Rock N' Rol Hall of Fame 2011 Nominations by Kate Krimson

I hate the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. My two big reasons are they are constantly inducting non-rock-n’-roll icons and that they seem to keep passing over great women in rock.



Here are this year’s nominees:


Alice Cooper
Beastie Boys
Bon Jovi
Chic
Neil Diamond
Donovan
Dr. John
J. Geils Band
LL Cool J
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Donna Summer
Joe Tex
Tom Waits
Chuck Willis


4 out of 15 of these nominees are either solo female artists or bands that have female members and not a single one of them is a woman of rock. Even with numbers like these, I still find it shocking every year that Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Heart, and The Runaways are not on the nominees list. Why are they not on the list? The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame probably doesn’t want to induct any real rockin’ women. They tend to induct women pop stars/divas, like Madonna, the girls from Abba, and Aretha Franklin. Mariah Carey will be in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame way before Wendy O ever is. A powerful and aggressive female scares the supposed rock experts, who claim to be defenders of rock n’ roll and who vote for the nominees. Even the people who represent the form of music that says “Screw you. I am going to be true to myself whether you like it or not,” are trying to keep women in that little box known as the feminine mystique.

Another problem is that Hall of Fame rarely inducts actual rock n’ roll artists. 3 out of the 15 above nominees classify as some sort of rock. If the Hall of Fame wants to keep Rock N’ Roll in their name, they may want to stick to inducting rock n’ roll artists. There are plenty of worthy nominees. There are the rockin’ women I listed above. Kiss has been nominated, but not inducted. In four years Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana will be eligible.

 Here are the Hall of Fame’s qualifications for nomination: an artist’s first record must be 25 years old and the artist must have made a significant impact in rock n’ roll. What do you think? Do you think they are skipping over some artists on purpose or not? Why do you think they are driving away from the genre they claim to represent? Just like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.