This year’s six inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday morning, and they are Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, the Notorious B.I.G., Nine Inch Nails, the Doobie Brothers, and T. Rex.
Notably absent from the Class of 2020, however, was Pat Benatar.
The fact that Benatar — one of the most successful female artists of the 1980s, who undoubtedly set the template for female hard rock singers at a time when few female hard rock singers had a presence on the charts or at rock radio — had never been nominated before had been a subject of annual Hall protest. She was widely predicted to be a lock this year, especially considering that last year’s inductee, Janet Jackson, had implored in her Rock Hall acceptance speech to thunderous applause: “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, please, 2020: Induct more women!” (Only three female artists total were on this year’s Hall ballot, the other two being Houston and passed-over four-time nominee Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. Women make up less than 8 percent of all Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees.)
Benatar actually came in second in this year’s online Fan Vote. Also not making the Class of 2020 cut were the Dave Matthews Band, who actually topped the Fan Vote by a wide margin. (It is noteworthy that the seven previous winners of the Fan Vote had all been inducted in their years).
Along with Benatar, hard/classic rock in general was passed over, with nominees Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, Todd Rundgren, the MC5, and two other artists that made the top five of the Fan Vote, Judas Priest and Soundgarden, all not getting in.
It was also interesting that six-time nominees Kraftwerk were passed over in favor of their logical successors Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, since it could easily be argued that all electronic music can be traced back in some way to the German techno pioneers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mennonite:
This is the future kcxiv wants:
why because i think music legends should be inducted? ok then! i dont even know who that is?? I dont listen to much new music at all, im stuck in the 90's. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
So what? She didn't sing rock songs.
Johnny Cash is in as well. He didn't sing rock songs.
Putting these people in the ROCK AND ROLL Hall of Fame is like putting Walter Payton in Cooperstown.
Johnny Cash IS rock and roll. "Folsom Prison Blues", "Cocaine Blues", "A Boy Named Sue", "Get Rhythm"...
And that's BEFORE he covered "Rusty Cage" by Soungarden and "Hurt" by NIN and had Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as his backing band on an album... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare:
How she influenced music, she is very worthy. Hell she made Dolly Parton's." You always love me" an everlasting hit
Well shit, let's drop Dolly in as well.
BTW, the song is called "I Will Always Love You."
And it's rock in much the same way a lobster is a mammal. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare:
How she influenced music, she is very worthy. Hell she made Dolly Parton's." You always love me" an everlasting hit
pshaw
Dolly's version is bad ass. Besides, she WROTE it.
Whitney covering it is a compliment to Dolly, not the other way around. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare:
How she influenced music, she is very worthy. Hell she made Dolly Parton's." You always love me" an everlasting hit