With the ballot having come out this past week for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's Class Of 2022, the general consensus is a resounding, "Eh." I'll admit, that for me, much of the sentiment on my part is that which I've already expressed. Most of the acts I love most have already been enshrined, and of the ones that haven't, many I agree probably don't pass the bar, and those that I think do, the Hall has clearly moved on from that era. If I were a one-man veterans committee, wielding the level of power they gave Little Steven when they first tried the Singles category, you'd think the Hall was really playing catch-up. Five Satins? In. Jesse Belvin? In. Jan And Dean? In. Lesley Gore? Retroactively inducted in 1990. That's just a start.
Anyway, some thoughts on this ballot:
Great minds think alike:
We all knew Eminem was going to be on the ballot, most of us picked Duran Duran and Rage Against The Machine too. The only other correct prediction I got was Pat Benatar. I wasn't really thinking she'd show up, but was just expressing my dumbfoundedness from when she previously missed. It worked.
There's deductive reasoning... there's deja vu.....
One thing about this ballot to note is that there are more return nominees than first timers. That doesn't happen too often, and that's often why it's so hard to guess the ballot. The NomComm tries to keep a healthy number of new names on the ballot, and there are still several, but this ratio is a little heavier than it usually gets.
"Nothing against the artists themselves..."
Between the three podcasts hosted by members of the community, when listening to their ballot reveal and reflect episodes this past week, if I'd done a shot every time someone said words to that effect, I'd've been picked up by the police after trying to proposition a statue in a park somewhere. And every utterance of that sentiment says the same thing that many of us have said: the system is flawed. Broken? Nah, bruh. The Hall was founded by gatekeepers who wanted the number of enshrined small and predominantly at their discretion. The system is working exactly as designed. Worthy, revolutionary artists have become ennui because the Hall continues to think too small. They saw how well received the large class was this past year, and they appear to be digging in their heels. Maybe not. We don't know how many will get in, but all the press seems to indicate that the Performer category is going to remain narrow for the foreseeable future. And to address Mark's point, it isn't because of Sporcle, it's because the Performer category has that extra level of validation. When you go in one of the other categories, you have the approval of the people inside the room. When you go in as a Performer, you have the approval of not just them, but a larger body of peers. To be fair, if the ballot simply let voters vote for as many acts as they wanted, the level of respect and validation that these acts actually have would be more accurately reflected. The Hall's process is so flawed that it has yielded contempt upon itself and its institution--by the institution itself. The usage of the other categories corroborates that. And while I am rehashing old discussions and arguments, the point I'm trying to make is, that's why this happens. Term limits of NomComm members, fresh faces, and even adding diversity to the Assembly Of The Hoagie isn't going to induct the names that deserve it. In fact, the very opposite is what happens: it tells those acts that they don't matter. End of sentence. It'll get new names on the ballot, but it won't put things to right. Bigger classes are the answer. Rock and roll spreads out in too many valid and important directions to be kept to classes this small. Yeah, maybe that means letting in acts like the J. Geils Band, but it also means having Judas Priest and the New York Dolls already in by now too. To add a clause beginning with "more than" to the question "Do they deserve induction?" presents a faulty paradigm as the reality we're now stuck with.
Which brings us to the idea of wasted space on the ballot. That's what's being said about the MC5, the New York Dolls, and even Fela Kuti, and on the flipside, the lack of Chaka Khan on the ballot. If last year was the writing on the wall, as many believe, than the MC5 and possibly the New York Dolls will be getting enshrined in the Early Influence category for their legacy as punk progenitors, while Fela might get enshriend as an Award For Musical Excellence inductee. So many are asking, "Why bother nominating them when they'll just be inducted in aother category regardless? It's wasting a spot on the ballot, right?" Well, I think that's exactly why they did it. They don't see it as wasting space. They see it as making one final stab before being graced into the Hall. It's not a wasted space. This is how they make it look on paper that they are inducting a higher percentage of nominees every year. Whether or not they'll do this every year or just until they can reduce the number of Past Nominees who haven't been enshrined to a much lower number, we shall see. But this is to make the percentages look better. It's called lying with statistics. But hey, just as long as the eventual obituary leads with "Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer," right?
Culturally crossed
One of the more interesting side stories since the announcement has been the fan ballot, namely, Fela Kuti going from near top of the heap last year, to currently dead last. Last year, the Rock Hall site received an unusally high influx of traffic from Africa, all to vote for Fela Kuti in the fan ballot. And then Fela didn't get inducted. Those of us in the watching community weren't really fazed or shocked by it. And to be honest, we thought it was old hat. We had seen the Dave Matthews Band finish first but fail to get in, and it's not like the top five in the fan ballot have ever all gotten in. But the Hall is also an American institution. And we watchers are mostly American, too. To us, agreeing to receive promotional emails from the Hall as a condition to voting is business as usual, par for the course. Apparently, that is one way the world wide web is not universal. The African base that voted for Fela last year was not thrilled. They felt they'd been played for suckers, and weren't having it a second time. They didn't appreciate business as usual. And they let us know how they felt about it. This puts another spin on the fan ballot. What the Western world just takes to be backdrop is not seen that way everywhere apparently. Maybe the Hall should take that into consideration next time they nominate an artist not from the U.S. or U.K. And maybe lay off the slick-as-slime spiel in their promotions. Doubtful it'll happen though. All they saw was the number of clicks. Rock on Fela fans; like the Who, you won't get fooled again.
Step forward, step back
We still don't have a female rapper nominated. The number of women on the ballot is a lower percentage. It's a small consolation to see Duran Duran nominated, an act that I'd seen multiple women on Twitter advocating for. Then again, Duran Duran is a band that the Hall was most likely going to have to deal with eventually, so maybe not progress. But I don't expound on it as thoroughly as the women in our community. Go read what Michelle Bourg and Evelyn McDonnell write about it. Listen to Mary on Hall Watchers. But it is interesting to see Dolly Parton get nominated. And less surprising to see Carly Simon, but still unexpected. Another shot for Dionne Warwick, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, amd Pat Benatar. No Alanis though.
It's not a bad ballot. Some pleasant options. And also congrats to Beck, Lionel Richie, A Tribe Called Quest, and Devo for getting nominated this time around. May the fortunes be ever in your favor.
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