Not sure what criteria are used to determine "musical excellence," and I freely confess that I don't know, or care to know, a helluva lot about rap & hip-hop. But from what I have heard, there isn't much vocal or instrumental excellence that my admittedly untrained ear has been able to discern. I have listened to a lot of punk rock, however, and while I like, for example, The Ramones, and believe they deserve to be members, I wouldn't say that vocal or instrumental prowess are abundantly evident in their music. So what, then, constitutes musical excellence?The R&R HoF Powers That Be wrote:We shall consider factors such as an artist's musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique, but musical excellence shall be the essential qualification of induction.
The Hall has always had a bias against progressive rock. I'm not a huge fan of it, but certainly would say that far more "musical excellence" emanated from Steve Howe, Keith Emerson, and Carl Palmer than from Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, or Ice Cube.
Failure to induct The J. Geils Band is an egregious omission. They were outstanding interpreters of other people's music (First I Look at the Purse, (Ain't Nothin' But A) Houseparty, Serves You Right to Suffer, Dead Presidents, Lookin' for a Love, to name a few of their covers), as well as writing and performing many great original songs. I emphasize performing because, while their studio recordings were great, few musicians could match their live performances. Without question, they are far more worthy of induction than many artists already in the Hall.
The MC5 aren't getting much love, and it's unlikely they will be inducted anytime soon. I believe they should be in based on "musical influence on other artists." The list of bands and artists citing them as a primary influence is long and impressive, including (but by no means limited to) Alice Cooper, The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Clash, Mudhoney, The Dead Boys, Dead Kennedys, Henry Rollins, Jon Spencer, The Melvins, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, Richard Hell, Soundgarden, Generation X, Hüsker Dü, The Misfits, Motörhead, Queens of the Stone Age, The Vines, The White Stripes, and Joan Jett. While no artist or band should be inducted based on one song, Kick Out the Jams should almost be enough on its own to get them inducted.
Carry on...
