There’s something quite wrong with this year’s fan voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Look, I realize that music is a highly subjective thing and as such inevitably leads to arguments. The final standings of the fan voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a perfect example. I’ll go first.
Again this is The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What do you make of how the fan voting ended? (Keep kind mind that anyone could vote every day throughout the eligibility period, so the most motivated fans could stuff the ballot boxes.)
- George Michael, 1,040,000 votes (Not Rock)
- Cyndi Lauper, 928,000 (Not Rock)
- Warren Zevon, 634,000 (Rock, but an awful lot of votes for an artist of his fame level)
- Iron Maiden, 449,000 (Definitely rock. Admission overdue)
- Soundgarden, 427,000 (Ditto)
The also rans:
- Willie Nelson
- Kate Bush (A travesty. Long overdue, Fourth attempt.)
- Joy Division/New Order (Same)
- Sheryl Crow
- The Spinners
- Rage Against the Machine (Seriously? Where were the Rage fans? This was their fifth shot.)
- White Stripes (Again, what?)
- Missy Elliot
- A Tribe Called Quest
Regardless, the five top finishers of the fan vote get will be dumped in with the rest of the votes from the 1000+ members of The Hall.
A prediction: Iron Maiden will get in as with a “Special Achievement Award,” much like Judas Priest was inducted a few years ago. This is the Hall’s way of saying “Yeah, we know they should be inducted even though the voters didn’t have the smarts to put them in.
We’ll know about the Class of 2023 in about a week.
