This next 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee strikes me as exactly the kind of artist for whom the Rock Hall was invented in the first place.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an influential electric guitar player/singer and one of the early pioneers of rock music, bridging from gospel into early R&B and serving as an inspiration for Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and other acts who are often credited with the birth of rock-n-roll.
It took Nina Simone 35 years from her initital eligibility in 1983 to enter the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She made it in the first time she was nominated.
Simone’s long wait has nothing to do with her talent or influence — she is without question one of music’s greatest legends — but rather the Rock Hall’s evolving concept of “rock & roll.” Over time, the Hall has strayed from traditional definitions of the genre to make room for artists of all kinds.
Dire Straits is the next inductee from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2018. The English blues rock band first became eligible for inclusion in 2003 but was nominated for the first time last year.
The band was remarkably consistent during their 13-year life span. They released six studio albums between 1978 and 1991, every one of them going platinum in their native UK and all but two going platinum in the U.S. (those two went gold).
Four months ago I wrote a series of posts about the latest inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I considered the idea of covering each new slate of entries working backward through the years.
This week, I’m taking my own advice and posting about the six inductees into the Rock Hall Class of 2018.
First up (alphabetically) is Bon Jovi.
Of all of this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, The Zombies have waited the longest for the honor. They first became eligible 30 years ago and were previously nominated in 2014, 2017 and 2018 before finally making the cut.
The delay is probably due to the fact that The Zombies’ influence is essentially limited to one album and a few singles. The band split up after just a couple of years and two studio album releases in the mid 60s (before reuniting in the 2000s).
Meet Me In Montauk 