Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees 2023

Maiden STILL plays arenas.

Slayer never drew like they did. Admittedly their final tour was an arena tour but the show I was at was far from sold out

The last four arena shows I've seen of Maiden have been.

Lol what a batshit argument

Would love to talk to that voter

They should let people vote for Best Mascot.

If I were being really flippant, I'd say Ringo--but I love Ringo.

Cyndi Lauper will be acknowledged for her work forging the worlds of rock and wrestling.

― Chris L, Wednesday, February 1, 2023 6:06 AM (one month ago)

cyndi lauper isn't even in the wwe hall of fame, which includes donald trump, which is disgusting and maybe she doesn't want any part of that or any hall anyways

is there any reason why a "voter for the rock and roll hall of fame" needs to be anonymous? beyond not rocking the boat and losing their ticket to the yearly cool kids dinner?

Joy Division/New Order

Voter 1: ​I won’t be voting for them because this is part of my strategic vote — I think they’re going to get a lot of votes.

LOL, it's like the ILM poll...

Brings to mind 2016 when I either knew or saw on the news a lot of people who voted for Jill Stein in America or in support of Brexit as a show of protest in the UK, believing Clinton was a lock and Brexit wouldn't happen. Brilliant strategy.

read that vulture article and while i disagree with them a a good deal and they’re factually incorrect a few times, they look like paragons of taste when compared to the ghoulish oscars voters they unearth every year

i looked up the attendance of the Slayer show I saw at PNC Arena in 2019 - 7,011 tickets sold (it seats 21,000 for concerts).

lol. that jibes with my memory of things.

I still think they should just retroactively just say that LL Cool J, Kraftwerk, Gil-Scott Heron and Judas Priest are normal inductees, it's so weird and aggravating

i've never been to the hall, or even to cleveland, but my understanding of how the inductees are presented in the hall is that everyone is presented as "normal" and the same, with no distinctions made for what route it took to get them in.

I dunno what it’s like now, but that wasn’t the case the handful of times I went to the hall (between 2006 and 2009). I distinctly remember the sign accompanying Louis Jordan’s saxophone and band book identifying him as an “early influence,” and a sign in the Cleveland room saying something along the lines of, “They’re not inductees, they’re just from Cleveland and they gave us some stuff.” (Best part of this room: the hammer and railroad spike donated by David Thomas.)

I went to the induction ceremony at the Barclays Center several years ago, and all of the inductees were treated and presented equally. Like, The Zombies must have gotten in through the Musical Excellence category, but were given a plumb (the penultimate) spot in the line-up that night.

I distinctly remember the sign accompanying Louis Jordan’s saxophone and band book identifying him as an “early influence”

i just looked at the inductee list on the rock hall website and saw that louis jordan, judas priest and everyone else is specifically designated by their route of entry ("musical excellence," "early influence," "performer," etc.), and so i hereby withdraw my attempt to extend a measure of grace to the institution.

The Zombies must have gotten in through the Musical Excellence category

they were voted in!

With time, I'm sure they may make some kind of adjustment that puts everyone on equal plane, whether it's getting rid of the category designations or turning them into footnotes of some kind and making everyone "regular" inductees. Not anytime soon but given how things are evolving, the definitions for those categories are only to grow more awkward and non-sensical. (It already is - Kraftwerk and Louis Jordan are both "early" influences?)

It wouldn't be controversial - like nobody goes to the baseball HOF and says "oh, he's a COMMITTEE induction, not a real induction"

The Baseball Hall of Fame, by contrast, does not differentiate between being voted in by the writers or by a rotating Veterans Committee comprised of ex-players/managers/GMs--even though the politics and inner workings of each are very distinct.

Missed your post...over time that distinction disappears, agree, but in the moment--Harold Baines is the best example--I think many fans are aware of it. And I imagine some people who walk into Cleveland would understand the difference between Chuck Berry and and an early influence they may not have heard of.

I don't remember if there was like an actual place in the Hall where every inductee was listed & some were ghettoized... I do remember some of the exhibits having the "early influence" sign, but in that context it almost felt more like a sign of respect than an asterisk.

Plus they had Andre 3000's jacket from the Stankonia tour, several years before OutKast even became eligible for the Hall, so who fucking knows

FWIW, there's two glaring omissions I noticed recently that should get a committee induction: Lee Dorsey and Huey "Piano" Smith. There's no way they're going to get voted in at this point or possibly nominated - there's too much newer competition - but they're exactly the kind of important figures that a committee should induct.]

Another (checked to confirm): Richard Berry. And not just for "Louie, Louie" (with or without comma)--there's "Riot in Cell Block #9"; the Flairs ("The Big Break" and "Next Time"); and, according to Wikipedia, he also spent time in the Penguins (not mentioned on their page, so I guess he wasn't on "Earth Angel") and a bunch of other doo-wop groups.

Can't believe Soundgarden isn't already in.

Soundgarden will likely get in this time. I think strong competition every time they've been nominated has kept them out. (I think they deserve to be in, but even on this ballot, I'm not even sure I'd put them down as a hypothetical tenth pick, let alone fifth.)

we need to collectively ignore the R&RHOF until they finally stop doing it. it will be such a good day.

I expect the big four grunge bands will all get in, they're just spreading it out a bit.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Joy Division + New Order winning and by double is about as ILM you can get.

Great job, never change

If the top 7 do get inducted, it would be a pretty amazing class of inductees, probably the best in a long while.

I like both JD and NO but combining them seems a bit off (compared to, say, Faces/Small Faces). They are different acts despite the personnel overlap. Compare Jefferson Airplane vis-a-vis Starship.

My entire heart is with Cyndi here (if I had to choose, and fortunately I don't)

Was this poll timed to the announcement? Is that imminent?

Fan voting is ending in a few days so almost.

xp Agree with this

I always thought it should be Joy Division/New Order. It's the same band to me. Just listen to Movement. It's also the only way either band would get in the hall tbh.

I can't believe George Michael isn't already in. It's also his first time being nominated !!!

There is less personnel change between the Joy Division and New Order eras than in comparable lineup shifts in Fleetwood Mac and Genesis. And I think there's less change between what JD and NO did creatively in every respect than there was between FM and Genesis, although I expect you guys to strongly disagree…

less change between what JD and NO did creatively in every respect than there was between FM and Genesis

^^^ 100 million percent this.

the rock hall has spent the better part of 40 years doing mind-bogglingly strange things, but this isn't one of them. this one actually makes sense.

Jefferson Airplane vis-a-vis Starship

Grace Slick was the only shared member by the time Jefferson was dropped from the name, and she's not even an original Airplane member.

Final day of fan voting, but it looks like it's pretty much done:

George Michael
Cyndi Lauper
Warren Zevon
Iron Maiden
Soundgarden

(Willie Nelson is in 6th, behind Soundgarden by well over 20,000 votes.)

Ian is woven into New Order’s lore in some similar ways to how Syd was into later Pink Floyd. I think the big one for me is the song and video for “The Perfect Kiss” where they have that shadow in the door watching them.

I'm surprised Cyndi still has such a big fan base. She's So Unusual was the first record I bought with my allowance and she's the first concert I ever went to (with my dad and two friends), but I still think her time was a bit short to make it into the RRHoF.
I guess she's a bit like Alanis Morrissette, who I'm sure will eventually make it on account of one huge era defining record.

If they’re doing Joy Division+New Order, why not Wham+George Michael?

tbf Ian Curtis had more of an impact than Andrew Ridgeley

feel like the number of classic and iconic tracks Wham released would merit consideration, even if their impact was brief it was massive. like cyndi lauper or guns n roses.

but tying them up w/george michael might've been the way to go.

I would argue that Lauper's post-Unusual career has been significant in a way that other artists' aren't.

She has continued to work and make waves despite having a comparative lack of followup chart success. Collaborations, live work, activism, cool covers, just generally being awesome.

Also? Come the fuck ON. Anyone using the allegedly devastating word "only" in reference to that album betrays a failure of imagination. That record is a goddamn transcendent masterpiece. If she'd come from precisely nowhere a week before it was recorded, and then vanished from the face of the earth after releasing it, she would still be a significant artist.

i think to your average voter, New Order/Joy Division made it because of Unknown Pleasures and the classic New Order singles, not a whole lot different than why Cyndi got in

Cyndi Lauper had quite a career following She's So Unusual, but mostly on stage (Kinky Boots) and acting on television. 30 years ago when the standards seemed much higher, I don't think she would have belonged in the Hall of Fame, but I don't think those standards would've been sustainable in the long run even if they recognized overlooked acts like King Crimson or the New York Dolls, not unless they wanted to average a mere one or two inductees a year. At this point, I think She's So Unusual is more than enough.

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Line is the RnR Hall of Fame's Mendoza Line, she's in by that measure.

LOL, yeah, that works.

If they’re doing Joy Division+New Order, why not Wham+George Michael?

It feels like they deliberately don't want to see Wham! in the HoF, even though George Michael wrote, arranged and produced mostly everything in those days too. Probably too poppy, not "serious" enough. It took them 15 years to even nominate George, despite his megastar status. His past in Wham! probably didn't help.

bird, let me just reiterate that RRHOF has like seven different agendas at once. Recognize chart achievement, redress historical neglect of particular demographics and/or of entire genres, acknowledge influencers, celebrate the excellence of those who were insufficiently appreciated in their prime, make up for initial critical dismissiveness, laud uncontroversial levels of accomplishment, etc.

The game of "why this artist but not THAT one, who is just as worthy" is a fool's errand.

We should all just relax, because eventually Lil Nas X, Pantera, Bananarama, Nickelback, Steel Pulse, Roxette, Milli Vanilli, Cutting Crew, Tears for Fears, Taj Mahal, and the Spice Girls will all be in there. Even if the sequence doesn't make any rational sense.