Having covered the artists inducted into this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Performers category, I’ll now turn my attention to those selected for Musical Excellence.
I only recently learned the major difference between these two classifications, and it turns out it’s a big one: inductees in Musical Excellence are selected by a committee rather than being voted in by the Hall’s larger membership.
The last 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee in the Performers category is New York hip-hop band A Tribe Called Quest. Eligible since 2015, they were nominated in 2022 and 2023 before making the cut in this year’s class.
Releasing five celebrated albums during the 90s, Tribe was one of the most innovative and influential hip-hop acts, known for blending jazz into their rap compositions. The band split in 1998 but reunited in 2016 to record one last album, the critically-acclaimed We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service.
Ozzy Osbourne is the only two-time Hall of Famer in this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, having previously been inducted as part of Black Sabbath. Osbourne has been eligible as a solo artist since 2006 and this was his first nomination.
Given that he has found more success as a solo artist than he did with Sabbath, this seems like an easy call. The hard rock wing of the Rock Hall wouldn’t be complete without Ozzy.
Our next inductee into the latest class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is the funk/soul band Kool & the Gang, eligible since 1995 and nominated for the first time this year. Of the eight inducted members, only two are still alive to receive the honor.
I hate to see artists make it into the Hall posthumously, especially when there have been so many opportunities to add them. Kool & the Gang should have been a shoo-in 30 years ago when these guys were all alive.
Peter Frampton has been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 1998 but wasn’t nominated until this year. That long wait might be because his inclusion is based more on talent and influence than popularity.
His biggest hit was ‘I’m in You,’ which reached #2 for three weeks in 1977. I’d never heard that song before looking it up to write this blog entry. Same goes for his other top ten hits, ‘Show Me the Way’ and ‘Do You Feel Like We Do.’ I just haven’t encountered those songs over the years the way I have so many other 70s classics.
Meet Me In Montauk 