to battle
against Green Day’s popularity, and attempts to diversify the class will make
it a competition between the two, but look for them to be named on the ballot
as well.
Next up, we’re going to stalk the grim reaper. Lou Reed passed away before the 2014
ceremonies, but his friends at the Foundation aren’t going to forget him. He’ll be back for another nomination this
year. Similarly, and in keeping with
their continued push for bluesy acts, I think blues-rock legend Johnny
Winter is going to get the nod, a name whom Dave Marsh may be
supporting. Much as it chagrins me, I
think this also means that Stevie Ray Vaughan is going to get overlooked
again. I’d love it if I was wrong, but
I don’t think I am. (Winter, by the
way, the first of five names that are on my prediction now that weren’t on the
mid-season report.)
Moving on, time to load up on the usual favorites in the
form of returning nominees. Starting
with rappers N.W.A. because we know Toure is all about the rap now, and
Questlove (and I think Tom Morello, too) have voiced support. Also coming back for a third consecutive
year will likely be Deep Purple, the current pet project for the hard
rock crowd. Last year they took back
burner to the marketing prowess and impossible-to-ignore presence of KISS, but
KISS had been touted as a snub for probably just as long, and certainly much
louder than Deep Purple. With that
hurdle out of the way, the push for Purple proceeds prominently. Looking to join them will most likely be
fellow classic rock radio denizens Yes.
I don’t particularly subscribe to Alex Voltaire’s theory about the prog
cruise. Frankly, I think Yes would have
probably cancelled if they got called to the Class of 2014. However, prog has been the subgenre to
support recently, and I think there will likely be a repeat nomination for
them.
After being the first singer for this year’s “Hervana”
tribute at the ceremony, it will indeed probably be another nomination for Joan
Jett And The Blackhearts, who were mysteriously absent from last year’s
ballot. This lapse in consecutive
nominations may be a problem for Jett, lost momentum and whatnot, but that was
probably the point of her attempting (and failing, imo) to sing “Smells Like
Teen Spirit” at the ceremony. Also
performing at the ceremony, despite not being an inductee, was one of the
members of the Meters, performing with Peter Gabriel. This will probably be remembered again when
the NomCom meets and this New Orleans group may get another nomination. Another miss out from last year’s ballot
would also be the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. It may be a dangerous setup to put both Winter and Butterfield on
the ballot, but things even more bizarre have happened.
Looking now to potential first-time nominees, we have a
veritable plethora of options. And
it’ll be difficult to nail it down to only six more names (since we’re already
up to ten). NomCom member Tom Morello
has been vocal about pushing for Sonic Youth now that KISS is in, and
Kim Gordon’s rather interesting leadership on “Aneurysm” as part of Hervana can
only help bolster that case. Another
female presence to keep in mind will be Janet Jackson (second of five),
whose fanbase’s grassroots campaign to get her nominated has captured the
attention of NomCom member Questlove.
Speaking of Questlove, remember last year when he wore a shirt honoring
Daryl Hall And John Oates? Remember
which duo got inducted this past year?
Maybe, then, we shouldn’t ignore the fairly recent Questlove shirt with
the logo of the Average White Band (third of five). It may mean nothing, but maybe Questlove is
showing his hand after all, by wearing his heart between his sleeves.
Three names left, and we haven’t even touched upon NomCom
member Little Steven yet. We can’t
ignore him, as his nominations usually get inducted eventually. He was the man behind getting Link Wray
on the ballot last year, and probably will succeed again, but let’s hope they
include the (W)Ray-Men with him too, this time. Now back in the mid-season report, I noted that I loved Daryl
Hall’s impassioned plea for more Philadelphia artists, but felt it would fall
on deaf ears. That was before Little
Steven’s wife tweeted about Daryl Hall being absolutely right about Chubby
Checker being a big snub (fourth of five).
I’ve thought so for years, but hadn’t dared to hope or predict. But a little pillow talk with the Miami Man
might just yield fruitful this time, so we’ll see if he agrees with his
wife.
Lastly, we go out to left field again. Only not too deep, imo, though others would
argue that I’m on the warning track with this one. I’m going to go ahead and blindly guess that this year will see
the nomination of “Weird Al” Yankovic (fifth of five). Please bear in mind that if nominated, I
don’t think he’d get inducted, unless he managed to take first place in the fans’
ballot. But this has been a huge year
for him: having the first comedy album in fifty years to top the Billboard
Album charts, performing at the Emmys of all places, both “Tacky” and “Word
Crimes” fairly well-received, more and more TV appearances… his stock has never
been higher than it is now. He’d
probably be a one-and-done nominee, but it would still be a hell of a way to
cap off this year, so I’m going to guess that the NomCom will decide that this
is one tide not to fight.
So, a bit of everything… some obvious, some tried-and-true
likely, some minor stretches, and at least one major stretch. Eleven names from the mid-season report that
I still think are going to show up, five changes (out with Todd Rundgren,
Kraftwerk, Ringo Starr, Chic, and the prediction of only fifteen names). Now to wait and see, and hopefully it won’t
be too much longer.