2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class Announced

The inductees for the 2022 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced this morning. Guess what? Judas Priest made it in! The full slate of new inductees is below. The list includes Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie and yes, Dolly Parton.

The Rock Hall's 2022 list of inductees — from Pat Benatar to @LionelRichie to @Shade45's own @Eminem — span the best of music. See the full list, and learn more: https://t.co/tdUdnTA8cD pic.twitter.com/CE7Y753vEj

— SiriusXM (@SIRIUSXM) May 4, 2022

Heavy metal legend Rob Halford of @judaspriest celebrates #RockHall2022 pic.twitter.com/oxIkfdq0uJ

— Rock Hall (@rockhall) May 4, 2022

Comments

[stu]

and there was much rejoicing…yea.

[Kixchix]

JP in the “rock excellence “ category. Does that mean they weren’t fully voted in but are “in”? Happy for them. Maybe it’ll bring KK back with Richie and Glenn’s usual cameos and studio input (for now). Cheers

[Jeff]

No, JP was not voted "in" but given the equivalent of a participation award. I think you will see more and more of these in the coming years as the sham RRHOF deals with backlash and public discord over who is and isn't in. Kind of like the Pro Football Hall of Fame increasing their membership by adding special "veterans" groups to go in more than normal.

[Him]

Mostly what Jeff said. This is a work-around to magically induct bands/artists without formal input from the hallowed voters (not the fans, mind you).

As noted on other sites: 'The award for Musical Excellence is 'given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.' And as it continues: "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Chief Joel Peresman told the Plain Dealer the category 'gives us flexibility to dive into some things and recognize some people who might not ordinarily get recognized.'"

So why have formal voters? And why have fan votes for that matter? If special categories make everything all right, what's the point of a process? Crickets.

Oh wait. I am so, so, so wrong. The top five fan votes got in! My apologies. No, no apologies. That is just a convenient bit of mesmerism, suggesting (wrongly) that the fan vote had any real 'pull' in those acts getting in.

And who was the sixth highest fan vote? Judas Priest. But they needed to get in through the backdoor because the RaRHoF needs flexibility. Flexibility?!?!? Carly Simon and Lionel Ritchie were the seventh and eighth fan votes, respectively. They got in without flexibility and without any fan votes necessary either (if you consider that the fan vote is barely a fraction of a percent of the actual vote that is cast for formal inductees . . . at least as they explain it).

I think my post's point from a few days ago still stands. You know how bands normally get recognized, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Chief Joel Peresman? By their fans. You know how they don't normally get recognized? By those with little to no semblance of a fixed set of criteria by which to induct or not induct. And Mr. Peresman knows how to fix that too. How? You guessed it . . . make the fans think they had any say (because it is all about the fans). Then hand out inductions that aren't really true inductions (special categories exists in most awards formats to fix past wrongs and smooth over yelps and hollers that have gotten a bit too loud or annoying) to bands/artists, even if they placed higher in the fan ranking (because, again, it is really about the fans) than inductees that needed no special category or flexibility to be chosen by the voters (again, not the fan voters).

Confusing? Of course it is!

As I do each and every time this clunker of a trinket of a trifle comes up, I said my peace and I wrote my post(s). Now I am outta here! Thanks for listening.