The Pretenders, a band that released one really good (though not great) album, died off within the next couple of years, and had a few more mild pop hits with multiple new backing bands that Chrissie Hynde had the gall to call The Pretenders. They were first ballot Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
Basically, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke. EVERYBODY gets in. Neil Diamond is in the HOF. Three of the four Beatles are in twice. Eric Clapton is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame THREE DIFFERENT TIMES (and it wouldn't stun me in the least if someone decided to make a case for one album supergroup Derek and the Dominoes to get their own entry). Yet somehow, there are at least fifteen more acts that deserve to be in (Note: Six of these 15 are not currently eligible for induction, though I suspect that at least one of them will not get in). By my watch, these are the categories under which most Hall of Famers fall and why they belong where they do.
The ZOMGods
Certain individuals deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but unless they were categorized solo artists or side men, it won't happen. Here are three bands that deserve to be in the Hall on their own merits, but who have indefensible snubs as individual.
First is Rush, an insanely popular and influential (granted, mostly of pretentious prog metal crap, but influence is influence) band. With their admission means the admission of Neil Peart, one of the most popular drummers in rock history. While he is the most overrated lyricist in history not named Jim Morrison, his chops on the kit are pretty tough to deny--even if you're like me and think he's a step below John Bonham and Keith Moon, he's still pretty damn good.
Second is guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughn (for the record, I would induct Double Trouble as well, in the same way that Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell got in with Hendrix). Even if you just ignore the virtuoso effect, the guy makes good songs. Unlike, say, Yngwie Malmsteen, who just rips off jaw-droppingly difficult solos, Stevie Ray has intricate and beautiful guitar solos in songs like "Texas Flood" and "Pride and Joy" which are utterly listenable. This isn't to say that building great guitar skills into pop success is something SRV invented, because he didn't, but everyone else who did it as or more successfully (Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, etc.) are in the Hall. As should Stevie.
Third is Flea, by far the most talked about bassist of my lifetime and probably the most heralded since at least John Entwistle. His band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, seems like they should be in the Hall for the same reason Genesis, a stylistically opposite band, is. Both bands began very much attached to a subgenre (funk-rock with RHCP, prog with Genesis) and then altered, though never completely abandoned, the style to make popular rock. Although I don't think an album has ever dropped out of the public consciousness for as much as hype as it initially got as Stadium Arcadium, the Chili Peppers belong in the Hall.
"See You Later, Innovator"
Title lifted from the Arctic Monkeys, whose Hall credentials are still very much a work in process (don't laugh: I refuse to count a band out of the Hall of Fame until they're at least a decade old--nobody knew who the hell Fleetwood Mac was until they totally changed their lineup a decade into their existence). But anyway, these are three bands that OWN their genre. And if you invent a genre that could even loosely be put under the rock and roll umbrella, you belong in the Rock Hall.
First is Deep Purple, widely considered along with Led Zeppelin (in) and Black Sabbath (in, but after way too long of a wait) to be the godfathers of heavy metal. As far as I'm concerned, Sabbath is the only truly heavy metal band of the group, Zeppelin are actually the band that took the lead from The Rolling Stones and The Who and invented modern hard rock, and Deep Purple are the innovators of speed metal (think Iron Maiden or even Metallica). And this isn't a Velvet Underground (in) situation where everyone know they're influential but most people don't know any songs by them--Deep Purple created arguably the most famous riff in rock history and has a couple more songs ("Highway Star", "Hush") that every self-respecting fan of rock and roll knows. Jesus, Hall, put them in already!
Next is a band who, I'll admit, has one big negative, and that is Public Enemy. Now Public Enemy is great and even ardent metalheads, who I consider to be the most generally closed-minded of rock fans, admit PE is great. But is Public Enemy a rock band? No, but Johnny Cash isn't a rock musician either and he's in the Hall. Johnny Cash is in because he epitomized the rock and roll attitude--he was fiercely independent and was influenced by the genre (his later rock covers of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode are among his best work since the late 1960s). In the same way, Public Enemy takes the lead from The Sex Pistols and serves as an abrasive, adamant, and exciting force. Run DMC got in, and one of the big factors leading to their (deserving) induction was their performing with Aerosmith--Public Enemy did the same thing, but they just happened to do it with a less popular, more scary band (Anthrax).
Third is a band who I'm not even going to advocate for because they will get in upon becoming eligible--Nirvana. Nirvana will get in. Bono and/or Michael Stipe will join Novoselic and Grohl on stage. A nice time will be had by all.
Kings of Pop
Some rock bands are too damn popular to ignore. Let me note that popularity alone isn't enough. For instance, I excluded Journey because while very popular, they had little to no influence on music--they combined a lot of the popular styles of the time and made a listenable group of songs as such (this is a reference of course to Steve Perry era Journey, not to be confused with the preceding era in which Journey made albums which were somehow equally terrible while remaining inaccessible). These are bands who sold a ton of albums, had pop hits, yet still rocked.
Number one is somebody I suspect will get in--Guns N' Roses. Though short-lived, GNR acted as a buffer between Poisonesque hair metal and the early 90s alt-rock boom. Original lineup only for induction, please.
Steve Miller, for such a hit-maker, seems to get an insufficient level of respect from the industry. It's easy to say that his music isn't that original, but did anyone capture the space rock of "Fly Like an Eagle" in a pop song before? Pink Floyd maybe, but Steve Miller combined the trippiness with great melody. Besides the pop hits, Steve Miller has some underrated stuff from the Summer of Love. Is Steve Miller really considerable less innovative than Tom Petty (who I'd say is better, but really didn't make anything too ridiculously groundbreaking) or Bob Seger (who, as I've said in previous entries, had brilliant and underappreciated work before completely selling out, but is best known for semi-generic roots rock)?
There's really only three New Wave bands you have to mention--Blondie (in), Talking Heads (in), and The Cars, who should be in. Blondie was more popular and Talking Heads were more innovative, but I'll be damned if The Cars weren't better. Among the bands who have acknowledged the brilliance of Rik Ocasek are The Pixies, who aren't in (I'll put them as an honorable mention) yet for some reason are given the benefit of the doubt. Yet The Cars aren't. Does making pop music necessarily mean you're making bad music? Listen to their self-titled debut, which is one of my ten favorite albums ever and I will fight anyone who disagrees.
Other Side of the Ponders
To keep it simple, here are three bands that would be in the Rock Hall of Fame if the voters were British. They're damn good, they're damn innovative, and they won't get in.
The Cure are the only remotely goth rock band that everybody knows. And they made enough hits ("Boys Don't Cry", "Love Song", "Just Like Heaven") that they should be in. But they won't be. Maybe it's because of the almost uniform terribleness of the recent bands influenced by the look (though I must say, not really the sound) of The Cure. It's a shame, really.
The Smiths are the definitive gods of British alternative rock. Other than The Beatles (in, for the record), The Smiths had more of an influence of Britpop than any other band, and even the American alternative rockers like REM and Nirvana were influenced by The Smiths. A complete lack of American pop hits, however, probably eliminates them from contention.
Oasis is an interesting case. But in the United States, they're probably just a bit too middling to have a chance. Acclaimed? Kind of. Influential? Kind of. Popular? They had one really big hit. But since they're one of my five favorite bands ever, I had to include them. I'm pulling for a reunion at the 2019 Hall inductions.
Game Changers
Kiss is a band who did something basically unprecedented--hair metal, whether you like it or not, wouldn't have existed without Kiss. Besides being obvious innovators in stage production and costumes, they were one of the first true arena/stadium rock (as a genre) bands. I don't even listen to Kiss, but how can a band so important not be in the Hall of Fame?
Nine Inch Nails, not yet eligible but I would guess they're getting in (and by they, I mean one person), was influenced by Prince and did crazy multitrack recordings. Besides Nirvana, no artist of the 90s spawned more ripoff acts than NIN. Not gonna keep arguing since Reznor's getting his due soon enough.
Rage Against the Machine belongs in for being the most overtly political rock band ever. This isn't The MC5 showing vague anger at the 1968 DNC or the Sex Pistols proclaiming a desire for anarchy not based on the actual political science theory but based on Johnny Rotten's desire to yell things. Rage Against the Machine was probably the best aptonym in the history of rock. They scared a LOT of people in the era when I was starting to get into rock and roll, so I'll always have a special place in my heart for them.
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