With the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame set to induct a new class on Friday (April 8), it’s a great time to play everyone’s favorite parlor game, “Who Got Snubbed by the Rock Hall?”
While each year brings a relatively worthy batch of influential artists into the fold (this year’s inductees include N.W.A. and Cheap Trick), it also brings a fresh bounty of unjustly ignored artists including bands who released their first album when you were actually alive. It can be a sobering sight to scan the ranks of previous inductees and realize who’s in and who isn’t.
According to the Rock Hall, performers are eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record and they’re judged on “the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.” Meanwhile, Linda Ronstadt and Hall & Oates are firmly in the Hall of Fame, while your own favorites might still be standing scruffily in the doorway waiting to be ushered in.
So let’s take a look (in the gallery above) at some of the more inexplicable exclusions from the Rock Hall, including both those who have been on the block for a good, long while and those who have only recently become eligible. And remember, when it comes to understanding the mysterious ways the Rock Hall works, inscrutability is the name of the game, so take it all with more than a grain of salt.