The Rock and Roll Hall of Shame
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:39 amThis is a pretty good article about the induction process, scams, and biasism that goes on in the Rock Hall of Fame.
Full Article: http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/feature ... l-of-shame
Here is an interesting excerpt from Chicagoland Radio and Media:
"The main problem seems to be Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner. He is the main person who chooses the few nominees each year. Attorney Suzan Evans and writer Dave Marsh also contribute. Evans, who has limited rock knowledge, has tended to try and nominate artists that will sell tickets to the high-priced New York induction celebration (she wanted Madonna nominated), while Marsh's musical tastes are almost as stubborn and narrow as Wenner's.
Wenner has gone on record as saying he will block any attempt at nominating The Monkees (a band he has supposedly had an unnatural hatred for since childhood), any 70's progressive rock band (Yes, King Crimson, ELP), or any 70's/80's arena rock band (Boston, Styx, Journey). Speaking of Boston, Wenner has been accused of snubbing acts from the city of Boston (J. Geils, Boston, The Cars), even though superstar rock act Aerosmith made the cut in 2001. He has a love for 50's New York Doo-Wop and has already inducted as many of them as he could. He also is a fan of 60's soul, and even though it is not a Soul Hall of Fame, Wenner has pushed those acts through. He enjoys Motown, old school hip-hop/rap and 50's female vocalists who were around before rock and roll even started, so those acts have made it in. Former Chicago vocalist/bassist Peter Cetera once made a disparaging remark about Rolling Stone Magazine in the 70's. Since then, Wenner has been angry at the entire band, and blocked any attempt at allowing them into the Hall of Fame, even though they are the #4 act on Billboards Top 200. (All of the other acts at the top of the Top 200 list are in the RRHOF.)
Fox News did an investigation that found out petitions containing thousands of signatures for top acts were being ignored by Wenner and his Foundation. They also found that certain acts that were associated with Ahmet Ertegun, who co-founded the RRHOF Foundation with Wenner, were pushed through immediately. It has also been found out that despite votes cast, some acts will get dropped or replaced with others in order to have bigger names elected or to better please Wenner's tastes. In 2007, The Dave Clark Five had more votes than Grandmaster Flash (neither of which should have been nominated in the first place...) , but Wenner made up a technicality to allow Grandmaster Flash to get into the hall that year, because he always loved that non-rock act. He claimed that even though The DC5 received more votes, some of the votes came in too late and were discarded, while Grandmaster Flash's votes were all on time. The Dave Clark Five were then admitted the following year instead."
Full Article: http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/feature ... l-of-shame
Here is an interesting excerpt from Chicagoland Radio and Media:
"The main problem seems to be Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner. He is the main person who chooses the few nominees each year. Attorney Suzan Evans and writer Dave Marsh also contribute. Evans, who has limited rock knowledge, has tended to try and nominate artists that will sell tickets to the high-priced New York induction celebration (she wanted Madonna nominated), while Marsh's musical tastes are almost as stubborn and narrow as Wenner's.
Wenner has gone on record as saying he will block any attempt at nominating The Monkees (a band he has supposedly had an unnatural hatred for since childhood), any 70's progressive rock band (Yes, King Crimson, ELP), or any 70's/80's arena rock band (Boston, Styx, Journey). Speaking of Boston, Wenner has been accused of snubbing acts from the city of Boston (J. Geils, Boston, The Cars), even though superstar rock act Aerosmith made the cut in 2001. He has a love for 50's New York Doo-Wop and has already inducted as many of them as he could. He also is a fan of 60's soul, and even though it is not a Soul Hall of Fame, Wenner has pushed those acts through. He enjoys Motown, old school hip-hop/rap and 50's female vocalists who were around before rock and roll even started, so those acts have made it in. Former Chicago vocalist/bassist Peter Cetera once made a disparaging remark about Rolling Stone Magazine in the 70's. Since then, Wenner has been angry at the entire band, and blocked any attempt at allowing them into the Hall of Fame, even though they are the #4 act on Billboards Top 200. (All of the other acts at the top of the Top 200 list are in the RRHOF.)
Fox News did an investigation that found out petitions containing thousands of signatures for top acts were being ignored by Wenner and his Foundation. They also found that certain acts that were associated with Ahmet Ertegun, who co-founded the RRHOF Foundation with Wenner, were pushed through immediately. It has also been found out that despite votes cast, some acts will get dropped or replaced with others in order to have bigger names elected or to better please Wenner's tastes. In 2007, The Dave Clark Five had more votes than Grandmaster Flash (neither of which should have been nominated in the first place...) , but Wenner made up a technicality to allow Grandmaster Flash to get into the hall that year, because he always loved that non-rock act. He claimed that even though The DC5 received more votes, some of the votes came in too late and were discarded, while Grandmaster Flash's votes were all on time. The Dave Clark Five were then admitted the following year instead."
