Will Rock Hall inductions honor more women?
Nominations out Tuesday should honor Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Carole King and Sheryl Crow, as well as The Notorious B.I.G. and Motley Crue
When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces this year’s nominees for induction tomorrow, expect to see more women and female-fronted bands than usual.
After all, when Stevie Nicks and Janet Jackson call you out in public, as they did in their induction speeches this year, you have to show you’re listening. Right?
Nicks, who made history by becoming the first woman to be inducted into the Rock Hall twice, said she was determined she would not be the last. “The times are different,” she told the female artists in the audience at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “I’m going to give you all the directions and I’m going to do enough interviews to tell you what to do.”
The soft-spoken Jackson was more straightforward, saying, “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2020, please induct more women.”
According to music historian Evelyn McDonnell’s analysis, there are only 69 women among the Rock Hall’s 888 inductees – a staggeringly low 7.7 percent.
That discrepancy can’t be fixed in one year. (As recently as 2016, there were no women inducted at all.) But the timing is right to start the shift.
Artists are eligible for induction 25 years after their first significant release, so first-time nominees for this year’s class made their debuts in 1994. That means The Notorious B.I.G. is now eligible, as are Wilco, Oasis, Weezer and Sleater-Kinney. Biggie should be a lock for a nomination, though it will be interesting to see if he gets inducted in 2020 in Cleveland rather than in 2021 in Brooklyn, a few blocks from where he lived. (Even if he gets inducted in Cleveland, that wouldn’t stop producers from offering a tribute to him in Brooklyn.)
But because there aren’t several must-induct artists from 1994, there are plenty of spots open for artists from previous years. And this year, that should mean plenty of women.
Nicks shouldn’t be the only woman inducted twice for long. Tina Turner, already inducted for her work with ex-husband Ike, deserves to be honored for her solo work and, with a Broadway musical about her life opening soon, she is certainly on many minds. Carole King, already inducted as a songwriter with ex-husband Gerry Goffin, deserves to be in as a performer for her “Tapestry” album alone, not to mention the decades of work that followed.
This year should also be the year that Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo get nominated – and inducted. Not only are they celebrating their 40th anniversary as rockers with hits like “Heartbreaker” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” it would be great to see Giraldo get inducted in his hometown of Cleveland. (Parma, stand up!)
Sheryl Crow should also land a nomination. She should’ve landed a first-ballot nomination last year, when her “Tuesday Night Music Club” album made her eligible. But she has strengthened her argument with this year’s “Threads, which includes collaborations with plenty of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, including Eric Clapton, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Chuck D and Keith Richards.
Aside from Chaka Khan, who has been nominated five times either as a solo artist or with Rufus, there are plenty of other female artists who could also and some nominations this year, including Cyndi Lauper and The Go-Go’s, who have both seen recent Broadway success, and Eurythmics, whose Annie Lennox has been making some high-profile appearances lately, as well as Kate Bush and Bjork.
This year could also be the year for some long-snubbed artists like Motley Crue, buoyed by their biopic “The Dirt” this year, and Depeche Mode, whose live show and fans are the focus of the documentary “Spirits in the Forest” next month. Nominees from last year, including LL Cool J, Kraftwerk, MC5 and, especially Rage Against the Machine, could also easily return.
If I’m guessing, I’d say the nominees will be: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Bjork, Sheryl Crow, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Carole King, Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, Motley Crue, Willie Nelson, The Notorious B.I.G., Rage Against the Machine, Tina Turner. Of course, rock and roll (and its hall of fame) is nothing if not unpredictable. -– GLENN GAMBOA
PHOTO: Janet Jackson backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2019 induction ceremony with Janelle Monae. (Glenn Gamboa)