2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees POLL

Looking at that list of "early influence" inductions, it makes sense why no one would object at the time. Those inductions involved music created before rock n' roll crystalized into something everyone would recognize. As a result, "early influences" is a lot more defined - there's no question it refers to important work pre-dating that of the main inductees.

Ricky Nelson's work is at least a cut below what Chuck Berry et al from the first wave made to define rock n' roll, but his best work is still great. He still cut some really lame shit - specifically the type of harmless teen pop that was big before the Beatles came along - but he made sure to get the stuff he really liked on tape, and compilations like Legendary Masters generally do a great job focusing on that. He put together a great band (James Burton was still a little-known teenager to most and this was his most visible work), and guys like John Fogerty later cited those records as being a major influence and leaving a big impression before they tried making music themselves.

the Terence Trent D'Arby conundrum

^ my favorite Robert Ludlum novel btw

Anyway when we talk about producers and engineers, why not just keep going and include acousticians? The person who decided that the Record Plant in Sausalito should have tan shag carpet on the walls made a huge contribution to the sound of Rumours.

Why stop there; someone probably brought a tray of tea into Abbey Road at just the right time to perk up the Beatles.

(Lest I sound too flippant, I should say that the arts are collaborative by design, as they should be, and I've never thought of artists as being in competition with one another, so top-x lists and ranking and awards and halls of whatever have never appealed to me, but I understand that one can be mildly interested in the conversation while not endorsing the whole institution.)

Looking at that list of "early influence" inductions, it makes sense why no one would object at the time. Those inductions involved music created before rock n' roll crystalized into something everyone would recognize. As a result, "early influences" is a lot more defined - there's no question it refers to important work pre-dating that of the main inductees.

i completely agree. but inasmuch as it included figures like louis armstrong, charlie christian and hank williams, it also shows that jazz, country, folk and other branches of the american musical tree were built in to the dna of the rock hall of fame from the beginning, and any complaints that only people whose musical licenses include the word "rock" with a capital R should be considered for a place on its walls have always been, and continue to be, foolish.

I think I mentioned this earlier with Ornette Coleman, but during a big tribute concert in his honor (possibly the Brooklyn concert that was also his final public appearance - one of my BIGGEST regrets as I planned to go but had to skip it due to work), someone pointed out that many of the participants weren't usually known as jazz musicians - yet Coleman's influence on their work was very much apparent and they certainly belonged there. It brought up the argument that the most fruitful results of his innovations were now being found in experimental and avant-garde music more closely associated with rock rather than jazz. Who would've predicted that in 1962, a year after Free Jazz was released and with Coltrane's freer masterworks just around the corner? It's another reason why I don't like it when so much emphasis is put on categories because who knows how the music is going to evolve? (Again, "Voter Two"'s great defense of the Fela Kuti nomination speaks to this.)

Indeed, most of what I know about Coleman and "harmolodics" is via Royal Trux.