After years of using its special categories sparingly, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame expanded its scope this year by including seven inductees in three existing categories: Musical Excellence, Early Influence, and Non-Performer (Ahmet Ertegun Award). The changes surrounding the process have wide ranging implications for who they can honor in the future as well as who they will likely neglect.

First things first: It should go without saying, but all of these inductees are clearly Hall of Fame-worthy and any criticism of the Hall of Fame's process should not be construed as a criticism of the artists who have no control over the matter. Dramatically increasing the overall number of inductees this year was a major step in the right direction.

The following are the newly revised descriptions of the Performer, Musical Excellence, and Early Influence awards taken from the Rock Hall's website and press release for the 2021 inductees (in random order):

1. [An award given to artists] whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.
2. [An award given to artists] whose music and performance style have directly influenced and helped inspire and evolve rock & roll and music that has impacted youth culture.
3. [An award given to artists] who, in their careers, have created music whose originality, impact and influence has changed the course of rock & roll.

Do you know which description goes with each category?

Early Influence

The Rock Hall has been pushing the limits of the original intent of this category since at least 2009, when Elvis contemporary Wanda Jackson was honored as an "Early Influence" the same year she was on the Performer ballot. Despite testing the limits of the process, the category's original definition was clear:

"Artists whose music predated rock and roll but had an impact on the evolution of rock and roll and inspired rock’s leading artists."

The key words in that statement that makes it distinct from the definition of an artist in the Performer category is "predated rock and roll," generally considered the early 1950s. Fittingly, some of the first inductees in that category were names like Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Bessie Smith, and Howlin' Wolf. Even after 35 years of inductions, the Rock Hall still has more foundational artists left to honor, as evidenced by this year's induction of Charley Patton, the "Father of the Delta Blues" who was born in 1891.

This year the Rock Hall decided to formally drop the "predates rock and roll" description altogether in favor of definition #2 above. As you might surmise from the generic category descriptions, there are no stated rules or timeframe for who might qualify as an "Early Influence."

Musical Excellence

This category evolved out of the Sidemen category, and was intended to broaden its definition to include producers. Here's how the Rock Hall described it in 2013:

"It honors those musicians, producers and others who have spent their careers out of the spotlight working with major artists on various parts of their recording and live careers. Though they often play a key role in the creation of memorable music, the public rarely knows them by name."

The category may have been expanded beyond studio sidemen (and yes, it was all men) at the urging of Elton John, who wanted to get his friend Leon Russell into the Hall of Fame. As a jack-of-all-trades, Russell did not fit neatly into the Performer or Sideman categories, so in 2011 he was honored in the new Musical Excellence category. The following year, the category was used to induct three recording engineers. After that, the Hall of Fame drifted further away from the behind the scenes roots of the category to induct the E Street Band (2014), Ringo Starr (2015), and Nile Rodgers (2017).

After Ringo was inducted, the Rock Hall revised the definition of the category to remove the "out of the spotlight" parts:

"This award honors musicians, songwriters and producers who have spent their life creating important and memorable music. Their originality, impact and influence have changed the course of music history. These artists have achieved the highest level of distinction that transcends time."

This year's definition (#1 above) is intended for "artists, musicians, songwriters and producers," and is so generic and inclusive, that again, it can apply to any of this year's inductees.

The Rock Hall hasn't inducted anyone considered a true "Sideman" since 2009. This is a huge missed opportunity for the Hall of Fame to spotlight the musicians who worked in the shadows and don't typically get the fame and fortune of the lead artists. If the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame isn't going to recognize them, who will?

The Rock Hall Nominating Committee has long been frustrated that the voters haven't found room on their ballots year after year to induct artists such as Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, Chaka Khan, MC5, and the J. Geils Band. Just as they did in 2017 when they gave up trying to get Chic inducted after 11 nominations and instead gave Nile Rodgers the Musical Excellence award, this year they decided to do the same with LL Cool J after he missed induction on the Performer ballot for the sixth time. Needless to say that voters have noticed this end-around of the induction process and are questioning why they received a ballot at all if the Rock Hall will just induct who they want anyway.

So how should the Rock Hall handle these issues? First, they should keep inducting large classes such as these. Having 13 inductees to help clear the backlog is the best thing the Rock Hall has done in years. However, it's fair to say that wedging artists into the wrong categories, or twisting category definitions so they become meaningless is not ideal. There are better options:

• Increase then number of Performer inductees every year. If special category inductions were the only alternative for larger classes, then sure, keep doing that, but the unwritten rule of inducting between 5 and 7 performers annually should be doubled.
• Expand the number of artists that voters can choose on their ballots. It's quite possible LL Cool J and/or Kraftwerk missed out because they were voters' sixth choice each year, or they suffered due to strategic voting patterns. Voters also tend to gravitate towards the new names on the ballot, so if you miss out in your first year, it becomes more difficult to get over the hump with voters, especially if they think you'll just be back on the ballot the next year.
• Create a rule where after a certain number of nominations, you are automatically inducted the following year, similar to the old "seven year rule." The Hall currently has two performer inductees who got in that way, and there are no asterisks to be found.
• Create a spot among the performers for a "Nominating Committee selection," that makes it feel like an honor to receive it, but announce it before the ballot goes out so it doesn't look like a consolation.
• The Rock Hall shouldn't have artists leap from the Performer ballot to one of the special categories in the same year. It's a bad look and it appears to be a consolation prize, rather than the special honor it should be. The Hall should have anticipated the scenario of LL Cool J missing out again (with Jay-Z on the ballot, his odds were going to be very low), and kept him off the performer ballot if they were going to induct him no matter the outcome. Ballot spots are precious and shouldn't be spent on artists who are getting inducted regardless of the vote tally.
• Provide some boundaries to the special categories. If you want to expand the definition of "Early Influence" to include more recent artists, that's fine, but give it a specific definition so new inductees fit in with the ones who have already been inducted in that category. All Hall of Famers are supposed be influential, so what makes the special category distinct?
• Better yet, create new categories that are specifically built to fill the holes in the current system. And yes, the Singles Category has been a disastrous attempt at doing this, but a more thoughtful solution is out there.
• If you create new categories, you can leave Early Influence for its original purpose of honoring artists who predate rock and roll. There is still so much left to do in that era, that expanding it now will inevitably neglect the artists it was created for. The same goes with the Musical Excellence award. Now that the category is being used to honor transcendent rock stars like LL Cool J and Randy Rhoads, will there be room to induct the "out of the spotlight" heroes?
• John Sykes alluded to the fact that there are new seven-member committees for each category. Do women have equal representation among the selectors? The fact that there are no women inductees in the special categories this year (and very few historically) should be cause for alarm for Sykes who has made increasing diversity on the Performer ballot a priority.
• As for this year's Musical Excellence inductees, LL Cool J should obviously be included in the Performer category. Billy Preston had a significant solo career in addition to his work as a sideman, and would not have been out of place on the regular ballot, and may have even gotten the votes to be inducted. Randy Rhoads is the ultimate lead guitarist, and not a behind-the-scenes backup musician. Ideally Rhoads would be inducted alongside Ozzy Osbourne as a Performer, but Ozzy hasn't been nominated yet (and now his chances have likely dropped even further now that Rhoads is already in).
• For the Early Influence inductees, Charley Patton obviously fits the original definition of the category. Kraftwerk and Gil Scott-Heron are both essential Hall of Famers, but don't fit with the previous inductees in the category. The Rock Hall should simply create a new "Modern Influences" category for these types of artists that have created genres that have helped perpetuate rock and roll into the 21st century. It's not too late to change it!
• If the Rock Hall continues down this path where any artist is eligible for Musical Excellence, it's going to become a problem. Already people are questioning why LL Cool J was chosen and not Chaka Khan/Rufus, who has been nominated just as many times. Why not MC5? Why not Judas Priest and Iron Maiden? Up until recently, the Rock Hall could simply tell artists and fans that they weren't in because they "didn't get the votes." Without a set of rules for the category, what's going to be their excuse now?

This year's induction class is overwhelmingly a net positive, so it's difficult to be too critical when there are so many great artists finally getting honored. The most prestigious awards carry with them a gravity because of the seriousness to the process. The Rock Hall's casual rewriting of its awards to solve its larger structural issues diminishes the clarity and logic of their inductions. How can you explain the story of a category which includes Hal Blaine, Cosimo Matassa, the E Street Band, Ringo Starr, and LL Cool J without talking yourself in circles?

Here’s Greg Harris trying to explain how LL Cool J wound up in the Musical Excellence category after being nominated as a performer six times: “As a process, I wouldn’t try and go too deeply with it.” #RockHall2021 pic.twitter.com/zuSwC7kJss

— Future Rock Legends (@futurerocklgnds) May 15, 2021

With its 2021 class, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame took a significant step in a new direction. The first induction class under chairman of the board John Sykes is notable for many reasons. Some quick thoughts on this year's class:

• The Hall inducted “the most diverse list of Inductees in the history of the organization,” according to the Hall’s own press release.This year has three performer inductees which include at least one woman, the most since 1996. Huge credit to Sykes for making this a priority with the Nominating Committee and then delivering.
• There are 13 artists this year, the Rock Hall’s largest class since 2012, and tied for the fifth largest class ever. With the massive backlog of worthy candidates in all genres and categories, seven inductees per year wasn’t cutting it, so this is an encouraging development.
• Welcome Tina Turner, Carole King, and Dave Grohl to the “Clyde McPhatter Club” for becoming two-time Hall of Fame inductees. That is the most new members added since 1997.
• The Rock Hall has abandoned the idea of a live ceremony (for now). There is inherently tension between the time constraints of an induction ceremony and the number of artists you can properly honor. By adding the even tighter limits of a live HBO ceremony, it apparently became too much for the Rock Hall to accept. Good for them for opting for more inductees and letting the ceremony run long.
• Kraftwerk finally gets in. Having been nominated six times since 2003 and topping a number of lists of the biggest snubs, Kraftwerk just couldn’t get over the hump with the Voting Committee. There was almost universal agreement of their importance, but the Rock Hall’s system was too broken to get them inducted as performers. So after floating the idea last year of expanding the meaning of the “Early Influence” category to include genre pioneers, rather than just pre-rock and roll era artists, the Rock Hall decided to go for it this year, inducting Kraftwerk and Gil Scott-Heron, both of whom released their first recordings in 1970. The Hall’s new definition of the category is so loose as to be meaningless, so the category can be used for anything moving forward.
• With the hip hop backlog quickly getting out of control, the Rock Hall decided it needed LL Cool J out of the way. Like Kraftwerk, the Rock Hall couldn’t find a way to induct him as a performer (his rightful category), so they decided to just induct him in the catch-all Musical Excellence category, which they have been using recently for artists who can’t get in on the performer ballot (Nile Rodgers) or using it to fast track an induction (Ringo Starr). It’s a major indictment of the Rock Hall’s induction system that they have to resort to these tactics to induct seminal artists like LL Cool J.
• Heavy metal gets an acknowledgement with the induction of Randy Rhoads. Metal fans are rightfully frustrated that obvious Hall of Fame-worthy artists like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden get passed over year after year. The induction of guitar legend Rhoads gives metal fans some small hope that the Rock Hall won’t completely abandon the genre.
• The induction categories somehow became more of a mess than they already were. The new descriptions in the press release are a meaningless word salad (more to come on this later). We have been critical of the Hall of Fame’s blurring the category lines since 2009 when Wanda Jackson jumped from the Performer ballot to an Early Influence inductee, but this year has a whole new “f*ck it” attitude emanating from the Rock Hall. Sure, the category distinctions don’t mean much to the casual fan, but this is the equivalent of a football player being enshrined in Canton as a coach, just because he gave an inspiring pre-game speech once.
• What the Rock Hall should have done is alter their system to allow Kraftwerk and LL Cool J to be inducted as performers with a “Nominating Committee Selection” footnote and be done with it. Destroying the meaning of the other categories to wedge in valid performers is completely ridiculous and undermines the reputation of the entire institution. This is undoubtedly John Sykes’s biggest mistake this year.
• After averaging less than two inductees in the “special” categories in recent years, the Rock Hall went all-in this year, with a whopping seven inductees in this class. In a year in which the Rock Hall has focused on diversity, they neglected to include any women among the seven inductees.
• The 2021 tally: 18 men and 7 women (28%). That increases the overall percentage of women in the Rock Hall by 0.5% up to 8.1%.
• If you can ignore the categories and how the artists were selected (which most people do anyway), this is a *fantastic* Rock Hall class that has something for everyone. The induction ceremony has the potential to be an all-time great.
• The Rock Hall now says they have over 1,200 voters, up from about 800 five years ago. For years they have been trying to diversify their Voting Committee, so it seems they are just adding hundreds of voters to dilute the power of their own inductees.
• John Sykes’s quote in the press release about the Hall honoring “artists whose music created the sound of youth culture” is a clunky rewording of the Motown Records motto “The Sound of Young America,” presumably to keep it from being U.S.-centric?

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The 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees were officially announced on Wednesday, May 12th at 8am. The induction ceremony will be back in Cleveland with a live crowd at RocketMortgage Arena on October 30th.

Performers:

• Foo Fighters
  
• The Go-Go's
  
• Jay-Z
  
• Carole King
  
• Todd Rundgren
  
• Tina Turner
  

Musical Excellence Award:

• LL Cool J
  
• Billy Preston
  
• Randy Rhoads
  

Early Influence Award:

• Kraftwerk
  
• Gil Scott-Heron
  
• Charley Patton
  

Ahmet Ertegun Award:

• Clarence Avant
  

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will officially announce its 2021 induction class on Wednesday, May 12th. Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees will be:

1. Jay-Z: Transcendent hip-hop stars have been able to break through with the voting committee in recent years, with Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac getting inducted in the first eligible years. Jay-Z should follow suit and set the stage for next year when Eminem becomes eligible.
2. Tina Turner: There's an opportunity for three people to join the multiple inductees club, and few are more deserving than the Queen of Rock & Roll. Turner is the first choice in the fan vote, and she should easily walk in now that she has finally been nominated for her post-Ike career.
3. Carole King: It's not hyperbole to say that Carole King is one of America's most decorated artists. From Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards to Kennedy Center Honors, King is universally acclaimed. She will now add the honor of being a two-time Rock Hall inductee.
4. Foo Fighters: Speaking of American institutions, Dave Grohl has established himself as the 21st century torch bearer for rock and roll. He likely has half the Rock Hall voters in his phone contacts, so he shouldn't have any difficulty finding support for his band's induction. Grohl would join John Lennon as the only artists to be inducted twice in their first eligible years.
5. The Go-Go's: For years, the Go-Go's have been vocal about their exclusion from the Rock Hall, arguing their exclusion was due to politics and sexism. After their nomination, they've quickly changed their tune and have embraced the honor and heavily promoted the fan vote. They are "all-in" on this year's nomination, so it seems clear they will get inducted on their first nomination after ridiculously having to wait 15 years just to get an opportunity.
6. New York Dolls: On the Who Cares About the Rock Hall? podcast, many of the voters that Joe and Kristen spoke to voiced their immediate support of the New York Dolls. After getting nominated in 2001 and then forgotten for the next 20 years, it took the death of Sylvain Sylvain to get the Nominating Committee's attention again. Voters seem to not want to miss their chance to induct them this time.

Additional Notes:

• Last year's live induction broadcast never came to be, but the Rock Hall planned for just six performer inductees with that in mind, and three were posthumous inductions. Smaller induction classes might be the norm moving forward as television time constraints wag the dog. Over the last couple of decades, the Rock Hall has averaged about 5.5 performer inductees per year.
• The Rock Hall has a pattern of inducting an "Early Influence" artist every three years, with the last being Sister Rosetta Tharpe in 2018. Look for one more to be selected this year.
• With regards to the special categories, the Rock Hall has gradually lost interest in them, averaging over four per year in the early days, to now below two. There are still dozens of worthy candidates that fall into these categories, but the Rock Hall refuses to make it a priority.

• Fela Kuti's strong showing of second place in the Rock Hall's fan vote was a surprise given his limited name recognition in the U.S., but social media promotion from influential Nigerian accounts gave him a massive boost. If they had promoted the fan vote a few more days in the last few weeks, they very likely could have gotten first place.
• Devo's nomination was embraced by the city of Akron and the Goodyear corporation, with both staging promotions for the band.
• There hasn't been an all-FYN (inducted in the first year nominated) class since 2009. FYNs typically make up roughly 60% of inductees.
• If Grohl, King and Turner get inducted, they will join the exclusive list of Multiple Inductees.
• For other perspectives and predictions for the class of 2021, look through our Twitter page where you will find retweets of other Rock Hall experts.
• If you enjoy Future Rock Legends, consider checking out our new site Future Football Legends!

For fourteen years we have been conducting an unofficial poll on this site which requires voters to select five artists on their ballot. The results (after 1680 ballots):

1. Tina Turner 68% (she appeared on 68% of the ballots)
2. Carole King 55%
3. The Go-Go's 50%
4. Iron Maiden 42%
5. Foo Fighters 41%
6. Dionne Warwick 35%
7. Kate Bush 33%
8. Rage Against the Machine 28%
9. Jay-Z 27%
10. Todd Rundgren 26%
11. Chaka Khan 21%
12. LL Cool J 19%
13. Devo 17%
14. New York Dolls 16%
15. Fela Kuti 11%
16. Mary J. Blige 10%

• Mary J. Blige
  
• Kate Bush
  
• Devo (Bob Casale, Gerald Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh, Alan Myers)
  
• Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear)
  
• The Go-Go's (Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine, Jane Wiedlin)
  
• Iron Maiden (Clive Burr, Paul Di’Anno, Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, Nicko McBrain, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Dennis Stratton)
  
• Jay-Z
  
• Chaka Khan
  
• Fela Kuti
  
• LL Cool J
  
• New York Dolls (David Johansen, Arthur Kane, Billy Murcia, Jerry Nolan, Sylvain Sylvain, Johnny Thunders)
  
• Carole King
  
• Rage Against the Machine (Tim Commerford, Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Brad Wilk)
  
• Todd Rundgren
  
• Tina Turner
  
• Dionne Warwick
  

Please vote in our fan poll!

Follow us on Twitter for the latest Rock Hall news.

On a this week's episode of the Who Cares About the Rock Hall? podcast, ceremony director/producer Joel Gallen and talent executive Rick Krim let it slip that the 2021 ceremony is currently scheduled for October 30th. No venue was mentioned, but the past four ceremonies in Cleveland have been held at Public Auditorium. Demand for tickets, and perhaps a need for more spacing for fans, could lead the Rock Hall to move to the Cleveland Cavaliers' arena, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, which has triple the capacity.

Obviously the 2021 ceremony is over 11 months away and the country is still in the thick of a pandemic, so needless to say that plans could change.

Yesterday, Hits Daily Double reported some news about the 2021 ballot:

The nominating committee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will meet in late January to select the 2021 nominees for induction, and the ballots will be mailed in late February.

These tidbits appeared in a Friday email from Rock Hall President/CEO Joel Peresman to members of the org’s voting body, occasioned by the scattering of so many people from their workplaces.

“Due to so many of you perhaps working in remote locations or not at the address we have on file,” Peresman wrote, “we would appreciate it if you could please email [redacted] with the address you would like your 2021 ballot mailed to.”

The Nominating Committee traditionally meets in person and doesn't allow its members to attend remotely, but it seems likely they will be forced to do things differently this year.

Peresman also recently told Billboard that the inductees would probably be announced in early April, leaving over six months between the announcement and the ceremony.

Artists likely to appear on the 2021 ballot are the newly eligible Jay-Z and Foo Fighters, as well as a mix of recently nominated snubs. Artists are eligible 26 years after the release of their first recording.

The Rock Hall also announced that the next live induction ceremony will be in Cleveland in the fall of 2021. They imply that fall ceremonies will become the norm moving forward after that.

The previous "induction season" typically followed this pattern over about 7 1/2 months:

1. September: The Nominating Committee meet in New York to create the ballot. Artists are eligible if they released a record 25 years prior this year.
2. October: The Rock Hall announces the nominees. Voting begins.
3. December: The inductees are announced.
4. April: The induction ceremony is held.

Assuming the Rock Hall holds onto the current eligibility schedule, "induction season" could be nearly a full calendar year between the creation of the ballot and the induction ceremony.

The current eligibility / induction years are already a source of confusion, although it at least makes sense based on when the nominees are announced (for example, Notorious B.I.G. is a first ballot hall of famer with the class of 2020, but his eligibility was based on 2019 — 25 years after his first record in 1994). If nominees aren't announced until 2021 (despite when the NomCom meets), it will feel strange to be talking about the previous year's eligibility class. With the culmination of an "induction season" now in November, It would be a lot cleaner the entire process is within a single year. This would require a catch up year where two years-worth of new artists would become eligible at the same time.

So when should we expect to see the 2021 ballot? Under the old induction season timeline working backwards from a November ceremony, the nominees should be announced in late April or early May, with inductees announced two months after that. But it seems likely the Rock Hall may stretch things out and announce nominees as early as February, with inductees announced in May. That would leave six full months to prepare for the induction ceremony.