Our next 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is unquestionably a pop culture legend. Cher has been eligible for inclusion in the Hall since 1991 and yet, remarkably, was nominated for the first time this year.
That’s despite being the only solo artist in history to have #1 hits (on any Billboard chart) in each of the last seven decades. Only The Rolling Stones have matched that feat, and as Cher said, “it took four of them to be one of [her].”
This week marks the fifth presidential election since I launched Meet Me in Montauk, a number that frankly surprised me.
I looked back to see how I handled the other four and was shocked to see that I largely ignored them. Only once did I program blog content related to Election Day.
That was in 2016.
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.’
Meet Me In Montauk 