Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: A Study In Irrelevance

Wow, has it been that long since I wrote about one of my “favorite” music-related institutions? The reason for that is that I do not believe that the Rock Hall has much real relevance in the world of music. Don’t get me wrong. They are oozing with relevance when it comes to money, and as is the case almost everywhere, what they actually do is almost certainly influenced by money first and “what is right” clocking in at a distant second (if that).

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is not what it seems to be. The general public seems to believe that the decisions they make about who should be inducted actually matter. They do not. At least in any way that is backed up by actual meaning. What really matters is what you, the individual and independent rock fan decides to listen to and spend your money on. The opinion of a gaggle of self-important, pretentious individuals we are supposed to consider “experts” is irrelevant. Is their opinion any more important than your own? I thought not.

As usual, we had to endure the hype-fest that accompanies the Rock Hall’s annual induction ceremony. When you spend time every day sifting through news related to rock music, it is not possible to avoid all the stories related to it. That faithfully serves as a yearly reminder of their true irrelevance.

While the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is irrelevant to me and countless other rock fans, it seems quite relevant to others and that includes well-known musicians that tie themselves in knots with anxiety or anger over being inducted. It saddens me to see some musicians I love and respect diminish their own accomplishments by devoting time to worrying over whether the Gods on the Rock Hall Nominating Committee will find favor with them and grant them passage through what they seem to equate with passage through St. Peter’s famed gate.

I feel like someone needs to grasp them by the collars, shake them and loudly shout, “It does not matter! At all! Not even a little!” In fact, I believe it is more of an honor for an actual rock musician or group to not be inducted. It would be an admirable thing to be shunned by a group of pompous, wealthy, narcissistic individuals who have duped the public into believing that their opinion actually matters.

Making matters worse, these self-proclaimed experts do not even seem able to determine what Rock and Roll actually is. As someone who was fortunate enough to grow up in the 60s and 70s when the greatest Rock and Roll music was created, I have major problems with some of the Rock Hall’s inductees. Come to think of it, that was what really turned me off about them years ago when I got wind of some ridiculously inappropriate inductions.

How can they continue to call themselves the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” after inductions like those for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (a hip-hop group), Whitney Houston (an amazing talent but not quite rock), N.W.A. (hip-hop again), Eminem (oh, for Heaven’s sake!), Cher (seriously?) and Dolly Parton (I like a lot about Dolly and she seems like a sweet lady but she ain’t Rock and Roll).

And that is just a small sampling of some of the insanely inappropriate inductees to an institution that is supposed to be about rock music. Why don’t they just rename it and call it the “Music Hall of Fame” and be done with it? Although I do question whether some of those inductees could even be credibly accused of making “music.”

I think I would have more respect for the Rock Hall if they had some kind of voting system that included the public. You know, the people who actually buy the records (or stream the streams). The people that listen because they are actually driven by their love for the music. And last but not least, the people who spend their money and contribute to the impressive wealth that so many of our favorite artists enjoy. You would expect that it would be the fans that really matter. Alas, that is not the case.

Lord only knows what goes on behind the scenes during a Rock Hall nominating committee meeting because they keep that close to the vest and that’s quite intentional. As a former chairman of the nominating committee, Jon Landau, said: “We’ve done a good job of keeping the proceedings nontransparent. It all dies in the room.” Thanks for the update, Jon! However, as you might expect, that raises more questions than answers.

For example, is money involved in the process?  Frankly, I find it extraordinarily difficult to imagine that it isn’t. But since the proceedings are kept secret, there seems to be no way to know for sure. Since we’re on the subject of money, why don’t we consider some of the Rock Hall’s financials. It’s not unreasonable to presume that an organization that makes decisions that seem to mean so much for so many wealthy music superstars has some formidable financial assets of their own. Indeed they do.

For fiscal year 2023 the Rock Hall reported total revenue of $54.8 million. Not bad. Think of how much music the average fan (who gets no vote) could buy with that kind of scratch!

So where does all that money come from? Here’s the breakdown (what was reported anyway) of fiscal year 2023: Contributions of $32.6 million (the largest source — very interesting!), Program Services raked in $13.5 million (museum admissions, tours, educational programs, and event tickets), Net Inventory Sales totaling $4.4 million (merchandise and gift shop items), Investment Income returned $2.7 million,  Rental Property Income earned $1.4 million and Other Revenue and Royalties brought in another $700,000.

Although it may seem like it, I am not suggesting that money moving from hopeful inductees in the direction of the Rock Hall has any influence on nomination committee decisions. I actually do not believe it works that way but I also believe that the committee could be tremendously influenced by financial benefits that come from other sources. I don’t care to speculate about what those sources could be but knowing what almost everyone knows about how the music industry has been influenced by money for decades makes it easy to imagine that shenanigans are afoot.

Those who read here regularly (yes, both of you!) may have noticed that there is a history of mostly ignoring anything related to the Rock Hall here. The last time anything significant was written on that topic was about 16 years ago and as I reviewed that article, I noticed that all of the comments that readers shared were also pretty negative concerning the Rock Hall, and that made me wonder.

Are the only people who actually care about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame those who are actually part of the organization, famous musicians, well-known music journalists and critics, record company executives and the media? It seems like the people who really matter — the fans — may not care very much at all and to me that makes perfect sense.

Let me end with the immortal and wise words of one Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame, when he referred to the Rock Hall this way: “…an utter and complete load of bollocks … run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock ‘n’ roll if it hit them in the face.”