With the announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2022 inductees, the institution has signaled once again that they are determined to make progress in reducing its lengthy backlog using large induction classes and liberal use of their special categories.

Performers

Among the Rock Hall's first 16 induction classes, 12 included seven or more performer inductees, but have only been that large three times since (2004, 2019, and 2022). The reduction of class sizes led to an ever-increasing backlog of artists who started becoming eligible based on their work in the late 70s, 80s, and now 90s, as the Hall worked its way through missing artists from the 60s and early 70s. Had the Rock Hall maintained larger classes, they would have been better able to keep up with the never-ending tide of qualified artists who become eligible every year.

This year's seven performers is a positive sign that they recognize the issue and are willing to increase the number of inductees (despite the protestations of the Induction Ceremony producers).

Dolly Parton's landmark induction as a country artist in the Performer category makes good on Rock Hall chairman John Sykes's promise last year that "all genres are welcome." Her induction now sets the stage for many other country icons that arguably should be honored, which as Dolly feared, will inevitably keep artists from the Rock Hall's core genres waiting longer, or left out altogether.

Special Categories

After LL Cool J jumped from the performer ballot to a broadened Musical Excellence category induction, it was clear that the Rock Hall nominators (and their subcommittees) were frustrated enough by the results from the voters that they felt they had to take matters into their own hands to clear the lane of significant, but unelectable artists. The side effect of inducting LL Cool J last year was likely a nomination for A Tribe Called Quest this year, an artist who had been eligible for years but hadn't had an opportunity because the Nominating Committee had dug in its heels trying to get LL in first. Likewise, the Nominating Committee's hands have been tied regarding hard rock and metal artists when a genre-defining band like Judas Priest was still on the outside. After three chances on the ballot, the Rock Hall decided the voters were probably never going to induct them, so they shifted them to Musical Excellence. We'll see the impact of this next year where Iron Maiden seems like the inevitable next in line, but after that things can get more interesting.

Why are some artists getting shuffled off the performer ballot and not others? LL Cool J, Judas Priest, and Kraftwerk (who went in via the Early Influence category) were all pioneers of their genres, whereas other multiple-nominated artists such as Chaka Khan, MC5, and Rage Against the Machine might have less clearcut cases (or the Hall just hasn't gotten to them yet? or perhaps they do better with the voters?). Needless to say, the category has very little boundaries and it's best not to attempt to define it with any consistent rules. Without knowing who is on the Special Category subcommittees (the Rock Hall won't say), it's very difficult to predict who they will favor year-to-year. There are so many better ways the Rock Hall could handle this problem, but they have chosen to take this particular brute force approach instead.

The last two years have provided evidence of a trend that the Rock Hall has a renewed interest in honoring significant pre-rock era artists like Charley Patton and Elizabeth Cotten. These types of inductions are always widely praised and do the Museum-side of the Rock Hall a service by helping them tell additional stories of the roots of rock and roll. Keep them coming.

The Non-Performer category inductions are notable this year for finally honoring a woman music executive in Sylvia Robinson. The Rock Hall still has a lot of work catch up work do in this area, but this was a terrific start.

With the selection of Allen Grubman, the Rock Hall is honoring their first lawyer (and hopefully last), but as one of the founders of the institution itself, Grubman gets a rightful pass.

The Induction Ceremony

The 2021 Induction Ceremony ran overtime (causing the cancellation of the all-star jam) when faced with the challenge of honoring 13 inductees, even though many of whom were either dead or didn't show up. Most of this year's 14 inductees are thankfully still around and active, and have all seemed grateful for the honor and would be expected to attend and/or perform. Producers will need to be even more creative just to keep the induction ceremony under five hours given the potential number of speeches and performances.

As expected, John Sykes moved the induction ceremony back to Los Angeles for the first time since 2013. The question remains whether or not it will come back to Cleveland as promised in 2023, or if the Hall will instead switch to a regular three year rotation including New York. Rock Hall Museum CEO Greg Harris told SiriusXM today that a set cadence hadn't been determined yet.

With a loaded Rock Hall class, Induction Ceremony ticket demand should be high, so it was unfortunate to see the Hall of Fame take the event out of NBA arenas and move it to a 7,100 seat theater (with a huge chunk of those set aside for VIPs). Due to the limited capacity, fans should expect to pay a premium if they want to see the ceremony in person, although the smaller venue will hopefully make for a better experience.