20 Rock Hall Snubs

With the latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame scandal involving Hall co-founder and, until recently, Rolling Stone magazine owner/publisher Jann Wenner being forced to resign from the Rock Hall Board of Directors, In the Studio presents “20 Rock Hall Snubs“. For about fifteen years now, the list of bands and musicians not inducted into the Hall of Fame has become increasingly more appealing than some of the questionable honorees. Amidst a growing chorus of displeasure ranging from perplexed to indignant, laughable to outraged, numerous internet blogs, newspaper and magazine articles, online petitions, and entire websites have sprung up in response to a growing army of fan discontent with the opaque, inconsistent, seemingly arbitrary nominating and voting process. Not surprisingly, conspiracy theories abound. What we are presenting here are classic rock interviews from twenty well-qualified and beloved rock bands and recording artists who we believe are all equally deserving of consideration for induction into the Rock Hall but who, to date, have been denied.

To make the case for each recording artist, we used the same criteria that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame claims to use in their nominating and voting processes, and those are: 1) Is the recording artist influential to others, or are they purely derivative? 2) Can a clear path be traced back from the recording artist to rock’n’roll’s American roots of blues, country and western, rockabilly, and/or rhythm and blues? 3) Did the recording artist amass significant popularity? To testify as to the facts in each case, we will use the rock musicians’ own testimony here. These twenty rockers that have so far been denied recognition in the Hall of Fame ( update: Todd Rundgren mercifully was admitted 2022) are the plaintiffs and you are judge and jury for In the Studio‘s “20 Rock Hall Snubs”. So listen, deliberate, and be sure to listen to part two here. –Redbeard