Well, guys, the fan voting is over for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees. According to the RRHOF’s website, the Top Five vote-recipients were, in descending order, Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, Todd Rundgren, The Zombies and The Cure. That means that each of these artists will receive a vote a piece for induction. Usually, the top five vote-getters in the Hall voting, not just the fan voting, will be inducted, though sometimes that number can be as large as seven, even up to ten. Personally, I think we might see six of these nominees inducted as the Class of 2019. My gut is telling me that we might find out who are being inducted as early as tomorrow morning. So be prepared to see a second blog entry once the Class of 2019 is announced,
With that said, my latest predictions for induction are as follows.
The Shoo-Ins –
I think this is the year for these four artists: glam metal gods Def Leppard, singer/songwriter enchantress Stevie Nicks, rock renaissance man Todd Rundgren and Sixties pop-rock icons and arguably the final deserving band from the original British Invasion The Zombies. After that, it becomes a free-for-all.
My Next Best Guesses…er…Picks –
I really believe that up to three choices will come out of this batch, listed in order of probability: Janet Jackson, The Cure, LL Cool J, Roxy Music, Devo and Radiohead..
Not This Year! –
Rage Against the Machine, John Prine, Kraftwerk, MC5 and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan are all not getting into the Hall this year.
Once again, I am of firm belief that something has GOT to be done about this whole balloting for nomination AND induction into the RRHOF. It seems to me that the only people satisfied with the current system is Jann Wenner and his coterie of sycophants, though that word may be a little strong for the current group of people who vote as members of these committees. Yet, something HAS to be done. Several months ago, I made a clunky proposal for changes. I suggested that ten acts are inducted over the next decade, until we clean up the missing acts by the top three acts in the fan voting getting automatic spots in the upcoming induction class. Then, seven committees would nominated five acts each for the voting members of the Hall for induction. The categories would cover genres such as R&B/Soul/Funk, Country/Jazz/Blues, Hip Hop/Reggae, Pop/Rock, Pre-Rock Influences, Veterans (those whom have been eligible for induction longer than 30 years) and Contributors (DJs, Journalists, Producers, Managers, etc.). Finally, some diversity would be brought into the whole induction process. I know my idea is clunky, but at least let’s get talking about this whole thing.
Well, have a great day! I hope your favorite artist gets inducted with the Class of 2019.
If My Records Could Talk 