Our final performer inductee into the 2014 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a singer-songwriter who would have made it in much sooner if his music was the only consideration.
Eligible for induction since 1992, Cat Stevens waited until 2006 to first appear on a ballot, then had a second chance in 2014, when he finally made it in.
Here’s a song from Satisfied, the 2009 debut solo album by my second favorite Pistol Annie, Ashley Monroe.
I first discovered Monroe through her involvement in the Annies, a trio that also includes Angaleena Presley and my beloved Miranda Lambert. I picked up Monroe’s second and third albums, both excellent, before looping back around to this one.
‘Men and Women’ is the final track on INXS’ 1992 album Welcome to Wherever You Are. This was the band’s fifth straight Platinum album in the United States (and their last).
The album fared a little bit worse in the band’s native Australia, where it achieved Gold status and broke a streak of five straight Platinum albums there.
Nirvana made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, but it took quite a bit longer for another legend in the 2014 class.
Linda Ronstadt, the “Queen of Rock,” successful performer of rock, pop, country, Latin and who knows what other genres, had to wait 19 years after her first year of eligibility before finally entering the Hall. She got in the first time she was a finalist, years after contemporaries such as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and The Eagles made it in.
Nirvana has made a couple of recent appearances on the blog, during my Seattle vacation week and my look at the albums of 1994, and it’s no surprise to see them as inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The Seattle grunge band made it into the Hall in their first year of eligibility, despite releasing only three studio albums and one live recording between 1989 and 1994. Their musical influence, and the tragic rock star status of frontman Kurt Cobain, made them shoo-ins for admission.
Meet Me In Montauk 