SF-Dano wrote:Donovan????? - What a joke the hall is. Notice the pic of the deciding comittee - Not one of those people looks like they have even been to a concert or "rocked" in their lives.
I knew the place was going to be a joke when both LA and SF were snubbed as the location for the hall. They apparently chose Cleavland because some DJ there supposedly was the first to use the term "Rock & Roll". It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Actually, Cleveland was chosen for many different reasons. One of which was that Cleveland kicked the asses of every one of the other cities that was trying to get the RHOF. There were petitions being singed in many different cities to get the RHOF. Cleveland had hundreds of thousands more votes that any other city. I believe Philadelphia came in second?
Cleveland was one of the most important cities in America for Rock music (And still is) back in the 50's and 60's.
Outside of Memphis, Cleveland was the first city that Elvis started having a large following in. And Elvis always said Cleveland was his favorite city to perform in outside of Memphis. On a side note, the Cleveland Browns were his favorite Football team.
There's a long list of musicians and bands that name Cleveland as being their favorite city (or at least one of their favorites) to perform in. That's why bands like Rush always thank Cleveland inside their albums, and record shows in Cleveland to release as a live album.
I'll agree that San Francisco is a good Rock city. But no damn way in hell is LA worthy of the Rock Hall Of Fame. By the way, San Francisco's own Huey Lewis intended the song "Heart Of Rock N Roll" to be strictly about Cleveland. He originally wrote "They say the heart of Rock N Roll is in Cleveland, and from what I've seen I believe em ................... the heart of Rock N Roll is in Cleveland." The record company told him he should change the song so that it would appeal to a wider audience. Notice however, that he still did put more emphasis on the name CLEVELAND than he did any of the other cities named in the song.
And there are also songs like "Cleveland Rocks" written by Ian Hunter, and "My Town" by The Michael Stanley Band," which is about Cleveland.
You are right that it was a DJ named Alan Freed that came up with the title "Rock N Roll."
Also, Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" was styled after a show in Cleveland called "UpBeat" that was hosted by Don Webster. "UpBeat" was the first show of it's kind in America, and lots of bands credit that show as being what "Made" the band success wise.
And I'll agree that it's seriously messed up how certain bands that should be in the RHOF already are not in yet. But that's not Cleveland's fault. It's not the city of Cleveland that gets to name who gets in and who doesn't get in.