Hit 'Pause' on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Clueless cabal turns landmark into a joke

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 6, 2009 2:45 PM CST

(Newser) – If you’re a music critic trying to fill out your Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot, like Patrick Goldstein, you’re facing some pretty slim pickings this year. The nominees: ABBA, the Chantels, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, the Hollies, KISS, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Stooges, and Donna Summer. “Pretty pathetic,” opines Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times.

The trouble is that the Hall’s cabal of insiders dictates the nominees, without consulting “us lowly peons.” Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner rules with an iron fist—rumor has it that he unilaterally bumped the Dave Clark 5 for Grandmaster Flash. Goldstein thinks it’s time to shut the hall down for a while and wait for more worthy bands to be eligible. In the meantime, well, KISS wasn’t so bad, right?

[Images (2)]

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Flags fly at half mast in honor of Michael Jackson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Friday, June 26, 2009, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Visitors at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland view a special memorial wall to Michael Jackson Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

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This thing has sunk to a shameless level of manipulation and behind-the-scenes chicanery. If it were a public institution
— which it is — it would be held up for public ridicule. - Joel Selvin, San Francisco music critic

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Hit 'Pause' on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame