The biggest indie voices in music today such as Big thief/adriene lenker and Phoebe Bridgers, Iron and Wine, non ivor, Elliott smith are influenced by Nick drakes one of a kind guitar style and mastery of counterpoint Melodie's and multi mood poetry.
Not to mention legands like Radiohead, the cure, Elton John, Kate bush, Chris Cornell, R.E.M, beck, John martyn (who also deserves in), Kurt cobain, and many others
That's 4 generations of prolific artists influenced by him. His influence goes under the radar but he really did do something original and it led to a lot of originality.
No one younger really cares about sales, charts... Most corporate rock acts in that era are just zombie acts; many people know some of their songs, but no one really particularly cares about the band themselves or thinks they are important anymore.
Of course, The Smiths from a similar era sold less than 5M albums in total, yet a ton of younger people really care about them, and Morrissey is also starting to tour in arenas... They are 10 times more relevant than most corporate rock acts with 1-2 "big hits" nowadays. If they reunite, they can easily become arena or even stadium-level touring acts. This proves lasting influence matters far more than sales and charts.
No one younger really gives shit about sales charts.... These metrics mean something, but probably not much, unless you are older white people who only accept late 70s-90s corporate rock or 90s nu metal made by white people...
REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Toto, Survivor, Styx, Supertramp and Blue Oyster Cult aren't getting in because they are boring white guys. Be honest. It is really that simple. They surpass many acts already inducted (sales, streaming, touring) in the same vein. And they still aren't inducting enough deserving women.
Billy Squier? Had 1 great album and a bunch of rap tracks sampled "The Big Beat". He couldn't tour past 1984. He is a footnote, not a HOFer.
Are we really sure that now we just nominate any boomer or aor rock acts and they will be automatically lock?
No, we have seen it with Warren Zevon and he whiffed.
Even white boomers have their limits.
At least, even for boomer era white rock acts (or early gen x), you still needs to be "respect" by your peers, of course most boomers respect Paul Rodgers, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Foreigner, but can we really say the same will apply for likes of Reo Speedwagon/Styx/Kansas/Toto or even likes of Don Henley solo?
