Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Becoming Racist?

COMMENTARY | In absorbing the class elected for the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one cannot help but notice that not one of the nominated African American groups or individual acts was elected in the Performer category.

As announced on Dec. 7 by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the 2012 class of performers includes Beastie Boys, Donovan, Guns N' Roses, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Small Faces/The Faces. All of the African American nominees (Donna Summer, Eric B. & Rakim, Rufus with Chaka Khan, the Spinners and War) were denied admission, although Freddie King did manage to sneak in by way of the Early Influences Category. (It is duly noted that Slash, the lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses, is a bi-racial artist from Britain).

Among those slated for induction in April 2012, Donovan, Guns N' Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were excellent choices. But should Beastie Boys, Laura Nyro and Small Faces/The Faces be inducted ahead of giants like Donna Summer and the Spinners? Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, the two most prominent members of Small Faces, are already in the RRHOF, with Stewart being inducted as a solo artist in 1994 and Wood as a member of the Rolling Stones in 1989, according to an article at HuffingtonPost.com. Do we really need to have Stewart and Wood inducted for a second time before Summer and the Spinners are even in once? Furthermore, other British Invasion bands still awaiting election, like the Moody Blues, were far more brilliant, creative, influential and successful than were Small Faces.

In honor of her outstanding songwriting, Nyro might have more appropriately been given the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performer. (That award instead went to Don Kirshner. Also gaining election were Tom Dowd, Glyn Johns and Cosimo Matssa; they were given the Award for Musical Excellence). Instead of electing Nyro as a performer, why not nominate and elect the Fifth Dimension, who brought to life many of Nyro's songs and were far superior performers to Nyro?

From its first class in 1986 thru 2002, the RRHOF had as its greatest strength the fact that it was always well integrated, as befit rock's multiracial origins. The 1986 Performer class included African Americans Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino and Little Richard, as well as white legends the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

However, beginning in 2003, things began to change. The RRHOF Performer class of 2003 consisted of The Righteous Brothers, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, AC/DC, Police and the Clash. For the first time ever, not one black act was elected. People were left to mutter, "Well, at least the Righteous Brothers sound black." The dwindling number of black performers elected showed up again in 2006 with the class of Black Sabbath, Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blondie. Of these only Miles Davis was black, and he came from the field of jazz and had very little, if any, ties to rock music or the streams feeding rock.

The 2008 class of Madonna, Dave Clark Five, John Cougar Mellencamp, the Ventures and Leonard Cohen, did not feature one black act in the Performer category. Inducted in the Performer category in 2010 were ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, The Hollies and The Stooges, with Cliff, a Jamaican, being the only one of African descent who was elected. The 2011 class of Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Tom Waits, had only one African American, that being Love. Then 2012 saw a complete shutout of blacks from the Performer category.

What has caused this terrible decline in the number of African Americans being elected to the RRHOF? Certainly there is no lack of qualified black artists. An explanation may be that in the 1970s and 1980s, both at radio stations and other media outlets, the music business began to splinter, diverge, divide and become more compartmentalized. For example, Michael Jackson was the first black artist to be played extensively on MTV, when his videos from the album "Thriller" were shown. MTV had been around for several years before "Thriller" came out, and there were many prominent black artists who were overlooked by the network despite doing music that fit MTV's format. It has been said that Michael Jackson was like Jackie Robinson because he broke the color barrier. But there should never have been a color barrier in rock music because rock music has black origins.

As a result of the artificial barriers that were constructed by MTV and other media outlets, many white kids grew up being absolutely clueless about what rock and roll music is and where it came. From the vantage point of that MTV generation, rock music was Led Zeppelin disciples doing heavy metal, along with new wave and punk rock acts. They had no real understanding that the first rock and roll songs were arguably "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino and "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston with Ike Turner's band. Young African Americans also were clueless about rock music, and many of them were heard to say, "Oh, rock music, that's white." So when these young people grew up and some of them became part of the 500-plus voters for the RRHOF, they had no frame of reference from which to elect worthy black artists. Therefore, it is not so much racism or bigotry that is closing the door on black artists; it is ignorance.

So which black artists should be voted into the RRHOF, hopefully as early as the 2013 class? Well, try these four for starters.

The Spinners - As one of the most successful groups of the 1970s, the Spinners classic lineup featured Henry Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobby Smith and their incomparable lead singer Philippe Wynne. Some of their greatest hits were "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "Mighty Love," "They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play)" and "The Rubberband Man." They also teamed up with Dionne Warwick for a Billboard number one smash "Then Came You." They also were a great small club act, where they demonstrated great dance steps, smooth precision and beautiful vocal harmony.

Donna Summer - Although known as "The Queen of Disco," Summer had many hits, such as "Hot Stuff," that were very rock oriented. She was also the first female artist to have four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart within a 13-month span: "MacArthur Park," "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and "No More Tears" (with Barbra Streisand). Her first U.S.-recorded album was produced by Quincy Jones and featured Bruce Springsteen and many other American rockers. She became the only artist who ever had three consecutive double-LPs hit number one.

Chubby Checker - Ernest Evans was named Chubby Checker as a take-off on Fats Domino, and he was as important to the early 1960s as Domino was to the late 1950s. Leading the dance music craze of the early 1960's, Checker made history with the single "The Twist." The same version of "The Twist" by the same artist went to the top of the charts in two separate runs, once in 1960 and again in 1962, a unique accomplishment. Thanks to the phenomenon Checker ushered in, there seemed to be a new dance step to learn every month such as the fly, the pony, the mashed potato, the limbo, the Popeye.

The 5th Dimension - The rock musical "Hair" broke new ground in the late 1960s on many fronts, and the best song to come from "Hair" was "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," as performed by The 5th Dimension. The song was number one for six weeks. The 5th Dimension followed up with another number one hit, "Wedding Bell Blues." The group of three men and two women defined the rocking California soul sound with such hits as "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Working on a Groovy Thing," as well as beautiful soul ballads like "If I Could Reach You" and "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All." Their take on the Association's "Never My Love" was one of the best cover songs ever done. Their other major hits included "Love's Lines," "Angles and Rhymes" and "Up, Up and Away," a song that was a multiple Grammy winner.

We don't need a quota system to get the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back to its integrated past or to ensure adequate black representation in a field of music African Americans were largely responsible for starting. We just need a better educated and more enlightened electorate.

Sources:

http://rockhall.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-inductees_n_1133250.html?ref=entertainment

The Billboard Book of Number One Hits 5th Edition, Fred Bronson, Billboard Books