Wenner Admits Some Bands Never Considered For Rock Hall
Oct 8, 2022 20:28:28 GMT -5
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Post by JerseyGirl on Oct 8, 2022 20:28:28 GMT -5
Jann Wenner Admits: Some Bands Have Never Been Considered for Rock Hall
by Best Classic Bands Staff
At Best Classic Bands, we report annually on which artists are nominated and then inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we also maintain a list of artists that have yet to be considered by the institution, despite being eligible. Within the latter category are numerous mainstream rock bands that found commercial success, mostly from the late ’70s and the ’80s, but have never found favor among rock critics and other music industry tastemakers. Many of them have been branded “corporate rock,” a derogatory term that would imply that these bands’ massive fandom was somehow manufactured by the industry and is not genuine.
Accordingly, each year, when the Rock Hall’s nominating committee meets to discuss which artists will be up for selection in the next “class,” those bands are routinely ignored.
We at BCB receive more irate comments from readers regarding these Rock Hall snubs than any other single topic.
To recap, the way artists get inducted into the Rock Hall is by first being nominated. A committee of around 20-30 music industry professionals, journalists, artists, media people, etc., whose membership has changed often in the 30-plus years of the Hall’s existence, meets annually in New York City and discusses which artists they feel should be nominated. Once they narrow down their choices, usually to around 15 names, a larger body of several hundred people, again mostly connected to the music industry in some way, vote. At the end of the yearly vote, a short list of artists, averaging around seven per year, is elected for induction. (In order to be eligible for induction, an artist must have recorded for the first time a minimum of 25 years prior to the induction year under consideration.)
Podcaster and comedian Marc Maron is among those who have noticed that the Rock Hall seems biased against certain types of bands, and in an Oct. 6, 2022, episode of his podcast, “WTF With Marc Maron,” he hosted Rolling Stone magazine founder and original editor-publisher Jann Wenner, who is making the media rounds promoting his memoir, unsurprisingly titled Like a Rolling Stone. Wenner was also a co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for many years was not only a member of the nominating committee but the Chairman of the institution. (Specifically, he dropped out of the nominating committee after 2006 and resigned from the Chairman position in 2019.)
Maron brought up the topic of the habitual snubs of certain bands, in particular Foreigner, Styx, Boston and REO Speedwagion, by the nominating committee. The discussion begins approximately 36 minutes into the interview, which runs for about 75 minutes total.
(To be fair, while many bands not particularly popular among the critics and such have been kept out of the Hall, others, including Journey, Yes, Chicago, ELO, the Moody Blues and, as mentioned by Wenner, Bon Jovi, have been inducted, albeit in some cases after decades of eligibility. Wenner is not asked, nor does he volunteer, why some of these bands have made the cut while others remain in the waiting room.)
Marc Maron: Are there bands—and I know you’ve been accused of this before—that you just will not indulge at all? There’s been talk of you maybe stifling some people’s membership into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that feel like they deserve it.
Jann Wenner: There is talk of that, but I don’t control that. I’m not on the Nominating Committee. (Note: Wenner served on the committee from its inception in 1986 until 2006.)
MM: Nothing against Foreigner per se?
JW: Nothing against Foreigner per se. In fact I was very good friends with [singer-songwriter Mick Jones, who co-founded the band in 1976], and I like their work. But Foreigner’s name has never come up in the nominating committee to be nominated.
MM: REO Speedwagon, no?
JW: No. There’s that era. Not them, not Boston, Styx. That whole era, it does not come up at all.
MM: I grew up in that era. I went to high school in that era.
JW: Then you’re not gonna get in the Hall of Fame either. What can I tell you? (laughs)
MM: You got in pretty quick. [Wenner was inducted in 2004.]
JW: But there are some…like Bon Jovi, it took years for him to get in.
MM: Eventually, you’ll run out of guys. They’ll all get in. They might not be around. There might be one guy left. But they’ll all get in.
The nominating committee is expected to convene in early 2023 to announce the latest slate of nominees.
For a comprehensive look at the membership of the nominating committee from its inception until the present, as well as a list of current voters, go here.
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