The Archives of My Mind

This year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony did not disappoint per usual. So many talented people were celebrated like Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Eurythmics, Jimmy Iovine, JUDAS PRIEST—and rightfully so. They are exceptional musicians and iconic members of the music industry today. But, categorizing all of those acts as rock, I think , is doing a disservice to each genre that should have its own big celebration.

Hear me out.

Isn’t it about time for a big Hip Hop Hall of Fame ceremony of its own? There are so many deserving artists in that category that would be great to see honored in a similar way but more nuanced acts might get overlooked in this genre bending show’s format. Like all of the artists Eminem listed in his award acceptance speech. Salt-N-Pepa—who’ve influenced so many—deserve an award celebration too.

Whatever the formula for deciding who is rock and who isn’t is leaving A LOT of deserving artists out.

Will Link Wray ever be honored for his contributions to rock? His power-chord is widely credited with influencing some of rock’s most distinct sounds.

According to his biography “Wray was the creator of the power-chord and was one of the first musicians to experiment with both distortion and the burning fuzz-tone guitar sound in his instrumental recordings; his harsh and raw, yet potent and effective simple guitar style inspired such rock music genres as heavy metal, punk, thrash, and alternative rock.”

He deserves a nod, but bigger contemporary acts overshadow his historical contributions to the genre.

I love hip-hop, country, pop, R&B—all of those genres and believe they ALL deserve deeper dives into their musical histories. Each contain unique musical legacies and worthy contributors that are overlooked in the mixed event.

If you really want to diversify the show, bring more genre specific hall of fame ceremonies to the stage and our screens. Broaden our musical horizons with more in depth shows celebrating each of those genres. Rock and most of the other genres are made all around the world. The artists deserve to be honored by their respective schools of sound. And we, the masses, would benefit from more music celebrated on the stage and our small screens.

Tagged: hbo rock hall, rock and roll hall of fame 2022, rock hall, rock hall of fame

Comments are closed.