Reaction to the 2024 announcement

 So now we know.  Now we know who the inductees for the Class Of 2024 are.  Cool.

If it seems like I'm underwhelmed, it's a little bit that.  I'm also still processing and digesting.  And also pissed.  But not at the Hall.  But also at the Hall.

Personal anecdote, I tried to find an East Coast ABC affiliate that my cable provider carried on my package.  And there was none.  "American Idol" is running its episode for the Pacific time zone as I type this, and as of this sentence, they announced the class ten minutes ago on the West Coast.  Maybe it's time to go all in on this "streaming" fad.  I signed up for Fubo so I could watch the show, but I only got my subscription active and started ten minutes before the announcement.  Why does that matter?  Because I couldn't join in progress.  They made me start at the beginning to the Seacrest first starting the game of who the safe ten were and who had to sing for their spot.  So that cheesed me off.  That's not the Hall's fault, except for maybe choosing to announce the results on "American Idol."  So maybe that threw a wet towel on the flame of excitement.

But also, despite how I hyped up the acts in my Personal Tastes consideration, there wasn't a nominee (and isn't an inductee) who was in my personal music collection only because I was genuinely excited to collect their music.  I own a Sade anthology, as well as a few Eric B. And Rakim albums, but only because I discovered them through following the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  Nobody "organically" in my library, as we Pac Norwesters would say it.  It's okay: most of my favorite acts are already in; most of the ones who aren't, I would concede have a middling case or just don't deserve it; and most of those who I think do deserve it are unlikely to ever be nominated because they're from the '50s, '60s, and early '70s.  They'll end up in Musical Influence or Musical Excellence, if they're remembered at all.  

I'd also like to personally reach out to fellow monitor Michelle Bourg and say, don't feel discouraged about it.  For what it's worth, I still follow with some excitement because it's a chance to broaden my horizons and keep exposing myself to music I hadn't considered before, even if I am twenty-five years late to the party.  I know that's not the entirety of your feeling of irrelevance, as you called it when the nominees first broke, that borderline apathy because there's no one you're passionate about, but I hope you'll stick around.  It still manages to clear the bar for being a worthwhile hobby for me, even though I got obsolesced years ago.  Admittedly, my reasons are probably a bit different and more desperate to have some sense of identity beyond my job, but I do believe you'll find reasons to remain.  Besides, I really enjoy reading your entries.  I respect your opinions, and you write a helluva lot better than I do.

As for the Class, I went six for eight on the predictions, as six of my top eight seeds got the nod.  That's not bad.  Of the two I whiffed on, one was in the mix for serious contention, and only Mary J. Blige had I counted out completely.  But she was one of the most deserving on my Merits Ranks, and one of the seven that I'd been voting for on the fan ballot, so that's a salve for my cishet male WASP ego.  And even though I'm mortified at the thought of having to revisit their catalog more painstakingly, I am happy for the fans of the Dave Matthews Band, who probably feel a great injustice has been corrected.  The asshole cynic in me wants to conjecture that there are eight instead of the assumed seven because the people in the room where it happened looked at the tallies, and then at the fiasco of the 2020 situation and just said, "We do not want to go through that again.  Just include them."  If nothing else though, I will say that hopefully the 2020 ballot disaster, as well as the fan ballot from Fela Kuti's first nomination for 2021, makes it clear.  To appropriate the TikTok trend from last year and earlier this year, this is "Rock Hall Math."  Rock Hall Math is five votes from the members of Def Leppard equaling five votes, and over a million chime-ins from John Q. Public equaling one vote.  Rock Hall Math.  Rock Hall Math is also losing patience after two attempts and going side category, but I'll get there later.  Those were the two I didn't predict making it, thus proving I am indeed not omniscient.  Welp.

But hey, even if the six I did get were pretty close to shooting fish in a barrel, I still feel good about picking them.  Cher and Kool And The Gang were in the top three for merits, personal taste, and seeds, with Kool And The Gang checking in at #2 all three times, and Cher at #1 two of the three.  They are also both from the list I have mentioned many times that I created in 2004.  The streak remains intact, but as time marches on and the Hall changes its methods, I still brace myself for when the streak snaps.  Even if it's next year, hey, twenty years of having at least one name come off the list is pretty awesome (it almost happened in 2021, but then Billy Preston got a Musical Excellence nod).  A Tribe Called Quest continues the nebulous correlation of three nominations in a row gets you in, even though that hasn't always held up either (also coming up later).  Foreigner and Peter Frampton prove that classic rock from the '70s still gets red carpet treatment, except for the J. Geils Band.  But hey, maybe after Bad Company, Styx, Boston, and Kansas, Little Steven can finally get his pet cause voted in.  And if I'm going to get excited for any of the eight, it'll be Ozzy Osbourne.  It's good to see another metal act get voted in, and even though this doesn't add another voter to the roll, it hopefully is at least encouraging to the metal community.  If the poster child for the genre can get voted in on the first try, maybe all is not yet lost. As I said on the Future Rock Legends site, Ozzy was the litmus test for metal.  If he couldn't even get voted in on the first try, then metal better just figure on snagging a category as the only chance, unless the NomComm is willing to labor over more than three nominations.  

Speaking of snagging a category, let's move on.  Suzanne De Passe is a wonderful serendipity in the Non-Performer category.  A name I was previously unfamiliar with, I already find fascinating what the cursory research has revealed.  She was involved with wardrobe for live performances, which admittedly doesn't really seem worth enshrining, but she is also credited with helping launch the careers of the Jackson 5, the Commodores, and the subsequent careers of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.  In what capacity, I don't know, but I really can't recall off the top of my head when the last time a talent scout got inducted.  That in itself is pretty exciting if that was one of the hats she wore.  It seems like she was also involved in promotions, which I have mixed feelings about, but we do have Bill Graham and Frank Barsalona, so that discussion is moot.  Also in the Motown family, getting an Award For Musical Excellence is Norman Whitfield, which is already causing heads to tilt about where Barrett Strong is.  Maybe there's a Broadway show about Whitfield that a NomComm member is involved with, and they had to give Strong the Ragovoy treatment.  Whatever, that's me being cynical again.  That shouldn't, and doesn't, take away from the fact that Norman is an excellent call.

Sidestepping briefly to the Musical Influence category, recent tweets make it clear who was on this committee as Alexis Korner and John Mayall have been included in this Class.  I'd heard of Mayall before, with his Bluesbreakers band.  I hadn't heard of Korner by name, but I did remember seeing Blues Incorporated on the "Previously Considered" list on the Future Rock Legends site.  It's actually fitting that they're inducted simultaneously, and I fully expect a single speech for both of them the way Carole King inducted the songwriters in 2010.  Both gentlemen's bands were workshops and proving grounds for influential British musicians, and let's face it, inducting Mayall without the Bluesbreakers keeps us from giving Clapton his fourth damn induction.  I'm all for double inductees, but Clapton does not need seven for every single project he had a slow hand in.  Mayall is good enough.  Korner will suffice, as Blues Incorporated will never be nominated either.  It's probably more fitting to call them Musical Influence because they were professional couches that important musicians surfed on.  Also receiving Musical Influence is Big Mama Thornton, and it's about damn time.  Hopefully, this opens the door for Screamin' Jay Hawkins next year.  Or the Ravens.  Or whoever else arguably precedes what we conceptually call rock and roll now and was incredibly important to its development.  Major win here.

And moving on to the Award For Musical Excellence.  This is the most frustrating of the categories on all accounts.  Norman Whitfield is frustrating for the exclusion of Barrett Strong, as mentioned earlier.  Also frustrating is that the MC5 just couldn't get the votes for induction in their six nominations, including four consecutive years, refuting the three consecutive years hypothesis.  Admittedly, many of us in the community thought they'd get Musical Influence because their sound was innovative to the point of being incipient to punk rock.  It's just frustrating, but understandable, that it had to happen this way.  Le sigh.  

Slightly less understandable though is Dionne Warwick getting a category induction after only two failed nominations.  Look, I've said some harsh things in various ways about Dionne Warwick, and while a couple of attempts to make my point were insensitively and clumsily phrased, there is still a part of me that still feels as I did when I said those things: that if there was any R&B artist whose records could have comfortably been played on "The Lawrence Welk Show" while the Geritol-drinking audience danced on the Champagne Ballroom floor, it's Dionne Warwick, especially the songs written by Bacharach and David.  That said, there are some of her records that even I got to say, "Oh wow" to, and if Doja Cat can paint the town red to her song, then that proves that she does have some bearing on the youth culture in modern music.  Maybe can Doja Cat can get a freak like Paul Anka in next year.  No, but what is frustrating is hustling her in a category after only two nominations.  At some point, it is ridiculous to keep nominating an act, and going to a category induction makes sense.  But doing it after only two tries just shows a lack of patience by the committee members and a lack of respect for their own processes.  I'm not saying we need to make them fail eight times, or ten, or eleven.  But Dionne was on some pretty competitive ballots; throwing in the towel that quickly just seems ridiculous.  Why even have a nomination process if you're just gonna stamp your feet and demand to have your way regardless of how the votes go?

Why have a nomination process at all, indeed.  That seems to be the question with the induction of Jimmy Buffett being announced.  As others have stated, this is an artist that probably could have been voted in.  Why are they doing this?  I have to imagine the Foundation met with Disney, and Disney said, "Okay, I see we got Foreigner, Frampton, and Ozzy here, but what about the audiences who think those acts are too risque?  Who are you going to induct to draw in the White people whose favorite spice is mayonnaise?"  And some intern on their phone, doom scrolling, just said, "Who's this Jimmy Buffett guy I keep hearing about?  Heard he died or something.  Sinead didn't get enough votes, so let's use this guy for a sympathy induction."  And then the ghost of Michael Eisner's influence looked at John Sykes, pointed to the intern, and said, "When are you going to step down and let this born leader take over?!"  This feels exploitative, like Sinead O'Connor's nomination, only nowhere near as gross.  Buffett would likely have loved this for himself and for his fans, whereas Sinead would have refused to comment or show up.  I'm going down a rabbit trail, though.  Point is, they didn't even try with Jimmy.  I had a hypothesis, but this induction (and the induction of the Dave Matthews Band) strongly refute the hypothesis, so maybe not.  All I can really say is this just feels like the laziest way to go about having the heart-tugging induction that Sinead was supposed to be, and it's cringe (do kids still say that?).  There's nothing wrong with Buffett being inducted per se; they just didn't even try.

And that's my early onset reaction to the class.  There's some cool things happening here, some uncool but expected things, and once again, some things that make us monitors shake our head and ask if anyone tried unplugging the Foundation and plugging it back in.  I'll be looking forward to the induction ceremony and curious to see how/if they are able to run a tight ship while still doing right by all of the inductees.  Short answer: unlikely, but let's see if it will still look like they tried.  Happy induction season.