2018 Rock Hall nominees

[twonabomber]

The Rock Hall was set to announce the contenders for the Class of 2018 Thursday morning during a Sirius XM broadcast held at the museum, but Rolling Stone revealed the 19 nominees first:

Bon Jovi
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Eurythmics
J. Geils Band
Judas Priest
Kate Bush
Link Wray
LL Cool J
MC5
Nina Simone
Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
Rufus with Chaka Khan
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The Cars
The Meters
The Moody Blues
The Zombies

The Class of 2018 will be announced in December, with The 33rd Annual Induction Ceremony taking place on April 14 at Cleveland's Public Hall.

[twonabomber]

Tough to pick five to seven acts out of that group. Not hard to pick five to seven I actually like, but predicting what the voters will do.

Bon Jovi will probably win the fan vote. The Moody Blues fans who have been crying for years may be too old to know how to use a computer. :D

The Rock Hall loves to induct women, so maybe Eurythmics and Kate Bush get in. Tharpe maybe as an early influence.

First ballot acts, either Radiohead or Rage. One part of me says Rage wouldn't even show up, the other says they'd show up just to pontificate.

I've already seen people questioning Priest over Iron Maiden.

Rock Hall will be thinking ratings for the HBO broadcast, so there's LL Cool J.

Local news last night kept predicting NIN and Janet Jackson as nominees and missed on both.

My seven would be Depeche Mode, Dire Straits, The Cars, MC5, Judas Priest, Eurythmics, and J. Geils Band.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

The J. Geils Band has been one of my top fave bands for a very long time. They were kickass killers live in the 1970s and deserve to be reminded of, especially now that John Geils has passed away.
I'd support the MC5, the Meters, Dire Straits and Kate Bush (whose first album, that will turn 30 years old next year, is a real masterpiece in its kind). The five acts I'd pick.

[Terry]

The Rock Hall was set to announce the contenders for the Class of 2018 Thursday morning during a Sirius XM broadcast held at the museum, but Rolling Stone revealed the 19 nominees first:

Bon Jovi
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Eurythmics
J. Geils Band
Judas Priest
Kate Bush
Link Wray
LL Cool J
MC5
Nina Simone
Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
Rufus with Chaka Khan
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The Cars
The Meters
The Moody Blues
The Zombies

The Class of 2018 will be announced in December, with The 33rd Annual Induction Ceremony taking place on April 14 at Cleveland's Public Hall.

The Cars for sure.
Dire Straits for sure.
The Zombies? They had 2, maybe 3 popular tunes. If The Zombies are inducted, the RnRHoF is truly scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Depeche Mode? Nope.
Eurythmics? Yeah, I'll buy that.
J. Geils for sure.
Judas Priest? I suppose.
Kate Bush? Nope.
Link Wray? Yeah, I suppose.
LL Cool J? Nope.
MC5? Yes.
Nina Simone? Nope.
Radiohead? Nope.
Rage Against The Machine? Nope.
Rufus with Chaka Khan? Maybe Chaka by herself: who gives a shit about Rufus?
Sister Rosetta Tharpe? Never heard of her/it/them. Can't be in the Hall of Fame if I've never heard of you: it's in the name of the place.
The Meters? Quick, name a Meters tune! Nope? Me, either! Next.
The Moody Blues. Meh. Doubtless they'll get in someday, but were it up to me they would stay out.
Bon Jovi. See The Moody Blues.

[So this is love]

Bon Jovi -YES
Depeche Mode - YES
Dire Straits- YES
Eurythmics- YES
J. Geils Band- YES
Judas Priest- YES
Kate Bush- NO
Link Wray- NO
LL Cool J- NO
MC5- NO
Nina Simone- NO
Radiohead- NO
Rage Against The Machine- NO
Rufus with Chaka Khan- NO
Sister Rosetta Tharpe- NO
The Cars- YES
The Meters- NO
The Moody Blues*-YES
The Zombies- NO

[DavidLeeNatra]

Priest...maybe Dire Straits...who gives a fuck?

[Terry]

Priest...maybe Dire Straits...who gives a fuck?

Yeah, pretty much.

The whole institution is just the music industry kissing its own ass.

[twonabomber]

Past inductees get to vote, so I'd guess the guys in Metallica will vote for Priest, and maybe MC5.

A week in and Bon Jovi is supposedly winning the fan vote. That's how Journey and Yes got in. I don't think I'd call Bon Jovi influential though. Sure, they sold a lot of records, but that's not what induction is about.

All the big bands are already in. They could fill in some of the genres that have been passed over, there still hasn't been a lot of New Wave bands that have gotten in. Do they put Duran Duran in? Maybe not for the music, but for the videos. Could be argued that the video boom was "perpetuation of rock and roll." After Nirvana and Pearl Jam, which alt bands get in? Pumpkins? NIN? Manson? Watch, Manson won't get in because he'll be seen as pretty much doing Alice Cooper's act, but Lady Gaga will get in even though she's not doing anything much different than Madonna ever did.

[Seshmeister]

'Cool' music people in Europe fucking worship Radiohead, they would be a no brainer over here although not my bag at all.

[Seshmeister]

The criteria stated for what it's worth is ' include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.'

I've always thought that should rule out any Soul, Dance, Hip Hop and all sorts of other stuff. Looking at their list and previous inductees they shouldn't call it rock and roll it is meaningless.

It's ended up so wide it should be something like 'The Popular Music Hall Of Fame' or maybe less controversial 'The Contemporary Music Hall of Fame.'

[twonabomber]

The hack writer for the Plain Dealer always mentions how many records an act sells, and I always counter with the influence and development and perpetuation sentence.

I haven't read Guitar World in forever but I really doubt there are any interviewees who claim they have been influenced by Richie Sambora.

[Seshmeister]

The hack writer for the Plain Dealer always mentions how many records an act sells, and I always counter with the influence and development and perpetuation sentence.

I haven't read Guitar World in forever but I really doubt there are any interviewees who claim they have been influenced by Richie Sambora.

I think Bon Jovi did have quite a big influence on the presentation of rock n roll music in fashion and video in that period.

I can't think of anything they did that was original musically but without them would we have had pop metal to the same extent mid to late 80s?

It does seem to be a lot more about album sales, will they turn up and play and how many very expensive tables will they buy at the event.

I don't know a huge amount about this thing apart from 15 years of annual threads here but to me the RRHOF screams fake commercialism in the same way that the Hard Rock Cafe does.

I'm sure it's brings a lot of much needed $$$ and publicity to Cleveland though.

[twonabomber]

From the Rock Hall website:


Since opening in 1995, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has welcomed more than 10 million visitors from around the globe and generated more than $2 billion in economic impact for Northeast Ohio. In 2015, 500,000 people visited the Rock Hall, a figure which represents a 15% attendance bump from the year before. These visitors—90% of whom live outside of Cleveland—help the Rock Hall contribute $107 million in annual economic impact to the region.

I was off work for a couple months in '95, I severed the tendon on my left middle finger. I was already off so I went to the ribbon cutting with some friends. Skipped the concert though. I bought a membership this year. $75 gets me and a guest unlimited visits. I think it's about $20 to get in, so two visits and it's paid for. The membership fee is tax deductible. There are a bunch of special events for members and we get first crack at tickets for the induction ceremony. I may go in April. My friend was a big Dire Straits fan, if they get in we'll go.

The HOF Foundation and the museum/archives are separate entities. Jann Wenner still controls the Foundation. Last time Bon Jovi was on Howard Stern, Jon Bon Jovi said that there is bad blood between him and someone at the Foundation. Who knows if he'd show up. Maybe he'd take a swipe at Wenner and the Foundation in his speech.

Hard Rock Cafe buys memorabilia, so does Experience Music Project. The Rock Hall mostly depends on donations and loaned items. I think they may have started buying items for display, but not to the extent the other two go to. There's a lot of interesting stuff beyond the guitars and stage props, like contracts and hand-written lyric sheets. I want to check out the archives one day, those are across town at Tri C.

[Seshmeister]

You would imagine they would fix it so that they don't have two huge selling acts with crossover appeal like Dire Straits and Bon Jovi in the one year, would make more sense for them to hold one back for a later year.

It pains me a little bit to put them in the same genre but there will be literally millions of people who bought albums by both of them.

[twonabomber]

Van Halen, Prince, and the Police all released their first records in '78. They were all eligible for induction in 2003. The Police made it in on first ballot, first year of eligibility. Prince was the year after, and VH in '07. If they all got in the same year it would have been a hell of a ceremony. Now it seems like the HOF Foundation spreads them out to ensure decent ratings of the induction ceremony.

Dire Straits and Bon Jovi were huge on MTV around the same time, people buying both wouldn't surprise me.

[Seshmeister]

The Police managed to get their shit together for a reunion 2003 and i bet that there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes for the same deal with Van Halen in 2007 but true to form they made a complete fucking mess of it. :)

[Terry]

You would imagine they would fix it so that they don't have two huge selling acts with crossover appeal like Dire Straits and Bon Jovi in the one year, would make more sense for them to hold one back for a later year.

It pains me a little bit to put them in the same genre but there will be literally millions of people who bought albums by both of them.

Well, like twona said, Brothers In Arms and Slippery When Wet were two massive albums in the mid-1980s. You know, how many copies were probably sold to parents buying them for their kids for presents only because they were so massively popular (and not necessarily because the parents had even heard the albums).

But, yeah...I mean, Brothers In Arms oddly isn't even my favorite Straits material, but to have it lumped in with anything Bon Jerkoff did under any circumstances seems a bit...much.

[Terry]

The Police managed to get their shit together for a reunion 2003 and i bet that there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes for the same deal with Van Halen in 2007 but true to form they made a complete fucking mess of it. :)

I hear The Police are considering recording new music together, which I will be interested to hear should that come to pass.

Doubtless should Van Halen put out something new I'd want to hear that too, but after ADKOT my expectations for new Van Halen music wouldn't be particularly high: Van Halen are a spent force in creative terms.

[twonabomber]

Last I read Sting said no new Police music, no more big Police tours.

Stewart Copeland is in a new band called Gizmodrome, with Mark King and Adrian Belew. Andy Summers was in a band called Circa Zero but they were only together about a year.

[Terry]

Last I read Sting said no new Police music, no more big Police tours.

Stewart Copeland is in a new band called Gizmodrome, with Mark King and Adrian Belew. Andy Summers was in a band called Circa Zero but they were only together about a year.

I heard the Police new album thing on the radio this week, and the upshot was that the band were considering making a new album.

Could be complete bullshit rumor, because I haven't read or heard anything about that in terms of one of the band members confirming it.

[Nickdfresh]

I heard the Police new album thing on the radio this week, and the upshot was that the band were considering making a new album.

Could be complete bullshit rumor, because I haven't read or heard anything about that in terms of one of the band members confirming it.

Well, if true on the upside it would prevent Sting from making more solo records...

[twonabomber]

I googled it earlier and found nothing. They'd be Sting songs anyways. During The Police reunion tour, they played most of the songs the same way Sting did on his solo tours.

57th and 9th was okay. A lot of the reviews said it was Sting's hardest rocking album since Synchronicity, and they were almost right. There are a few fast songs and then a bunch of mid-tempo stuff, just like Synchronicity. I listened to it a few times and haven't been back since.

[Terry]

I googled it earlier and found nothing. They'd be Sting songs anyways. During The Police reunion tour, they played most of the songs the same way Sting did on his solo tours.

57th and 9th was okay. A lot of the reviews said it was Sting's hardest rocking album since Synchronicity, and they were almost right. There are a few fast songs and then a bunch of mid-tempo stuff, just like Synchronicity. I listened to it a few times and haven't been back since.

I dropped off of Sting's solo stuff after...what the fuck was that album that had If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (or whatever the song was titled)...Ten Summoner's Tales or something along those lines.

It's been fairly easy to stay dropped off since that early 1990s point, because any Sting solo stuff that gets played on the radio tends to be from his first two or three solo records anyway: unless one is actively searching out his newer material, it's unlikely one will hear it by accident.

[twonabomber]

That's about when I quit. I have Mercury Falling but had to go back and look what was on it.

I saw Sting solo a few times, Blue Turtles tour, Nothing Like The Sun tour the day after I went to see Pink Floyd, and Soul Cages in '91 was the last one. Really started to get like that period Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood stuff: MOR, "adult contemporary" pap.

I remember standing in line for Police reunion tickets. Guy in front of me was a teacher, but could have been a salesman, you know, one of those guys who asks a question and it really doesn't seem like it's a question. He's asking me if I've got Sting's lute album, or some of the later stuff, and I flat out told him he's not going to like this reunion show, none of that shit is going to be played at this show.

[Terry]

I thought, and still think, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles album and the concert in the Bring On The Night movie were brilliant.

I liked Nothing Like The Sun, but it seemed with each subsequent Sting solo effort post-Turtles I found less and less to like, until the title track of Solo Cages, which was an okay tune, but right around the mid-1990s I checked out.

Sting solo had little of the creative tension The Police had, and I think you're 100% right that the longer Sting remained a solo act, the more his material seemed to be crafted for that MOR/Adult Contemporary slot. Which is fine if that's what he wanted to do, but when he was making that transition I was still in my mid-to-late 20s, and I still wanted a bit more from the bands/artists I liked than mere background music while consuming brunch with married couples friends on a Sunday mid-morning before I spent the remainder of the day antiquing.

I loved The Police. Was lucky enough to see them on the Synchronicity tour when my friends older sister took us along with her boyfriend (the two of whom proceeded to get high as kites on skunkweed throughout the show). I wasn't really bowled over with the footage I saw of the reunion tour prior to them playing in my area, so I didn't bother going. Sting gave off an attitude like he was doing Copeland and Summers a favor by reuniting, which in a way I suppose he was, but it took all three of them to make that sound: I never thought Copeland and Summers were merely Sting's sidemen when the band was active in the 1970s/1980s. For me, the drumming and guitar work was just as crucial as the vocals and the tunes (the majority of which Sting wrote).

[FORD]

If the fucking cheese factory Bon Jovi is inducted into the HOF before Judas Priest or the MC5, then they might as well pull the plug on the whole fucking thing.

I thought the whole point of the Hall of Fame was to honor bands & artists who have had some sort of influence or impact on music? Who the fuck was influenced by Bon Jovi???

[FORD]

For the record, FORD's votes....

Bon Jovi - NO (For the love of God, no!)

Depeche Mode - YES

Dire Straits - YES

Eurythmics - YES (probably will get in because everybody in the music world seems to like Dave Stewart)

J. Geils Band - YES

Judas Priest - HELL YES

Kate Bush - YES (not a big fan, but she probably influenced a generation of chick singers, so why not)

Link Wray - YES (because you always have to throw in one of these really old dudes that was left off the previous ballots)

LL Cool J - NO (Not opposed to rappers being in the HOF, but did this guy really influence rock n roll at all?)

MC5 - FUCK YES Kick out the jams, muthafucka!

Nina Simone - Better her than Bon Jovi

Radiohead - NO (never got what was so great about these guys anyway)

Rage Against The Machine - YES (but not necessarily on the first ballot. Have they really been around 25 years already?? Geezus..... )

Rufus with Chaka Khan - YES (If "Tell Me Something Good" was the only thing they did, it would be more deserving than the entire careers of Bon Jovi & Radiohead combined)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe NO (only because I don't have any fucking idea who she is. Gospel singer? Nun who plays the blues??)

The Cars YES (But no Todd Rundgren performing with them. That album was an abortion)

The Meters NO (all I know about these guys was that their drummer was in the New Barbarians in 1979. Couldn't name a single song from them)

The Moody Blues YES (as long as they aren't allowed to mention their godawful 80s albums. But the 60s stuff was pretty good)

The Zombies YES (Not sure how influential they were, but they had some huge hits that still get played on the radio decades later, so they did something right)

[Kristy]

You DO NOT get to speak about the great Depeche Mode on here.

Stick to your shitty hair bands and eat a dick.

[vandeleur]

Dave Stewart is a horrible mackem ......... just saying

[Kristy]

...says one toothless limey about another.

[vandeleur]

.......

[Terry]

If the fucking cheese factory Bon Jovi is inducted into the HOF before Judas Priest or the MC5, then they might as well pull the plug on the whole fucking thing.

I thought the whole point of the Hall of Fame was to honor bands & artists who have had some sort of influence or impact on music? Who the fuck was influenced by Bon Jovi???

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is just the industry sucking it's own cock.

You know, naturally the celebrity, money, groupies, drugs and accolades from the public weren't already enough in and of themselves: the music industry needed a physical shrine to honor itself annually.

I mean, does it matter if Bon Jovi is honored in that sham palace before JP or MC5? Would that make Bon Jovi more legit (or legit, period) than either of those bands?

[twonabomber]

Congratulations to the 2018 Fan Vote Winners

Thank you for supporting your favorite artists by voting in the #RockHall2018 Fan Vote! The poll is closed and the following artists will each receive an extra vote in the Official Induction Vote.

1. Bon Jovi - 1.16M votes

2. Moody Blues - 947K

3. Dire Straits - 613K

4. The Cars - 552K

5. Judas Priest - 538K

The Class of 2018 Inductees will be announced Wednesday, December 13 at 7am(ET). Watch for a special member email, and tune into SiriusXM Volume station 106 for discussion, interviews and special guests!

[twonabomber]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year's inductees: Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, the Moody Blues, the Cars and Nina Simone will all join the class of 2018. Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be given an Early Influence award.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bon-jovi-dire-straits-the-cars-lead-hall-of-fame-class-w513945

[sonrisa salvaje]

I'll bet the HOF thinks they did the hard rock and metal world a favor by inducting Bon Juvi.
I can see some old stuffy bastard saying, "they won't be too disappointed we left Mr. Priest out since we inducted Mr. Jovi."
Truth be known they probably wouldn't know Bon Jovi from Bon Scott.
:finger33:

[Terry]

I think Bon Jovi did have quite a big influence on the presentation of rock n roll music in fashion and video in that period.

I can't think of anything they did that was original musically but without them would we have had pop metal to the same extent mid to late 80s?

It does seem to be a lot more about album sales, will they turn up and play and how many very expensive tables will they buy at the event.

I don't know a huge amount about this thing apart from 15 years of annual threads here but to me the RRHOF screams fake commercialism in the same way that the Hard Rock Cafe does.

I'm sure it's brings a lot of much needed $$$ and publicity to Cleveland though.

I'd tend to agree that post-Slippery, from 1987 onward you saw a lot of lower tier American hair metal bands borrowing a page or two from Bon Jovi. Even established acts like KISS weren't above trying to utilize the Bon Jovi template. Personally, that poppy pussification of hard rock that Bon Jovi ushered in wasn't my cup of tea, but it'd be disingenuous to claim that wasn't a commercially successful strategy.

And, it should be said, Bon Jovi managed to hang in there and produce tunes that got airplay long, long after the majority of their 1980s contemporaries. I think even as recently as 2004, with 'Bon Jovi Goes 'Country' " the band got a moderate hit that charted reasonably well. By the time 2004 rolled around, most of Bon Jovi's 1980s contemporaries were scrapping a living performing on the middle of a multi-day bill at State Fairs and County Expos and couldn't even rate a VH1's Where Are They Now? segment.

So, Bon Jovi as a commercial entity has endured with a respectable amount of commercial success (these days mostly restricted to concert appearances) 30 years after their musical high water mark.

I tend to think this has more to do with mediocrity having a more enduring appeal to the general public than quality, though doubtless Bon Jovi doesn't give a shit what I think when they/he sells out arena after arena tour after tour.

The RnRHoF is just an industry insider institution anyway. Bon Jovi's inclusion before, say, Judas Priest's, is meaningless.