The new Rock and Roll HOF Inductees -

Lots of bad names, insults, characterizations, etc have been lobbed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame over the years, and the vast majority are completely justified.  Their blatant disregard for anything not deemed worthy by the Rolling Stone top brass was beyond reproach.  The fact that entire genres like Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, any punk band formed after 1977, were generally frowned upon was really, really insulting.

In the past few years however, things begun to change.   In 2012, the process of selecting who was inducted was transferred from the stuffed shirts at Rolling Stone and other industry types the people who matter most - the fans. The benefits were instant as the one and only Rush were finally inducted.  While still not perfect, it's at least taken a step in the right direction. 

The class of 2016 is another positive sign of this change.  Thanks to the fans, some extremely influential bands who have been on the outside looking in for many years are finally getting their getting that recognition.  One can still say that the R and R HOF is still a bit of a farce, but at least they're trying.  

Cheap Trick:  Rockford's finest sons - Cheap Trick mastered the art of hard edge power pop in the seventies and 80's and influenced everyone from Big Black to Smashing Pumpkins to Foo Fighters. Rick Nielsen may be one of the most under appreciated songwriters of all time.   Bonus points - they only wrote Surrender - one of the greatest songs ever.

Deep Purple: Save for Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, no other band had an influence on heavy metal than Deep Purple.  Only a couple of million bands mimicked Ian Gillan's soaring vocal style and Richie Blackmore's blistering, over the top guitar solos.  And we haven't even begun to discuss the millions of air guitarists that "Smoke on the Water" has spawned over the past four decades.



NWA:  "You're about with witness the strength of street knowledge" - the opening line that changed everything.  NWA brought the brutalities of life in Compton, CA to the masses with their epic, no holds barred, 1988 album Straight Outta Compton.  The rhymes of Easy E, Ice Cube and MC Ren backed by Dr. Dre's beats enlightened many and enraged many others.  Hip hop, and rock music in general, was never the same after Straight Outta Compton.



Chicago:  Once you look past their insanely sterile, over produced, dull output that has dominated the latter part of their career, Chicago's very own was actually once a pretty amazing band.  Over the course of their first 5 or 6 albums, they seamlessly mixed jazz, rock, and blues into a very, very combustable mix.  For that, this is a well earned entry.  As for everything else, not so much



And while on the topic, here are some suggestions for future R and R HOF entries while I have the podium:

Yes
Roxy Music
King Crimson
Iron Maiden
Motorhead
Judas Priest
Black Flag
Minor Threat
The Descendents
The Smiths
The Cure
The Replacements
Big Star
Television
A Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
Brian Eno
Kraftwerk

Just sayin!!