Blurred Lines: The Rock Hall's Induction Categories Have Lost Their Meaning

May 13, 2021 09:17 PM Filed in: Induction Categories | 2021 Ceremony | Controversy

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?



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