Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Class of 2016

As we do every year at this time, we look at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, officially the Class of 2016, which is Chicago, Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Steve Miller, and N.W.A. A little underwhelming. Some good groups, but nothing really great. As we examined in last year's post, what great artists are on the outside looking in? Of our list from last year surveying the most eligible candidates, only Deep Purple made it this year. We mentioned Chicago, Cheap Trick, and Steve Miller as artists likely to be forever left out of the most elite. It is difficult to reconcile how these three were inducted before many other similarly situated artists in our lists.
​
Our lists are below, revised to eliminate this year's inductees, and congratulations to them.

You can read all about this year's inductees everywhere else and debate their respective merits for inclusion. We can also all debate the criteria for induction, and officially "Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll," so says the Hall itself.

This year's ballot also says "Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration."

But let's cut to the chase to the most popular topic of all. The rock acts absent from the Hall. Now that Kiss and Deep Purple and the Sex Pistols are in, who really is left out? I realize not a single person reading this will agree on every entry, and that's one of the beauties of music. I submit that the following eligible artists should get the most attention for induction. That's not to say I love these bands best. For example, I love The Replacements and Sonic Youth and The Pixies more than Whitney Houston and Yes. I just think that Yes and Whitney Houston were more influential and were at the apex of their genre, even if I don't necessarily like them best or want to listen to them. To add fuel to the ire, many will point to those already enshrined as less worthy than many left outside in the Cleveland cold, such as Percy Sledge, The Young Rascals, James Taylor, and The Lovin' Spoonful. All fine artists to be sure, but Hall worthy?

So without further adieu, the most eligible bachelors, alphabetically:

The Cars
John Coltrane
The Cure
Whitney Houston
Janet Jackson
Joy Division / New Order
Love
Mott The Hoople
New York Dolls
Dolly Parton
Gram Parsons
Roxy Music
The Smiths
13th Floor Elevators
T. Rex
Yes

There are countless others who get mentioned by their fans, but can't really make as strong a claim to be considered among the most elite music acts ever. Fine artists, many with some very good songs, and many with plenty of influence, but never the best artist of their kind during their time. The Tony Perezes of rock. Not everyone gets in. There has to be a line of elite drawn somewhere. Some of the notable outsiders, alphabetically:

Bad Company
Bauhaus
Big Star
Black Flag
Blue Oyster Cult
Bon Jovi
Boston
The Buzzcocks
The Damned
Dead Kennedys
Def Leppard
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
The Doobie Brothers
Duran Duran
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP)
Brian Eno
Foreigner
Free
Gang Of Four
Grand Funk (Railroad)
The Guess Who
Husker Du
INXS
Iron Maiden
J. Geils Band (Geils)
The Jam
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Jethro Tull
Journey
Judas Priest
Kansas
King Crimson
Little Feat
MC5
The Monkees
The Moody Blues
Motorhead
The Move
Willie Nelson
Nine Inch Nails
Ted Nugent
Pavement
The Pixies
The Replacements
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Johnny Rivers
Todd Rundgren
The Scorpions
Sonic Youth
Soundgarden
The Spinners
Styx
(The) Sweet
Thin Lizzy
Richard Thompson
Robin Trower
UFO
Johnny Winter
X
Warren Zevon
The Zombies

Who do you think should be inducted next?


​