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Rush's snubbing by the Rock Hall discussed in recent article

Tue, Mar 13, 2007@7:27AM | comments removed/disabled

[Dispute rocks the hall]

My hometown NBC station, WKYC, had an article up yesterday discussing the controversy around this year's inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This year's inductees include R.E.M, The Ronettes, Van Halen, Patti Smith and Grandmaster Flash. The induction ceremony took place last night and was broadcast live for the first time. The article not only discusses this year's crop of inductees but goes on to talk about the many artists, such as Rush, that have been overlooked by the Rock Hall over the years and questions the criteria for induction. It's a very good article. Here's the bit about Rush:

... While not a fan of pioneering prog and glam acts snubbed by the hall, New York writer Roger Wade considers their importance and influence undeniable "to all but the most hard-headed music history revisionists."

He's referring to the hall's nominating committee members, "who are finally able to right the wrongs made by the buying public," he suggests with undisguised sarcasm.

"They reflect rock history through their own prism of 'how it should have been.' I've never owned a Rush album, and I've long harbored an actual dislike for both Kiss and its army. . As both a musician and an avid record buyer starting in the early '80s, my allegiances were firmly in the punk, new wave, and alternative camps and against the 'dinosaur rock' of Rush and Kiss, but even I'm willing to admit both were wildly popular and hugely influential among fans as well as my fellow musicians."

The Kiss-off and other examples of the hall's snobbery hurt rather than enhance its credibility, he says.

"This is supposed to be a hall of fame, and denying both the fame and influence of Rush and Kiss makes the institution look ridiculous," says Wade, 42. "If they renamed the place Rock and Roll Hall of Artists You Should Have Liked More Than the Ones You Actually Did, I would not begrudge them these exclusions." ...

Well said. Rush, long snubbed by the Hall, recently made the Rock Hall's Definitive 200 album list; 2112 was #198 on the list.

Thanks to reader D for the pointing me to the article.

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