In addition to inducting artists into the Performers category, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors musical acts under the Musical Excellence and Early Influences banners. I’m not sure what differentiates Musical Excellence inductees from Performers.
The definitions on the Rock Hall’s site say that the former group “have had a dramatic impact on music” while the latter have “changed the course of rock & roll,” but I don’t think every “Performer” in the Hall satisfies that lofty criteria.
The final performer inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022 is the great songwriter and performer Carly Simon. Simon has been eligible for Hall inclusion since 1997 but was nominated for the first time last year.
Simon made it into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, and is certainly among the best of her generation in that regard, but she is equally deserving of recognition as a performer. She has released dozens of albums, several going platinum, and has nine top 20 hits under her belt. Her sole #1 release, ‘You’re So Vain,’ is among the most iconic American pop songs.
I think there’s little debate over whether Lionel Richie belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but a better question is whether he should have made it as a member of the Commodores before (or instead of) making it as a solo artist.
To be fair, Richie has had a stellar solo career: five #1 hits, another eight in the top 10, two multi-platinum albums, one diamond album, and all of that in the course of just six years. He also had a beautiful blind woman create a photorealistic sculpture of his head in the oddly creepy video for ‘Hello.’
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has had a spotty reputation when it comes to inducting women. Only 25 solo women have been inducted into the Hall as performers since its 1986 inception. The Hall has been making up for that oversight in recent years, with 10 of those coming in the last five years.
Last year saw the induction of Pat Benatar, the artist responsible for such hits as ‘Love is a Battlefield,’ ‘Hit Me with Your Best Shot,’ and ‘We Belong.’ Interestingly, Benatar was added to the Hall alongside her longtime husband and guitarist, Neil Giraldo, so she may not qualify as a “solo” inductee even though all of her albums were released under her name alone.
Getting back to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022, we arrive at a musical legend whose excellence nobody can deny: Dolly Parton. Parton is the first female country artist inducted into the Hall.
Parton herself questioned whether she belonged in the Rock Hall and initially declined the nomination, stating that she wasn’t “worthy” of the honor. That’s not how the admission process works, however, so she made it on the ballot whether she wanted to or not. Eventually she embraced the honor and performed, with typical charm and humility, at the induction ceremony.
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