The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Again Proves Its Irrelevance
The music-blog party line is that we’re supposed to be drooling and convulsing in ecstasy with the news that Nirvana’s finally been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, earlier this morning, the stodgy and confusing institution finally bestowed its dubious distinction on the Gods of ‘90s Nostalgia.
Congratulations, Nirvana fans—they’re finally a classic rock act. You know who else got inducted at the same time? Hall & Oates. Kurt Cobain would probably have hated that. Time and irony are cruel.
But let’s talk about the real injustice here. If we’re gonna go with the premise that the hall of fame is a valid thing at all, this year’s inductee list is super-whitewashed – and also clueless.
Namely: Chic got robbed.
Let’s take a full list of the nominees:
- Yes
- NWA
- KISS
- Chic
- The Meters
- Nirvana
- Deep Purple
- Cat Stevens
- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Linda Rondstadt
- LL Cool J
- Peter Gabriel
- The Replacements
- Hall & Oates
- Link Wray
- The Zombies
How did that pan out? Let’s look at the winners:
- Nirvana
- KISS
- Peter Gabriel
- Hall & Oates
- Cat Stevens
- Linda Rondstadt
Oh, cool. It’s not like Chic had a renaissance this year or anything. Band co-founder Nile Rodgers, of course, appeared on Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” the official Song of the Summer 2013. (Well, maybe next to Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” which, hey, with its funkiness, probably owes more than a little to Chic too.) It’s not like the band boasts a nearly 40-eyar career straddling genres and churning out hits. It’s not like every music “tastemaker” is currently desperately trying to ape or name-check Chic with every breath, pretty much.
And nope, Chic’s not a “rock and roll” band, but the “Rock and Roll” Hall of Fame already boasts a long, proud tradition of inducting non-rock acts. I mean, hey, how about the Bee Gees, inducted in 1997? (Sure, they had some rock songs at the beginning of their career, but that’s not what made them famous – white-washed disco did.)
Or Grandmaster Flash, inducted in 2007? If there was room for him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rubric back then, what happened in the last six years to cause the hall to eschew acts like NWA and Chic?
With the exception of Linda Rondstadt (a Mexican-American!) the final tally sure is one definitive list of pasty dudes. Maybe this is why “rock and roll” is moribund and no longer the music of youth. As its establishment once again proves, it’s a boring party full of Crusty Olds that only tows a specific party line.
It simply doesn’t reflect the vast majority of today’s music-consuming public, in background or in aesthetic taste. Rock and roll is ostensibly about rebellion and rule-breaking, but its hall of fame is about anything but.
Arielle Castillo is Fusion’s culture editor, reporting on arts, music, culture, and subcultures from the streets on up. She’s also a connoisseur of weird Florida, weightlifting, and cats.