Discussion: "R&R Hall of Fame Committee Too Rich, Too Male, Too White"

Espresso

I couldn't figure out how to move my thread from Music News to here so I created a new one

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[...] On April 18, at Public Hall in Cleveland, the Hall will welcome eight new acts, including Green Day, Lou Reed and Joan Jett, who will join the pantheon of previous inductees, from Elvis Presley to Nirvana. This year marks the 30th ceremony, and [B]people inside the Hall think the induction of Kiss (as well as the 2012 inductions of Rush and Heart) signals the start of a new era, short on consensus honorees, as the institution faces increasingly difficult choices between commerce and art, theater and substance, critical acclaim and massive success.

Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after their first recording, which means the Hall will now begin considering acts from the 1990s, an era when traditional rock all but disappeared, and music splintered into subgenres. If significant pioneers like The Stooges (inducted on their eighth nomination) and the Sex Pistols (who failed on their first five ballots) had trouble getting inducted, how much harder will it be for Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and other recent pop stars? "It was easy enough in the beginning," says Jann Wenner, 69, chairman of the Rock Hall Foundation and founder, editor and publisher of Rolling Stone. "But at this point, all the clear, obvious people have been inducted, and it comes down to personal taste."

"With Chuck Berry or The Rolling Stones, the decision was a no-brainer," adds a nominating committee veteran. "There aren’t many no-brainers now." [...]

Eventually, 10 current and former committee members agreed to talk, either on background or not for attribution, and a clear picture of the future emerged: If the electorate doesn’t continue to change, the Hall could turn into a high-tech Madame Tussauds.

Currently, 41 VIPs make up the nominating committee. During meetings, each can nominate up to three acts. After much discussion, members vote by secret ballot for 10 favorites. The 15 acts with the most votes are placed on another ballot, which is sent to a larger panel of voters -- at last count, there were 810, including all Hall members. (Disclosure: I’ve been a voter for several years, and have written for Rolling Stone.) The ballots are returned and counted. The seven acts with the most votes are inducted, though the board of directors has the discretion to eliminate qualifiers with the least support. [...]

The Hall’s mission is to honor "musical excellence and influence," says Joel Peresman, president/CEO of the Hall of Fame Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity. Notions of excellence are subjective, and the objective standard of record sales (often cited by advocates of The Monkees, Chicago and Janet Jackson, among others) doesn’t sway the Hall -- popularity "can be a marker of artistic excellence," says Wenner, but it’s not a primary consideration. Historically, the Hall (just like Rolling Stone) has favored earnest, guitar-based rock acts over top 40 stars. Committee members "see themselves as keepers of the flame of integrity," says an insider.

The committee has often been justly criticized for being homogenous -- "too old, too male, too white, too rich," says a former member. There are six women and seven people of color among the 41 members. In the last decade, "we’ve made a conscious effort to diversify it," says Wenner. In 2006, several stalwarts were dethroned: "I was fired for being too old. That’s what I was told," says one. (Wenner counters that anyone who was kicked off "wasn’t being useful.") Younger members have been added, including Morello, 50, and The Roots drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, 44.

Morello’s successful advocacy for Kiss shows how influential new members have been. In his first year, Questlove pushed pop act Hall & Oates onto the ballot, after others had tried and failed; "he worked the room like Frank Underwood works Congress," one member says. And yet, the source adds, the balance of power is still with the elders: "Like anything boomer-centric, people are going to hold on to it as if their lives depend on it. You’ll have to pry the Hall of Fame from their cold, dead fingers."

Many committee members expressed frustration with the larger body of voters, who are more conservative and usually overlook rappers. One year, LL Cool J was the artist who garnered the most votes in the nominating committee meeting; he’s been on the ballot three times, and voters have passed over him each time. "The nominating committee is a more educated, elite and sophisticated group of people," says Wenner. "The broader voters are more like me -- I loved a certain period of music, but I’m not deeply committed to knowing everything that’s going on."

The committee’s track record in recognizing such rock ’n’ roll offshoots as hip-hop, metal and alternative rock has been spotty. They view The Cure (eligible since 2003) and Depeche Mode (since 2006) as weird outcasts from England who wear mascara, rather than post-punk and electronic pioneers who still headline festivals and sell out arenas. "You and I will die before those groups are in the Hall of Fame," an insider predicts.

Gene Simmons of Kiss sums up the frequent criticism that the Hall neglects hard-rock and prog-rock bands. "Patti Smith is in before Deep Purple?" he exclaims. "Talking Heads, but not Yes? It started as a great idea, but it has become a sham."

[...] To imagine how the Hall will react when it begins to scrutinize bands from the ’90s and beyond, it’s instructive to consider the musicians being inducted this month. Of the six acts in the performer category, only Green Day is contemporary. Two are being inducted for their ’70s music (Reed, Bill Withers), two debuted in the early ’80s (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts), and voters reached back to the ’60s for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which had been eligible since 1989. The Hall had a chance to elect some great ’80s acts -- Nine Inch Nails, The Smiths, Whitney Houston, Duran Duran, The Replacements and N.W.A -- but punted. The distant past is always a safe place for the Hall to revisit.

Billboard

Discuss.

RedRed

not Mariah climbing that glass roof with high heels

Espresso

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Originally posted by RedRed

not Mariah climbing that glass roof with high heels

QueenBeyoncé

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Too White

Just like the Grammys and the Oscars.

Tropez

Baby Boomers for a fact are horrible when it comes to many things. And when it comes to their music, they are even worse. The sad fact that N.W.A. one of the most influential rap groups ever, and the fact that they along with Nirvana shaped the sound of the 90s can't even be inducted in is horrible.

I'm not surprised that they'll pass over anything that isn't "dad rock", just because it doesn't fit their single minded tatse.

dcode78

Janet's omission is always brought up when this is discussed. She pretty much invented a genre of music and influenced your fave, directly or indirectly.