This morning the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year's ballot of nominees, with the winners to be announced in December and inducted next March in New York.
Fifteen names are on this year's ballot, ranging from hip-hoppers, proto-metal icons, British Invasion bards, power-poppers, swampers, singer-songwriters and a handful of funk and soulsters.
As the years go on, each subsequent crop of nominees seems to get more volatile and argument-baiting. We have now moved past the first great era of rock and roll, blues and soul, which was rife with locks for the Hall, and are settling into the era in rock history where some genres became blurred and others were marginalized.
Artists become eligible for the ballot 25 years after their first recording is released, so metal, hip-hop, punk rock's second wave, hardcore, New Wave and early electronica acts will all be up for consideration soon, whether the organizers like it or not. Some already are, such as recent inductees Metallica and Run-DMC.
So yes, that means Guns N' Roses will be eligible next year - the 25th anniversary of the Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide EP - and only four more years until Nirvana. That doesn't even take into account major and influential acts like Rush, KISS, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Smiths, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy or even the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, who have all been eligible for years and have not even made the ballot yet.
As critical evaluation catches up public sentiment and adoration, you will possibly see more bands and artists going in the Hall with a quickness. Kraftwerk gave birth to a myriad amount of genres and wormholes, as did Big Star, who may all be gone by the time the Hall even gets to recognizing them.
You can argue back and forth all day about who is deserving and who is not. Do hip-hop and rap acts like Public Enemy and N.W.A. deserve to be next to the Beatles and the Stones? Their influence was surely as important and crossed musical boundaries just like the others, especially in their own communities.
Rocks Off handicapped this year's list for you to help you make your imaginary vote on this year's ballot. Maybe one day Rocks Off will have a real vote, but until then we can only sit on the side and bitch and moan. Seriously, no Devo?
