Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2002, Part Three - The Inductees

Six artists were inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2002, and while that's enough to take care of my ASAP candidates, it only allows the top non-ASAP candidate to sneak in this year while the rest will have to wait for future years, when it will get much more difficult due to the Hall's recent unofficial policy change of only allowing five new artists every year.


The following "Class Of 2002" were inducted in their first year of eligibility:

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - The Heartbreakers are quite possibly the greatest American rock n roll band and by far the most consistent band in all of rock history. There has never been a bad Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album and each one contains a set of brilliant songs with great lyrics, brilliant guitarwork and the ability to hop from one genre to another while rarely even coming up with a bad song let alone several.

The Ramones - The Ramones didn't invent punk. Punk has it's roots in Detroit in the late 60's and could even be traced far enough back to the Mod movement of the early 60's, particularly The Who. That being said, no band was more important in the consolidation of punk from a series of ideas into a genre in and of itself than The Ramones. The British punk bands were inspired by The Ramones and the New York scene would have never made it without them. The Ramones had the simplest sound imaginable: lean, straight forward and short. Most of their songs sounded exactly alike and they rarely topped three minutes. Despite all that they remain the coolest and purest of all rock bands.

The Talking Heads - 1977 was also a great year for alternative rock as The Talking Heads brought art rock to the mainstream, briding the gap between the underground scene and classic rock in a way that no band since the Velvet Underground had. Their music was weird and yet still radio-friendly, unique and representing a high level of quality thanks to the leadership of the genius David Byrne.

The Sex Pistols - Inspired by the success of the Ramones, The Sex Pistols were put together and instantly became the British voice of punk rebellion, clawing at the eyes of the UK establishment and spitting in the face of the music industry while still managing to create music that was brilliant and well put together.

John Mellencamp - 1977 also saw the debut of one of the great singer-songwriters of the 70's, John Mellencamp. John's gone by many commercially inspired names, but when his record label started taking him seriously they settled on his actual name. Mellencamp is forever stuck in the shadow of Bruce Springsteen, but since he was the best of the "imitators", it was hardly a bad place to be, as it allowed him to create a long string of great albums that continues to this day.

The Jam - The Jam are something of a forgotten New Wave band since Classic Rock radio chooses to ignore them, but they were among the most important and best bands of the late 70's, cranking out great song after great song before breaking up a few decades later.

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2002, Part Two

The following "Class of 2002" artists are worthy of consideration, but are unlikely to make it in any time soon:

Amy Grant
Cameo
Levon Helm
Ram Jam
Teddy Pendergrass
The Boomtown Rats
The Mekons
The Soft Boys
Throbbing Gristle


The following "Class Of 2002" artists are worthy of induction, but may have to wait awhile for their turn:

.38 Special
Chic
Eddie Money
Foreigner
Suicide
Wire


The following "Class Of 2002" artists are worthy of induction and will likely make it in the near future, but didn't quite make the cut this time around (*="ASAP" inductee status):

Blondie
Cheap Trick
George Thorogood
Motörhead
Peter Gabriel
Richard Hell and the Voidoids
The Buzzcocks
The Dead Boys
XTC

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2002, Part One

Unlike the past few years, 1977 was an absolutely great year for rock n roll, possibly even the best ever, as the punk scenes in New York and England revitalized popular music and gave it the temporary shock to the system that it needed to recover from years of AOR and coke-fueled decadence.


The following artists from the "Class of 2002" have been inducted into the actual RNR Hall Of Fame:

The Ramones
The Talking Heads
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
Blondie
The Sex Pistols
John Mellencamp


The following artists from the "Class of 2002" have been removed from consideration from my hall:

Andy Gibb
Eddie Grant
Karla Bonoff
Quiet Riot
The Village People

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2001, Part Three - The Inductees

Eight artists were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001. Since only four artists form this class were inducted into my Hall in their first try, four previously nominated acts make my Hall this year.


The following "Class Of 2001" were inducted in their first year of eligibility:

AC/DC - One of the greatest metal acts in rock history, AC/DC locked down the blues rock sound and combined it with elements of metal and even hip hop (Back In Black) to create a boozy and brilliant sound that has carried them through 30 years at the top.

Heart - Heart was sort of a female version of Led Zeppelin. Their guitar work and vocal performances were outstanding throughout their career and yet they still aren't in the actual Hall of Fame. Considering some of the artists who did make the list, this is quite baffling.

Patti Smith - One of the true queens of the punk / new wave scene, Patti Smith channeled the spirit and style of Janis Joplin and turned it into a revolutionary mix of rock n roll and poetry to create one of the most excitingly unstable styles in all of rock n roll.

The Damned - An early entry from the '77 punk scene (along with Patti), The Damned were one of the first great punk bands and a true innovator in the field.


The following artists has been inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2001:


Steppenwolf - One of the last great bands of the 1960's to make my Hall Of Fame, Steppenwolf is best known for their iconic hit "Born To Be Wild" and the all-time classic "Magic Carpet Ride".

Ted Nugent - The wild man of rock n roll, Uncle Ted Nugent was never regarded as a particularly artistic performer, but in the heyday of the stadium rocker, the Nuge was among the best with crazy great guitar-driven songs like "Cat Scratch Fever", "Stranglehold" and "Motor City Madhouse".

Yes - One of the great prog-rock bands of the 70's, Yes is mysteriously not in the actual Hall Of Fame, despite making a huge impact on the classic rock era during the 70's and early 80's.

Bad Company - Bad Company wasn't a particularly iconic band, but for a meat and potatoes classic rock outfit, there weren't many bands of their era that were better with straight forward blues influenced rock.

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2001, Part Two

The following "Class of 2001" artists are worthy of consideration, but are unlikely to make it in any time soon:

Air Supply
Alabama
Bootsy Collins
Bunny Wailer
Cabaret Voltaire
Charlie Feathers
Kenny Loggins
Max Webster
Peter Tosh
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
Triumph


The following "Class Of 2001" artists are worthy of induction, but may have to wait awhile for their turn:

Boston
Graham Parker
Luther Vandross
Nick Lowe
Sammy Hagar
The Modern Lovers
The Runaways


The following "Class Of 2001" artists are worthy of induction and will likely make it in the near future, but didn't quite make the cut this time around (*="ASAP" inductee status):

NONE

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2001, Part One

1976 wasn't a great year for rock n roll. Only two artists that debuted that year are in the actual Hall Of Fame, though eight were inducted in 2001.

The following artists from the "Class of 2001" have been inducted into the actual RNR Hall Of Fame:

AC/DC
Patti Smith


The following artists from the "Class of 2001" have been removed from consideration from my hall:

NONE

Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame "As It Should Be" - 2000, Part Three - The Inductees

Six artists were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000 and since none of them came from the "Class Of 2000", the year was a clean-up year of past oversights. My Hall is no different, with only one first time inductee making it in along with five previous nominees.


The following "Class Of 2000" were inducted in their first year of eligibility:

Television - One of the most artistic and challenging bands of the New York '77 scene, Television don't have any hit songs and the average rock fan has never heard of them, but they were one of the first great bands of the alternative rock scene and among the most influential bands of the early days of punk.


The following artists has been inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2000:

Joe Cocker - The gravel-voiced classic rock singer who managed to improve on a couple Beatles songs and a classic from Traffic, Joe Cocker is among the most popular singers of his generation and one of the greatest singers to come out of the 1960's.

Judas Priest - One of the first truly great metal bands of the late 70's and early 80's golden age of metal. The band has a legendary track record and even managed to put a few metal songs onto the classic rock playlist, an honor that not even Motorhead could achieve.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Another great classic rock band from the 70's makes the Hall this year. BTO is hardly the most artistic band of their era, but they put forward a workman-like effort on album after album and had just enough wit to their songwriting to put them over the top.

The New York Dolls - One of the first great bands in the proto-punk movement, The New York Dolls were rough and undisciplined, wild and incomprehensible at times. In short, they were brilliant and exactly what rock n roll needed as they started to venture into the prog and corporate rock wildernesses.

Supertramp - And no sooner trashed than inducted, Supertramp was both corporate rock and prog rock at times, but their lyrics were among the best of the late 70's and they were one of the few artistic bands to make a splash during the disco era.