The effect fo the 'Media Monster' on popular music.

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything , but I am making an effort to post more often.

This post was decided upon because of my absolute distaste for the 'Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame'. I have the online feed of Sirius radio and have been listening to the 'Howard Stern Show' when I get a few minutes to myself. Recently, Howard had Daryl Hall of 'Hall & Oates' on, which turned out to be great interview. During the interview Howard brought up the fact that Hall & Oates were not in the 'Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame', Daryl immediately went on a tirade about how the media machine in 70's praised anyone that covered Bo Diddley or Woody Guthrie and were suspicious of anyone artist who loved Al Green or hung out with the Spinners. The more and more I thought about what he said I realized that he was right. Hall & Oates started out as a Philly soul band (listen to tracks like "She's Gone" or "Sara Smiles" and you'll understand what I mean). They had a string of hits from the late 70's through the early 80's and were, I would guess, one of the biggest selling pop bands of the 80's. So why is it that they are not in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame? Is it because they were not 'Rock N' Roll? Then why may I ask is Grand Master Flash in the HOF? Is there a reason why the Staple Singers are resting comfortably on the shores of Lake Erie and not Hall & Oates? It's because they played the game. I can't tell you how many times I have seen some asshole from Rolling Stone on a Rock N' Roll documentary (Fricke I think his name is) and just wanted to jump through the TV and tell him to zip it! It drives me insane when someone considers themselves a music aficionado when they don't really know what it is they are talking about. These are the idiots that vote on who gets in the Hall of Fame. They say 'whats cool' and 'what has credibility'. What is criteria?

Here is a list of all of the inductees into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame since it opened, I will put question marks next to the questionable inductees (not that they shouldn't be there, but why ahead of whomever) and then a short list of artists who absolutely should be (whether I like them or not):

1986
Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
Elvis Presley
Fats Domino
James Brown
Jerry Lee Lewis
Little Richard
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke
The Everly Brothers

1987
Aretha Franklin
B.B. King
Big Joe Turner
Bill Haley
Bo Diddley
Carl Perkins
Clyde McPhatter
Eddie Cochran
Jackie Wilson
Marvin Gaye
Muddy Waters
Ricky Nelson
Roy Orbison
Smokey Robinson
The Coasters

1988
Bob Dylan
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
The Drifters
The Supremes

1989
Dion? (2 top tens hits gets you in ahead of Johhny Cash?)
Otis Redding
Stevie Wonder
The Rolling Stones
The Temptations

1990
Bobby Darin? (seriously, this early?)
Hank Ballard (name his hit?)
Simon and Garfunkel
The Four Seasons
The Four Tops
The Kinks
The Platters
The Who

1991 - the year of R&B and blues
Ike and Tina Turner (for a cover of Proud Mary and other songs they didn't write.)
Jimmy Reed
John Lee Hooker
LaVern Baker
The Byrds
The Impressions
Wilson Pickett

1992 - more R&B
Bobby "Blue" Bland ?
Booker T. and the M.G.'s
Johnny Cash
Sam and Dave
The Isley Brothers
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Yardbirds

1993
Cream
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Etta James
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers? (seriously)
Ruth Brown ?
Sly and the Family Stone
The Doors
Van Morrison

1994
Bob Marley (a little early for this guy)
Duane Eddy
Elton John
John Lennon (where's Paul? I want some asshole to tell me John was more influential)
Rod Stewart
The Animals
The Band (too early)
The Grateful Dead

1995
Al Green
Frank Zappa (too late)
Janis Joplin
Led Zeppelin (too late)
Martha and the Vandellas
Neil Young (ahead of Buffalo Springfield?)
The Allman Brothers Band

1996
David Bowie
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Jefferson Airplane
Little Willie John?
Pink Floyd
The Shirelles
The Velvet Underground (they should still be sitting and waiting)

1997
Buffalo Springfield (too late)
Crosby Stills and Nash
Joni Mitchell (you can tell they had their CSNY family hat on the day she was picked)
Parliament-Funkadelic
The (Young) Rascals
The Bee Gees (waaaay too late)
The Jackson Five

1998
Fleetwood Mac
Gene Vincent
Lloyd Price
Santana
The Eagles
The Mamas and the Papas

1999
Billy Joel
Bruce Springsteen
Curtis Mayfield
Del Shannon
Dusty Springfield
Paul McCartney (waaay too late)
The Staple Singers?

2000
Bonnie Raitt? (Someone please explain this one to me. Ahead of Linda Rondstadt?)
Earth, Wind & Fire (ahead of Chicago?)
Eric Clapton
James Taylor
Lovin' Spoonful
The Moonglows

2001
Aerosmith
Michael Jackson
Paul Simon
Queen
Ritchie Valens (waaay too late)
Solomon Burke
Steely Dan
The Flamingos

2002
Brenda Lee (come on now.)
Gene Pitney
Isaac Hayes
Ramones
Talking Heads
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

2003
AC/DC
Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Righteous Brothers
The Clash
The Police

2004
Bob Seger
George Harrison
Jackson Browne
Prince
The Dells
Traffic
ZZ Top

2005
Buddy Guy (great player, but come on)
Percy Sledge?
The O'Jays
The Pretenders
U2

2006
Black Sabbath
Blondie?
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Miles Davis? (Rock N' Roll, not jazz, shoulda put in Jeff Beck in if they were walking that line.)
Sex Pistols

2007
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (no comment).
Patti Smith?
R.E.M.
The Ronettes
Van Halen

I want some one to explain to me why the following artists are not in the HOF ahead of some of the artists where I put question marks:

MC5 (eligible in 1989)*
YES (eligible in 1993)*
Chicago (eligible in 1992)*
Genesis (eligible in 1992)*
America (eligible in 1995)
The Guess Who (eligible in 1990)*
The Cars (eligible in 2002)
Deep Purple (eligible in 1993)*
DEVO (eligible in 1997)
Electric Light Orchestra (eligible in 1996)*
ABBA (eligible in 1997)
Emerson Lake and Palmer (eligible in 1995)
Kiss (eligible in 1996)
Free (eligible in 1993)
Humble Pie (eligible in 1994)*
Small Faces (eligible in 1990)* (hey, if the Yardbirds are in, why not a better band?)
Iron maiden (eligible in 2000)
Judas Priest (eligible 1994)*
Journey (eligible in 1998)
Rush (eligible in 1993)*
Styx (eligible in 1997)
The Zombies (eligible in 1986)*
Todd Rundgren (eligible in 1995)
Vanilla Fudge (eligible in 1992)
Hall & Oates (eligible in 1994)*

...and the list goes on and on...I know you can't put them all in at once, but the ones with the asterisk next to them should be getting a written letter of apology by now.

Someone should open a separate Rock N' Roll HOF where the criteria is fair and the voting is done by real music fans and the listening public.