If I Had An Official 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ballot, I'd Vote For....
It’s hard to believe, but an entire month has passed since the official 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees were announced. A lot has happened in this short period of time including the Dave Matthews Band’s meteoric rise to the top of the fan vote, the addition of Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee to Motörhead’s nomination, Michael McDonald touring with The Doobie Brothers next summer, and Pat Benatar finally commenting on her nomination. It’s far too early to predict which nominees will make up the Class of 2020, but instead I’d rather do something different. I want to write about the five nominees I would vote for if was a member of the larger voting body. My inspiration to write this piece is two-fold. First, the great Tom Lane published a similar piece last week and I thought he did a terrific job. Second, in the midst of their coverage on the 2020 nominees on the podcast Who Cares about the Rock Hall?, co-host Joe Kwaczala repeatedly asks his guests to fill out a mock ballot at the beginning of each episode.
In all honesty, I believe many of the bloggers and podcasters in the Rock Hall watcher community deserve official ballots. We work hard all year to craft well-argued, painfully-researched pieces that shouldn’t go unnoticed. And if those guys from The Howard Stern Show with absolutely no experience in the music industry get ballots, then why not us Rock Hall watchers? For now, I could only dream of getting a ballot in my mailbox someday.
In terms of strategy, I used influence and impact as the determinant factors, but it’s also a mix of personal favorites and long-time snubs. This was an extremely difficult exercise and forced me to make some tough decisions and leave off many artists I feel are worthy of a Rock Hall induction. With only 5 spots, sometimes I wish the Rock Hall would take Krist Novoselic’s suggestion of a ranking system to make matters easier, but sometimes artists get cut they that you really enjoy and its sucks. And there’s always a degree of uncertainty at play when casting an official ballot. I cannot and will not take some of these artists for granted and hope they get nominated next year or the following year. Sometimes this is the only opportunity they’ll ever get to appear on the ballot, so there’s a sense of urgency to get these artists inducted while they’re on the ballot. It’s wasn’t easy and utterly impossible to please everyone, but these are the five artists I would select if given an official ballot:
Depeche Mode: It’s no secret Depeche Mode is one of my favorite bands. I even saw their new film Spirits in the Forest (2019) last night, so yeah I’m a super fan. They have constantly evolved their style and grew more confident with each album. For most bands, darker themes and experimental sounds usually results in bands becoming less popular. The opposite effect happened to Depeche Mode and they eventually became superstars who filled stadiums by the end of the 1980s. I firmly believe they have one of the strongest catalogs of any prospective Rock Hall. There’s at least a dozen Depeche Mode in the mainstream consciousness and that doesn’t even get to the deep cuts that are just as great as their singles. Their wide-ranging influence can be seen in alternative rock, industrial, heavy metal and EDM. And with the Rock Hall finally honoring The Cure this past year, the floodgates are now wide open and Depeche Mode seems likely to be the next artist of the New Wave/Alternative era to get enshrined. Going on their fourth decade together with no signs of slowing down, the time is now to honor and recognize the greatness of Depeche Mode.
T. Rex: Marc Bolan is one of the great rock stars of the last half-century. Among the first glam rock artists to emerge out of England in the early 1970s, Bolan’s band T. Rex emphasized flamboyant fashion choices, bravado stage performances, back-to-basics guitar riffs and distinctly bizarre (and ultra catchy) lyrics. T. Rex inspired several latter-day genres including punk, heavy metal, new wave, hard rock, and alternative rock. Due to his premature death at age 29 in 1977, Bolan’s importance has diminished over time and he’ll always be unfairly compared to David Bowie (Bolan went glam long before Bowie did). But there’s no getting over the fact that Bolan was the first glam rocker in the U.K. and one of the biggest rock stars on the planet in his heyday. And oh, when you’re name-dropped by icons The Who, David Bowie, and The Ramones in their songs, you’re probably important and deserving to be inducted into the Rock Hall. Hell, T. Rex should’ve been inducted decades ago.
Kraftwerk: They’re simply the most egregious Rock Hall snub and their influence on modern music cannot be overstated. Kraftwerk laid the foundation for synthesizer-driven rock and roll. As a result, they shaped the sounds of new wave, hip-hop, electronica, and synth-pop. These German innovators even created their own instruments to craft their sound. That’s impressive, even if you can’t stand them. Much of the sounds we hear in modern music can be traced back to Kraftwerk and their influence continues to grow each year. And to the naysayers that Kraftwerk never achieved success here in the States, remember their album Autobahn reached #5 on the Billboard 200 and the title track peaked at #25 in the summer of 1975. Put them in already!
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan: Perhaps the sole representative of the R&B genre this year (some have argued Whitney Houston is more pop), Rufus featuring Chaka Khan is a vitally important band in the landscape of popular music in the 1970s. The band introduced the mighty Chaka Khan to the world and she is one of the greatest vocalists to step in front of a microphone. Khan is the missing link of the great female singers of the 1960s (Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross) and the 1980s (Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Sade). And when Stevie Wonder writes a song for you and it becomes your first big hit, you’re probably an artist that should be taken seriously. This is her sixth nomination in 8 years (4 with Rufus and 2 solo) and Chaka Khan absolutely deserves to be inducted into the Rock Hall in some capacity. And for the record - she deserves to be in the Performers category and not Musical Excellence. When you have a voice as powerful as Chaka Khan, there’s no way to relegate her contributions to the music industry in a consolation prize.
Whitney Houston: The first 4 choices were relatively easy, but I initially couldn’t decide which artist deserved the final spot on my ballot. I narrowed it down to 4 artists--MC5, Nine Inch Nails, Pat Benatar and Whitney Houston. I believe the MC5 is one of the innovative acts nominated and largely laid the groundwork for punk rock, but I felt Kraftwerk and T. Rex already occupied the “supremely influential but lacks name recognition” spots on my ballot. They, unfortunately, got the short end of the stick. Nine Inch Nails would’ve easily gotten my vote and Trent Reznor is one of the most revolutionary musicians of our time. I believe he should’ve been an FYE inductee, but I feel Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode (two artists who shaped the songwriting and sounds of NIN, both also nominated this year) deserve to get inducted first. Plus, Reznor just inducted The Cure and, I guess, on the good side of the Rock Hall for now. It would fit an all-too-perfect narrative of an artist bowing down to the Hall and getting something in return the following year. I believe NIN could wait another year or two. And it came to this, the final two contenders vying for the last spot on my ballot--Pat Benatar and Whitney Houston. Both women are iconic and dominated the charts throughout the 1980s. I like Benatar fine, but I believe Whitney has the edge. Whitney Houston is probably the greatest vocalist who is not already inducted into the Rock Hall and she inspired virtually every female pop and R&B singer of the last three decades. In addition to her many #1 hit singles and overall dominance on the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Houston was one of the first black women to receive regular rotation on MTV and became a huge crossover star. When you have a voice as powerful and wide-ranging as Whitney Houston, how can she not be considered amongst the greats in the Rock Hall? Even Judas Priest’s Rob Halford believes Whitney belongs in the Rock Hall, so she’s got fans all over the place and I wouldn’t be shocked if she got enough votes for induction on her first nomination. She’s just too important to ignore and a Whitney induction would almost directly lead to Mariah Carey getting a nomination in the not-too-distant future.
