CLEVELAND, Ohio – Yogi Berra apparently was the primary role model for the official voters in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019.
One of the late baseball star’s more famous malapropisms offers this sage advice: “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.”
Boy, did the thousand or so official voters do that in choosing the seven inductees for this new class. Listed alphabetically, it’s the Cure, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks (as a solo artist), Radiohead, Roxy Music and the Zombies.
They were chosen from a ballot that also include John Prine, Kraftwerk, Devo, LL Cool J, the MC5, Rage Against the Machine, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan and Todd Rundgren.
First the good: The Zombies FINALLY got in, years after being ignored since they first became eligible in 1989. In some ways, it’s akin to baseball’s “Old Timers Committee,’’ I guess. Certainly, the “Tell Her No,” “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season’’ band deserves inclusion. And I was pleasantly surprised that voters recognized the impact of metal with Def Leppard and the historical significance of the Cure and Roxy Music.
"What fantastic news!,'' said singer Colin Blunstone in an email to The Plain Dealer upon learning of the band’s induction. "On behalf of the whole Zombies family, past and present, a resounding and sincere ‘thank you’ to the members of the Rock Hall for adding our name to the list of this years inductees and of course also to our wonderful and loyal fans who have supported us so enthusiastically and tenaciously in the public vote.''
That’s the good fork.
The bad has two prongs, to be honest: the inclusion of Janet Jackson and the omission of Todd Rundgren. And between those two, the snub of Rundgren is the sharper, more painful tine.
Janet Jackson brought her "State of the World" Tour to Cleveland in December 2017. She was tapped to become a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2019.
You can argue that Jackson’s commercial success warranted induction. A hundred million albums sold, packed arenas, etc., and maybe you could make that case . . . although not with me. Her voice has never been that good, Paula Abdul was responsible for her most famous dance routines, and her sound was more a creation of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
To me, her inclusion is a wise commercial venture by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum, not a warranted accolade from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Though both are nonprofits, only the museum is a revenue-producing venture, and this definitely will bring in the bucks.
These are things I’ve said before, and will say again: Jackson’s greatest claim to fame is being Michael Jackson’s sister, followed by Justin Timberlake’s “wardrobe malfunction” victim (if she wasn’t in on the game, about which I have my own admittedly unfounded and unsubstantiated doubts).
But Rundgren? My Lord, the things that man has done in his career! His music as an artist – “Hello It’s Me,” “Can We Still Be Friends” and even the ubiquitous earworm “Bang the Drum All Day” – should have cemented his place in the hall. And yet he’d never even been NOMINATED, despite being eligible since 1995.
He undoubtedly was the single most deserving nominee on the ballot. Joining me in that assessment might be the 365,370 fans (out of 3.3 million) who voted for him on the Rock Hall’s very own fan ballot. He finished behind only Def Leppard and Stevie Nicks – and more than 100,000 votes ahead of Jackson, who ended up sixth.
Look, I’m not going to begrudge Jackson her enshrinement. Selling that many records, selling out that many concerts, inspiring that many dances – all of it is a sign of an artist who has made a commercial impact.
But in addition to his own Utopia band albums, Rundgren has produced legendary records for Meat Loaf (“Bat Out of Hell”), Hall & Oates (“War Babies”), Grand Funk Railroad (“We’re An American Band” and “Shinin’ On”), Patti Smith (“Wave”), the Tubes (“Love Bomb”), the New York Dolls (“Cause I Sez So”) and Badfinger (“Straight Up”). And that’s just a partial list!
Now to be fair, this week’s Class of 2019 inductee announcement is limited to performers. We could still see Rundgren and some deserving others – here’s where I’d normally try to make a case for Apple Records’ first A&R head (and the former manager of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt) Peter Asher – later on.
But seven is a hefty number of inductees, so the prospect of adding anyone may be fairly slim. However, the idea that the Rock Hall would snub Rundgren as a performer and try to induct him as a nonperformer is grating.
Four years ago, I asked Rundgren about the snub. His answer then is, I think, what it might be now:
It’s always been a thorny subject with me,’’ Rundgren said. “I never thought a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland or anywhere else was a good idea.
“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll anymore anyway,’’ he said. “What we used to call rock ‘n’ roll – the original term, defined by DJ Alan Freed – meant to refer to a certain kind of music that Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis [Presley] were playing, and it was distinguishable from ‘popular music’ at that time.’’
“What you have now is a pop music hall of fame, and I don’t care if I’m in the Pop Music Hall of Fame or not,’’ he said.
He may not, but pretty sure 365,370 fan voters – 365,371, counting me – do care. He should be in, and the Rock Hall’s official voters need to realize it. Otherwise, while the museum itself can and should go on – it’s one of Northeast Ohio’s greatest treasures – the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a collection of the genre’s best could suffer from another run-in with a fork.
One that’s stuck in it, because it’s done.