The 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2017 nominees a few months ago, a long list that included Journey, ELO, Pearl Jam, Steppenwolf, The Cars, Yes, The Zombies and J. Geils. We’ve all seen lists of great band or artists that have been snubbed this far, but what about a list of Hall of Fame inductees that we think may not be so deserving…
ABBA was inducted in 2010, leaving all of us scratching our heads. Okay, the band from Stockholm, Sweden has been around for 40 years, selling 400 million records, but ROCK? ABBA is as much rock as Wayne Newton is a soul singer. ABBA never had songs on the rock charts, nor any songs played by rock stations. A great band, we’re just not sure they belong in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Donna Summer was inducted into the Hall in 2013, and we’re curious why a disco star would be allowed into the Hall. It’s safe to say that she contributed a great deal to music, again we’re not sure about her contributions to Rock N’ Roll.
Laura Nyro was admitted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 2012, and although her bright moments were impressive, it’s hard to support the decision to admit her into the hall. Laura did write many of the 5th Dimension songs in the 60s and early 70s, but her career was singly not influential nor successful enough to merit such an accomplishment. Laura has the good fortune of having a record company spend millions of dollars in marketing to get her to the top of the charts, but her overall acceptance in the music world never materialized. It’s hard to believe 5 out of 10 contemporary music critics at that time would even remember her.
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