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Song of the Day #5,487: ‘On the Road Again’ – Willie Nelson

Before I get to today’s featured artist, allow me to wish a very happy 80th birthday to my father! It’s quite a milestone for a man who has lived an extraordinary life while making the lives of those around him richer as well.

Fate has conspired to serve up an appropriate subject for today’s song in Mr. Willie Nelson, who turned 90 this past April. Willie has a decade on my dad, and I can’t say they are very much alike, but I’m happy to celebrate one legendary figure while writing about another one.

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Song of the Day #5,486: ‘Father Figure’ – George Michael

The next member of the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, George Michael, has been eligible for inclusion since 2012 but went un-nominated until this year.

Michael will be inducted as a solo performer, meaning his contributions with Wham! will go unrecognized. Wham! could theoretically be inducted separately, and have been eligible since 2008, but that seems highly unlikely now that Michael is entering the Hall. After all, the pop duo released only three albums during their short run.

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Song of the Day #5,485: ‘Gossip Folks’ – Missy Elliott feat. Ludacris

Hip-hop artists have been a part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 broke that ceiling in 2007. Nine other rap artists have been inducted since then, but it wasn’t until this year that a female hip-hop act made the cut. Appropriately, the woman to break that ground is Missy Elliott, entering the Hall in her first year of eligibility.

Going by the criteria I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Elliott is a no-brainer for inclusion in the Hall. Unless you believe hip-hop has no place in the institution whatsoever — an argument that clearly isn’t accepted by the Hall itself — I can’t see a case against inviting her.

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Song of the Day #5,484: ‘My Favorite Mistake’ – Sheryl Crow

Our next inductee into the 2023 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow. Crow was first eligible for the Hall in 2019 and went un-nominated until this year.

Crow is a good case study for a discussion about Hall of Fame worthiness. Compelling cases can be made that she is a no-brainer or that she doesn’t belong at all.

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Song of the Day #5,483: ‘Hounds of Love’ – Kate Bush

It’s been awhile since I last wrote about a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class — the class of 2013 in February, to be exact. My plan with the Hall of Fame series is to cover all of the inductee classes back to the first one in 1983.

Before I move on to the class of 2012, however, I need to acknowledge the newest Rock Hall inductees from 2022 and 2023. Over the next three weeks, I’ll feature the most recent 14 artists inducted into the Hall in the Performers category.

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