Earlier this week, I posted the introduction part of my blog series on fixing the Singles Category for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In it, I discussed the potential that the Singles category has, and how it should be approached. With that in mind, I’ll now continue the series by posting 75 potential candidates for the Singles category. This will be posted in three parts. The first part that’s being posted today will cover songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s. The next blog will cover the 1970’s, and then the final blog will cover the 1980’s and 1990’s. All of the songs are great candidates for the Singles category, based on the standards and criteria I feel should be used for the Singles category. Each of the songs are classic, legendary songs by artists that unfortunately were not able to craft a musical legacy that goes beyond the song mentioned or a few. Basically, all of the artists mentioned here are acts that I don’t feel quite have enough of a case for an actual Performers induction into the HOF. But they still created a great and in some cases, influential, musical legacy just on this song alone, and should be honored in some way. These singles/artists still created lasting memories for generations of people and helped to define their lives in many ways. That deserves to be honored. So with that, let’s get started!!!

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The dust has largely settled on the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class.  The inductees have been announced.  The general public has said their peace, made their complaints.  Everyone in the Rock Hall Watcher community has given their critiques on the class and analyzed the inductees and what the selection of said inductees means for the future of the HOF.  All that’s really left to talk about is who will induct each of the inductees and how the ceremony will play out on television.  Basically, everything around the ceremony.  But there’s one other part of the ceremony that has not yet been revealed or discussed much, and that is none other than the Singles Category!

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Well, Rock Hall season is essentially a wrap as the 2021 inductees were announced earlier this week! And what a class it is.  This class brought several firsts and has likely redefined many aspects of the Hall for the future.  Almost every year, we wonder and state “This year could be one of the most important in the Hall’s history.”  Well, for this year it does not feel like hyperbole, it really is a game-changer for the Hall.

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Well, the time is here.  In about 4-5 days, we will all find out which legendary artists will comprise the 2021 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  No matter which artists are picked, this class will represent a different direction from prior classes dominated by artists of the Classic Rock era.  Is this class going to be the most female-centric class in the Hall’s history?  Is this class going to be the most modern class in the Hall’s history?  Is it going to be a breakthrough for metal music (possible inductions of Iron Maiden and Rage Against the Machine in particular)?  Could this be the first class in the Hall’s history to feature two rap inductees in the same class?  Many historical things could happen with this class, which makes it among the most intriguing and somewhat, unpredictable classes in the Hall’s history.  It’s going to be interesting for sure.

As with tradition, I’m going to be late to the party and be among the last of the Rock Hall Watchers to post my predictions.  I apologize for never getting around to going more in depth on the nominees, but frankly I don’t think I had much to add to the conversation and points that have already been expressed by everyone else in the community, so it’s not a big loss for everyone.

I’m going to use the same format I typically use every year and list the artists in the order I feel they’re most likely to be inducted.  And of course, split those artists up into categories.  This year’s group of nominees is among the most difficult I’ve had to do this exercise for.  As in my opinion, beyond the three artists that I’m listing as “locks,” this is the most wide-open of any group of nominees I can remember.  The remaining 13 artists on the ballot could all either be “likely inductees” or “no chance in Hell” inductees.  Nonetheless, I’m going with this format as it’s interesting and fun to do.

So, without further ado, let’s rank the artists in the order of their chances of induction: from least likely, to most likely…

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Hello everyone, I’m back to post my first blog of 2021.  The last time I blogged was back in May of last year, where I was doing a series of my dream Grand Theft Auto VI soundtrack, which is set to take place during the 1980’s decade.  Of course, in classic-Donnie fashion, I never finished the blog series, and I apologize to anyone that was enjoying the series.  As tends to happen with me, life happened, and I took a long break from the internet and social media and blog writing.  I found (and continue to find) social media to be quite a toxic environment that is also dangerously addicting.  In addition, 2020 was frankly the worst year of probably all our lifetimes, and like anyone else, I came to lose hope in humanity which resulted in me losing interest in several things I was passionate about.

One of those was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rock Hall watcher community, an online community that I’ve been an “unofficial” member of for the better part of a decade.  (Is membership of any online community really “official?”)   The Rock Hall ceremony being delayed and delayed, as well as the usual Nomination season being delayed was also a factor in me losing interest in general.  Pretty similar with movies, as with movie theaters being shut down, and between work and video games preoccupying my free time, I didn’t have a lot of time to watch movies on streaming devices, so 2020 turned out to be the year I’ve watched the least new movies from probably in my lifetime.  I’ve seen more movies that came out in 1982, two years before I was born, than I have 2020.  My interest in the Rock Hall also suffered, and with me kind of retreating from social media, I essentially retreated from the Rock Hall watcher community too.  Nothing personal against anyone, I just got tired of pretty much the entire human race as a whole and needed to retreat.  I’m still in that state honestly.

But enough of that.  The 2021 nominees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced, and there’s tons to talk about.  I have plenty of opinions and feelings to share, and for the first time in quite some time, I’m quite inspired to share them, no matter what the reaction is; positive or negative. To start off with, I should share the artists I nominated.  Though I didn’t make an official blog on the subject, the day before the nominees were announced, I came up with a list of predictions that I posted on my Facebook page and Twitter page.  To recap, here was the 16 artists I predicted would be nominated for the 2021 class….

1. Bad Company
2. Carole King
3. Dolly Parton
4. Duran Duran
5. Foo Fighters
6. George Michael
7. Jay-Z
8. Judas Priest
9. Kool and the Gang
10. Kraftwerk
11. Mariah Carey
12. Pat Benatar
13. Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
14. Soundgarden
15. The Go Go’s
16. The Marvelettes

And without further ado, here are the actual 16 artists officially nominated for induction into the 2021 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame….

1. Carole King
2. Chaka Khan (solo career)
3. Devo
4. Dionne Warwick
5. Fela Kuti
6. Foo Fighters
7. Iron Maiden
8. Jay-Z
9. Kate Bush
10. LL Cool J.
11. Mary J. Blige
12. New York Dolls
13. Rage Against the Machine
14. The Go Go’s
15. Tina Turner
16. Todd Rundgren

So, before I get to my thoughts on the nominees as a whole and what this slate of nominees means for the Hall and it’s future, etc. Let’s do a count/score on my predictions.  It was abysmal, haha.  I got 4.5 predictions correct, maybe my lowest score ever.  I only predicted Carole King, Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, and the Go Go’s.  I also got Chaka Khan half right, though I predicted she’d be nominated with Rufus again.  So that’s half a point.  Needless to say, I was way off the mark with my predictions, though many of these artists I’ve predicted in prior years (more on that later).

So, let’s get to the themes of this group of nominees that I see.  The first major one is of course this being an absolute breakthrough for female music fans, musicians/critics, and just the state of women in popular music history.  This group of nominees by far has the most female acts nominated in the history of the Hall with 7/16 acts nominated, or roughly 44% of the nominees.  That is absolutely incredible, and the Nominating Committee deserves major props for recognizing the issue of the Hall being woefully inept at acknowledging female artists throughout its history and attempting to start correcting that wrong.  What is even more astonishing is the number of black women on the ballot.  Of the 7 female acts nominated, 4 are black women, a fact that might be even more shocking than having so many women in general nominated.  And what’s wonderful is this isn’t the Hall just playing lip service to those calling for more diversity and inclusion.  These are 7 amazing artists that have left huge imprints on music history and easily deserve induction into the HOF.  Many that should have been inducted decades ago (I’ll give the Hall a pass on Mary J. Blige beings she literally became eligible only 3 years ago which is a relatively short wait).  The Hall could have a class with all 7 female acts being inducted, and it easily matching up in quality with any of the classes from the 20 years or so.

Of all the female nominees, the biggest ones for me personally are the nominations for Carole King and Tina Turner, who both represent two of the biggest wrongs of the Hall’s history.  Carole King was inducted with her songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, into the Non-Performers category back in 1990, largely for her career as a songwriter during the 1960’s decade.  Of course, both deserved to be inducted in that category as they were one of the most prolific and important songwriting teams of that era.  But what is criminal is that the Hall seemed to close the door on Carole King for decades, thinking that the Non-Performers induction was enough to honor her.  Nevermind, the impact she had in the 70’s on the singer-songwriter genre, and her 1971 album Tapestry, being one of the most culturally significant albums in the history of rock and roll.  Carole is one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history, and the Hall not honoring her for all those years was one of the biggest snubs in the Hall’s long history of snubs. 

And as big as Carole King’s snub as a Performer inductee was, Tina Turner’s is arguably even more shameful and non-sensical.  Tina Turner was inducted with Ike Turner back in 1991, and rightfully so, as they were one of the great duos of the first 20 years of rock n’ roll history, despite the personal turmoil of their relationship.  But Tina was a far bigger artist as a solo act when it comes to commercial success, influence, and iconic stature, than Ike and Tina Turner ever was as a duo.  Many music fans came to know of Ike and Tina Turner as a duo due to Tina’s hugely successful solo career.  Whenever an artist comes up for a discussion of whether they should be inducted as a solo act along with the band they were in, I have a test that comprises of one simple question.  When a music fan says the name “so and so” do they think more about “so and so” or the band that “so and so was in?”  So, for this example let’s use Tina Turner.  When someone says the name Tina Turner, do they think more about Tina Turner as a solo act, or do they think more about Ike and Tina Turner?  The easy answer for probably 90% of the population is that they think of Tina Turner as a solo artist first and foremost.  Another example with the opposite effect.  Stevie Nicks.  When someone says Stevie Nicks, do they think more about Stevie Nicks as a solo act, or do they think more about Fleetwood Mac?  Though not as clear cut as Tina Turner, I would guess that more people think of Fleetwood Mac than Stevie Nicks.  Thus, Stevie is an example that has at best a less case for a solo induction as her solo career does not compare to Fleetwood Mac, the band she was in.  Tina Turner as a solo artist on the other hand pummels the legacy of Ike and Tina Turner as a duo.  And yet the Hall also felt that inducting her with Ike was enough to honor her, nevermind the 20+ male artists that were inducted multiple times.  I’m not saying that those male artists didn’t deserve the honor.  Yes, Eric Clapton should be in three times, IMO.  But Tina Turner should easily have been inducted as a solo artist as one of the most iconic figures in the history of rock and roll.  She should’ve been inducted almost immediately upon becoming eligible. It’s shameful that the Hall never thought to induct her as a solo act until this time, but I guess it’s better late than never.  Thank you to Alan Light for trying to get the Hall to correct the wrongs for both Carole King and Tina Turner.

The second big theme I’m going to bring up is the departure of the “classic rock era” (rock scene from the mid-60’s to mid-80’s).  Though some of the artists nominated this year were around in that era, they were not really affiliated with classic rock.  The only acts on the ballot that could be classified under the “classic rock” umbrella IMO are Carole King, Iron Maiden, and Todd Rundgren, and maybe the New York Dolls (who were more on the new and burgeoning punk/alternative/underground scene in the 70’s which I view as being outside the “classic rock umbrella”).  Many of us in the Rock Hall Watcher community were wondering if the new regime in the Hall was going to bring the Hall out of the classic rock era of the 60’s and 70’s, and it looks to be so.  This does not bode well for remaining classic rock bands/artists like Jethro Tull, the Monkees, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joe Cocker, Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf, Mott the Hoople, Bad Company, Boston, Foreigner, the Sweet, Blue Oyster Cult, the J. Geils Band, Thin Lizzy, and others.  Pat Benatar also kind of belongs to this era as well, but I think it’s only a matter of time before she’ll be back on the ballot.

It definitely appears that the Hall is ready to move on from the white, male, guitar-orientated classic rock bands of the 60’s, 70’s, and early 80’s, based on this group of nominees.  Then again, as the Hall usually does, when we think they’re going to enter a new direction and stick with it, they always go back to something else, so maybe next year, half the ballot will be classic rock bands and acts.  Who knows? And the third theme, which is related to the second one, is the embrace of 80’s and 90’s acts.  2/3 of this ballot is artists who were at their peak either in the 80’s or 90’s, including a whopping 4 acts who actually debuted in the 90’s!  Let’s break down the artists with their peak decade, IMO….

1960’s

• Dionne Warwick

1970’s

• Carole King
• Fela Kuti
• New York Dolls
• Todd Rundgren

1980’s

• Chaka Khan
• Devo
• Iron Maiden
• Kate Bush
• LL Cool J.
• The Go Go’s
• Tina Turner

1990’s

• Foo Fighters
• Jay-Z
• Mary J. Blige
• Rage Against the Machine

There is as many “80’s” acts on this ballot as the 60’s and 70’s combined!  And 4 artists from the 90’s who officially debuted in the 90’s.  For us in the Millenial or Late Gen X generation this is music to our ears as it appears the Hall is finally ready to take the decades of our childhoods, teenage years, and young adult years seriously.  Of course, to Boomers, this is sacrilege, haha, but hey in 20 years, we’ll be just as disgusted at the thought of Justin Beiber and other artists of that ilk being nominated and up for consideration.  Or maybe that’s just me? 

It should also be noted that with the nomination of Mary J. Blige, she becomes the first artist of the 90’s nominated for induction that doesn’t fall under the rap or alternative rock genres.  Mary is officially the breakthrough to 90’s R&B, which means we could see nominations for acts like Boyz II Men, TLC, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo, and of course Mariah Carey in the future.  To me, Mary J. Blige’s nomination is both the most surprising and most significant of all the nominations, for this very reason.  This means that genres besides rap and alternative rock will get a look from those on the Nominating Committee which bodes well for the 90’s music scene as a whole.

So, with those themes, the Hall appears to be showing they’re ready to embrace different mindsets and definitions of what artists and styles were truly relevant in the history of popular music.  The viewpoints and perspectives of women, people of color, and younger generations.  This group of nominees is both surprising and fresh and promising for the future of the Hall.  If the Hall wants to continue to be relevant in the future, they’re going to have to embrace artists and mindsets of musical criticism of the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s eras.  And this group of nominees definitely shows that the Hall is ready to take that step forward.

That being said, I’m gonna bring up my “populist” appreciation for the classic rock era, which seems to put me in the minority of the Rock Hall Watcher community these days.  I really do hope this isn’t the clear-cut end of the classic rock era.  I still feel that there are bands of that era that should still be inducted that the Hall has missed out on.  And big snubs at that.  I strongly feel that the door on progressive rock should not be closed yet as at the very least Jethro Tull and King Crimson still need to be inducted.  Despite their detractors, the Monkees remain one of the biggest snubs of the Hall IMO, and because of all the criticism they still get 55 years after they debuted, they might be among the most underrated bands in rock and roll history.  I was happy to see 70’s glam rock get acknowledgement in recent years with the inductions of Roxy Music and T. Rex.  Though much smaller acts in general, I’d like to see the Hall look at Mott the Hoople and the Sweet.  Arena rock still has major bands that need looked at for possible inductions.  Namely Bad Company, Foreigner, Boston, and of course Pat Benatar.   Then there is of course classic hard rock and metal with Judas Priest, Motorhead, Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden (unless they get voted in) sitting on the outside.  I also feel that Motley Crue is the last missing piece of the 80’s Glam/Hair Metal story that needs induction on the Hall’s part.  There’s of course still plenty of singer-songwriters to look at such as Jim Croce, Harry Nilsson, Carly Simon, Todd Rundgren, etc.  And though I can acknowledge they’re probably not quite Hall worthy, I would love to see nominations for bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Oyster Cult, Raspberries, and Badfinger (power pop in general is an overlooked genre as well).  I am all on board with the Hall focusing the majority of their induction classes on acts from the 80’s and 90’s.  But I would still like to see 1-2 acts from the 50’s/60’s period and maybe 2-3 acts from the 70’s on the ballot each year.

I also have to bring up that from a personal perspective, for all the positives I’ve stated with this group of nominees, I have to acknowledge that from a personal taste perspective, this is probably among my least favorite group of nominees I can remember.  The only artists on this ballot that I would say I’m huge fans of are Jay-Z, Rage Against the Machine, Devo, and Todd Rundgren.  I’m very excited for the nominations of Carole King and Tina Turner, because I love to see the Hall correct major problems they’ve had, but I can’t honestly say I am a superfan of either act.  Over the last day or two, while making a playlist on Spotify highlighting the careers of each act, I’ve come to listen to more work from artists like Dionne Warwick, Fela Kuti, and Mary J. Blige, artists whom I’ve either not been very familiar with (Fela Kuti) or just didn’t really enjoy much of what I’ve listened to from them in the past (Dionne, Mary), and have come to appreciate them more (Fela, I’m particularly digging).  But of the 16 artists, only 6 appear on my 200 Favorite Artists of All Time list: Jay-Z, Rage Against the Machine, Devo, Todd Rundgren, New York Dolls, and Foo Fighters.  And only Jay-Z is in the top 100.  That is much smaller compared to prior years.  Let us hope for personal selfishness-sakes that in the next year or two, if the Hall continues going with big 90’s acts, hopefully it’ll have more of my favorite acts from that decade like Soundgarden, Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers, Moby, TLC, Boyz II Men, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Tool, A Tribe Called Quest, Mariah Carey (early 90’s Mariah was the shit, don’t care what anyone says).

Well, I think that’s all I’m going to say for now.  I want to do another blog where I break down more closely each of the nominated acts.  Might do that later in the weekend or next week, or never.  Who knows?  Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts on the nominees this year!

Happy New Year and Decade to everyone out there.  Everyone’s been saying “Happy New Year” out in the internet world, but yet I’ve seen few people mention we’re in a new decade, which I find quite odd.  A decade is a much bigger deal than a year.  Frankly, I’m honestly amazed I’ve lived to even see the 2020’s come to be.  It’s quite humbling.  I feel unusually grateful to have made it this far.

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Holy moly is there a lot to cover here!  So, the announcement has been made.  The nominees for the 2020 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced, and like usual, the Nominating Committee went a direction few expected.  I have a lot of different thoughts to go over, as well as different ways to approach this blog, so it’s not gonna be one of my most organized blogs.  But I’ll try my best.  First, I think I’ll talk about my overall thoughts on the direction the Hall is going with this class.  Second, I’ll discuss my thoughts on each of the acts and their worthiness of a nomination and induction.  Third, I’m gonna do some random lists related to the nominees.  Fourth, I’m gonna briefly bring up how accurate I was in my predictions, as well as how accurate I ended up being on my recent “Future of the Rock Hall” series in regard to eligible artists.  And then finally I’ll list my early predictions by ranking the inductees in the likely order of being inducted.  This is gonna be a very long blog, so get you some popcorn, or cook you some dinner, come sit back at the computer, relax, and take a peek into my thoughts and feelings on the 2020 Rock Hall nominees!

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