Starting first with the fact that I correctly predicted six names, and even that deserves an asterisk. I also predicted eighteen nominees, so when you do the math to figure out the proportions, you could argue that I should only be credited with 4.67 correct names predicted. Or not. This isn't a math class. I've got six names on the board, but it's kind of telling that the furthest left-field pick of mine to make it is Bad Company. It means I'm really bad at guessing where new ground will be broken. Really though, I'm more relieved than excited at their nomination. If they get in, it means we can finally stop hearing about Paul Rodgers needing category treatment or just about this band being a huge snub. Nothing will ever mollify the classic rock crowd until every artist that was ever played in the format has been inducted, but at least this is one that makes sense to put up for nomination. Seriously, I'm already seeing whining about Mariah's nomination, as she's "not rock," also complaining about Whitney Houston's induction in 2020. I--I just... ugh. The groundhog came out and saw its shadow, which means six more years of bellyaching about R&B and hip-hop being considered rock. That said, I'm excited for Mariah Carey to be back, even though I didn't predict her but almost did, as it hopefully means she was on the bubble last year, or at least near it.
Speaking of hip-hop, I did predict Outkast and am breathing a sigh of relief. Top flight artistry, it's ridiculous they had to wait, but I refuse to be mad about it. They're on the ballot, and I love it. The rest of my correct predictions I'm not as personally thrilled about. Billy Idol is an artist that was ruined for me during my radio days, partially by drunken or literally mentally handicapped callers, and partially by the fact that the songs of his we played tended to be "long" for me, which in this case meant over four minutes. Oasis is a band that last year, I said I could enjoy in small doses, but that binging them made me sick of them. We'll see if I still feel that way this time around. Cyndi Lauper is an artist I like, and even enjoyed playing her songs when I worked in radio, but not one whose music I'm in love with necessarily. Much the same can be said about the return of the White Stripes, though I really did discover a lot of great music that I appreciate. But they too are a band that I don't get the whim to throw on randomly.
In fact, the only artist on this ballot whose music I'm a huge fan of and even had in my CD collection prior to them even being on the "Previously Considered" list (other than Outkast) is Chubby Checker. I love his music, I'm excited by his nomination, and I love what his nomination potentially could represent. There's a lot more than meets the ear upon first listen. I really hope people take the time to explore his music further. Yes, he did get stuck in that "American Bandstand dancing music" niche, but I do think that small pond is big enough to warrant enshrining this big fish for it, especially given the epoch of the rock era it looms large in. But I'm meandering. Speaking of meandering and big fish, nearly on the opposite end of the spectrum is jam band Phish, whose music I'm honestly not familiar with at all. I'm not opposed to jam bands being enshrined, but if my experience in exploring Phish's catalog runs a parallel course to my first deep dive into the Dave Matthews Band back in 2019 for the Class Of 2020, I'm bracing myself to be simultaneously bored and irritated. Hopefully not though, but being from farm country, being the fourth of five children in a middle class family whose parents taught that thrill-seeking and pleasure is not the end-all-be-all in life, live music experiences were always viewed as a luxury at best and a frivolity at worst; I will literally be fighting my nurturing environment to make space to appreciate what Phish represents.
But they probably won't be the toughest act on the ballot for me to relate to. Seeing as I don't speak Spanish, that honor will probably go to Mana, starting with the fact that I want to same the name twice to get that Muppets song stuck in your head, because I'm still five years old sometimes. Also, I'm too lazy to pull up the special character that is the letter "a" with the accentuation mark over it to spell it technically correctly. But don't worry, I also won't be doing that for Husker Du or Queensryche either. Deal with it. But if music is a universal language, then maybe I'll enjoy the melodies without necessarily understanding the lyrics, much in the same way "Macarena" took over the USA in the mid-'90s. But this is a curious nomination, and I have two conspiracy theories about their nomination, probably neither of them are true. One is a woke hypothesis, and the other is cynical. One suggests that the NomComm put a band from Mexico on the ballot in protest Trump's renaming the Gulf Of Mexico, and also to piss off the MAGA faithful. The other hypothesis is that this is bait to drive up traffic from the primarily Spanish-speaking world to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's website to drive up the numbers in the fan vote for them, much in the way the website's traffic boomed when African people flocked to the website to vote for Fela Kuti on his first nomination, thinking that 110,000 votes on the fan vote equaled 110,000 votes in the tallying office, instead of just being the one fan vote that it actually was. It might be that this is just bait to drive up those clicks to the website to make them seem bigger and more relevant. Again, the truth is probably neither of those scenarios, but it's sometimes fun to harmlessly stir up irrelevant shit.
Moving on from there, we also have a nomination for Joe Cocker, a name that many in the hobbyist community have been crying out for for a long time. Chubby Checker famously said he wants his flowers while he's still alive, but in Cocker's case, there's nothing wrong with placing some fresh ones on his grave, to let the world know he's still a beloved figure. We also have a nomination for the Black Crowes, a band I'm currently not stoked about, but also admit that I only know the one song by them, a song that I think is okay. Definitely one I'll need to research, but I'm willing to do it. We also have a return of Joy Division/New Order to the ballot. Last time they were nominated, I did what I thought was a fair amount of work in listening to their catalogs, trying to find the evolutionary missing link that made the transition between the eras that each name represented more seamless. I don't think I found it last time. I hope I'll find it this time. Maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe Ian Curtis was so singularly in control of the creative process that when the others had to move on without him and bring Gillian Gilbert aboard, it was inevitable that the New Order releases would sound vastly different.
The last nominee is the most nominated artist on the ballot, this being the third time, and it is Soundgarden. This is going to be an interesting one for me to watch for a particular reason. And if you want to know what that reason is, become a Patreon subscriber for "Who Cares About The Rock Hall?" and check out the exclusive episode that I did as part of the listener takeover series. Hint: I'm mildly bummed at Phil Collins not being nominated as a solo artist on this ballot.
So there we have it, a brief rundown of the nominees for this year's class. And like Joe & Kristen, and also Mary & Eric have noted, this is a very homogeneous ballot. There may be some stylistic diversity, but in terms of demographics and representation... yikes. But as someone who has taken part in parliamentary procedures, I can also attest that when individuals and individual interests all coalesce to collectively fight for those individual interests, it's often a natural result that the needle is not greatly moved, if at all. Hopefully, we'll get some balancing out in the categories. But until then, I hope you all avail yourselves of the chance to research the nominees too. Enjoy the tunes.
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