I was reading the Monkey See Blog by Linda Holmes recently and she had one that I had to respond to. In her blog, she discusses why ABBA should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She does a good job explaining how certain acts, such as Pete Seeger and Mahalia Jackson, and how they aren’t exactly the most rocking artists. Then she goes after certain artists and bands coolness factor. And she has plenty of room to argue many of these points, but to me this isn’t he issue.
The issue with ABBA, and many of these acts, is that where do you draw the line. Maybe it is already too late. We should just start letting everyone in. Pete Seegeris an easy artist to argue for because of his influence on later artists, such as Bruce Springsteen. The same would go for another act that Holmes mentioned, Lead Belly. But these acts, along with ABBA, are the very reason why many current rock and metal artists could care less about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
So honestly, I am not saying what Ms. Holmes said was wrong. I tend to feel a different argument should be had on whether they should change the name of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame to the Rock and Pop Hall. I visited the Hall of Fame a few years back and loved it. But I enjoy museums and history and loving music, I could have spent a full day there. The exhibits and layout of the Hall was amazing. That being said, I didn’t really even think of it as a Hall of Fame. I had visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame the day before and it was a lot easier to recognize it as a hall of fame because they had a room of the busts of the inductees.
Maybe it should be called the Rock and Roll Museum and leave it at that. Either way, this is why I don’t worry about who is inducted because it is hard to find exact specifications to get elected. But if ABBA gets in, good for them. Much of music is about opinion anyway, so there will be tons of people on both sides of the debate.
Advertisement
