Eight weeks after announcing the 2019 Inductees, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame added one more name to the list, The Cure’s current guitarist, Reeves Gabrels. After the inductees were named in December, Cure keyboardist Roger O’Donnell lamented the fact that Reeves Gabrels wasn’t included among the nine current and former members of the band being inducted. Apparently, the band may have threatened not to attend the induction ceremony if Gabrels wasn’t inducted, so the Rock Hall acquiesced. With Radiohead’s Thom Yorke having already declined to attend, the Rock Hall couldn’t afford to have any more no-shows.

Although Gabrels has been an official member of The Cure since 2012, he hasn’t appeared on any of their albums (The Cure’s last studio album was 2008, although a new one is due this year). It’s hard to justify his induction when weighing it against the many, many artists over the years who had more significant contributions to their bands’ successes, but were snubbed by the Rock Hall.

This issue reached a fever pitch in 2014, when Paul Stanley was vocal about the Rock Hall only inducting the original KISS lineup. Stanley correctly noted, “The only consistencies are inconsistencies and the rules clearly are there are no rules because the criteria for how and who gets in is purely based upon a personal like or dislike.”

Future inductees can now cite the “Reeves Gabrels Precedent” when negotiating with the Rock Hall over details of their induction.

h/t Chain of Flowers