It’s that time of year again where the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announce the nominees for next years inductees. Right yes. This is an event that somehow matters. Yesterday, The Guardian proposed that the whole thing is one popularity contest, and the writer was probably completely right.
There are several guidelines to being inducted. One of those main criteria is “the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.” They artists must have also released an album from at least 25-years-ago. So unfortunately that means fucking “Bleach” came out in 1989. Nirvana is a shoo-in (even though Pearl Jam did it better – much better).
But that’s wrong.
Link Wray &The Wraymen was released in 1960. Somehow Link Wray has been completely ignored and is only a first-time nominee this year. “Rumble” alone should get him inducted. Both Iggy Pop and Jimmy Page claim him to be an early inspiration. Both the Stooges and Led Zeppelin have been inducted so why has it taken so long for Link Wray?
Some nominees have been up for ages. I have no idea how many times KISS have been nominated, but why the fuck have they not been inducted? That’s the very prime example. In retrospect, bands like KISS and Chic (who have also been nominated before) should have been inducted already. They are not trendy, yeah, or cool. But that shouldn’t matter. People still shake their asses to “Le Freak” and people have been buried in KISS Kaskets!
Rock music isn’t about being cool. Well, maybe it is if you’re Motley Crue in 1983 LA, but more importantly rock music is about feeling something and relating to musicians you will never be. Star kids and grunge rockers.
So fuck the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We know who really matters to us: they’re in our record collections and on our t-shirts. The rest doesn’t matter and the music doesn’t need anything else.
Read The Guardian’s article here.
American of London 
I love Link Wray. I’m guessing he’s been passed over for several reasons …. No post-1950s top 10 hit in the USA, mostly instrumental work, and him being Native American. If you haven’t checked out his 1970s self-titled album, it’s worth a listen. Lots of genres all mixed together, original songwriting, and Link singing.
Him being Native American? That’s really interesting. I never considered that before. It’d really be a shame if you were right. Hopefully he gets a spot. Not like being in the Hall of Fame actually means anything, but I’d just like to know there are some people with sense out there.
I don’t think him being Native American would keep him out of the Hall of Fame one day, but that may have a little something to do with why he never found a very wide audience in the U.S. When he first started in the 1950s, there likely would have been management types trying to hide that information. Instrumentals kind of fell by the wayside in the 60s and when he started doing vocal albums, he was so hard to categorize. All those things lumped together kept him from getting the recognition he deserves.