More rock for the hall of fame

Josh Apkin
Email: apkinj@indiana.edu

It’s 2010 and there is a conflict in America – the conflict between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RNR HOF) and rock ’n’ roll fans. The fans have been complaining about the lack of hard rock and heavy metal bands being inducted in favor of acts that are the furthest thing from rock ‘n’ roll, like Madonna and ABBA. The RNR HOF’s snubbing of metal isn’t new – Black Sabbath and Van Halen were snubbed for years before their induction. The anger from fans reached a fever pitch when the RNR HOF pulled a bait-and-switch with fans by nominating proto-glam hard rockers Kiss and then subsequently not inducting them. The hard rock faithful exploded, making their voices heard on message boards and dubbing the association the “Hall of Shame” for the travesty. 

Furthermore, it seems the voting committee is rubbing it in the faces of hard rock fans. Critic Dave Marsh, who is on the RNR HOF voting committee, responded to complaints by stating, “Kiss was never a great band ... and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot.”

In the past, when Van Halen’s induction was announced, a Rolling Stone contributing editor who is also on the voting committee actually went on MSNBC and said he wanted nothing to do with Van Halen’s induction, whining, “It’s David Lee Roth, people! It’s ‘Jump,’ people!” while praising REM, saying how important they were to him in college.  His subjective assessment is like me ignorantly claiming, “It’s ‘Losing My Religion,’ people!”

Now, if you love REM and hate Van Halen, you are entitled to your opinion. But objectively, you can’t deny that Van Halen is more rock ‘n’ roll than REM was. They rocked harder, they played harder – that’s what rock ’n’ roll is: the type of music that has scared off the parents and “squares,” and the more people it scares off, the more rock ’n’ roll it is.

Rock ’n’ roll, like all forms of music, is supposed to evolve over time and continue rattling cages. Say a kid in the ’60s listens to the Beatles and Chuck Berry and it upsets his parents. If this kid becomes a parent and hates that his kid is listening to Motorhead and Judas Priest because it’s “too heavy,” then he has become stagnant in his old age and has completely missed the point of rock ’n’ roll in the first place.

For the record, this is not a plea to keep non-rock artists out of the HOF. I have no problem with Grandmaster Flash or Leonard Cohen being inducted. But why can’t Kiss be inducted along with them? Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead once declared, “Heavy metal’s the logical descendant of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Not only do I believe this statement to be true, but I believe that people like Dave Marsh, the critic on MSNBC, know this to be true. I believe they don’t want to admit it for the sake of their own personal taste or pride.