Is it still Rock and Roll when Mary J. Blige and Kool & The Gang are being inducted into the Hall?
The simple answer is yes.
But maybe it's not so simple. Since the beginning, the Hall has included artists you wouldn't necessarily call "Rock and Roll". So, why are they in a Hall that's only supposed to be "Rockin"?
What does "Rock & Roll" mean?
That back-beat? Those fast guitars? That jamming bass line? Super cool lead singers full of swagger? Outrageous behavior? Of course! All of those things and more!
I don't think anyone could deny that Kool & The Gang songs have jamming bass lines. Are you going to try to tell me that Mary J. Blige doesn't have swagger? A Tribe Called Quest certainly qualifies under the outrageous behavior category.
But even though that would be enough to consider them for the Hall, that still doesn't make them "Rock & Roll".
So why are they in? Please understand that no one thinks they don't deserve to be in a place where they are recognized for their contribution to music. Every one of the inductees earned it, as they do every year. Maybe there is a Hip Hop & R&B Hall of Fame somewhere and they definitely will be in that, but they deserve to be in this Hall too.
And here's why...
The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame doesn't just celebrate artists in what is traditionally called "Rock & Roll". In this case, R&R is used as an umbrella term for all popular music genres. Well, not ALL genres. It really was a term that rebelled against what had been the popular music ever since music was enjoyed by the masses. For the sake of this discussion, we're going to be making reference to music from about 1900 on. This is when personal music really got a hold on folks. Never before could someone own their favorite songs just by going down to the store and buying a phonograph recording. It was, in the early days, mainly for the wealthy. So it was mostly what you'd expect. A lot of Jazz (including Ragtime), some country and western, blues, folk and gospel. In the 20's and 30's Big Band era made Swing popular. Trinidadian calypso, Argentinian tango, Dominican merengue, and other styles also influenced American popular music. Up until R&R was born, popular music was dominated by these styles. And even though we may be fond of some of those songs and styles, Rock & Roll they are not. Remember, we'd never heard anything like it before. It wasn't Billie Holiday. It wasn't Eddie Cantor. It wasn't Glenn Miller. Nor was it Bing, Frank or Lena. It was, in fact, directly opposed to that whole regime. It was about rebellion, flipping the bird to the status quo and turning everything on it's head. Then, the great Les Paul teamed up with the Gibson guitar company and released the first real electric guitar -THE instrument that would become a symbol for Rock perhaps more than any other - in 1952. Ike Turner (yes, THAT Ike Turner) released "Rocket 88" in the previous year. That song is widely considered to be the first "Rock and Roll" record. So R&R was, at first, a very specific style of music and still is. But it was the idea of R&R that made it what it is. The idea was that "this is not your parents' music". So it was about music that was anything but what older people were listening to. For newly realized rebels, it was a way to say "I'm not my parents! I don't want or have to listen to their music!" So when someone finally decided we needed to recognize how different it was from what came before, the Hall was first considered. It was anything but Jazz, swing, blues, etc. And it was the first style of music that was really championed by youth.
To sum up: The "Rock and Roll" in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame is not really about Rock and Roll music. It's more about the attitude of the music that rebelled against the establishment. Against Bing, Frank, and Lena. Not that I have anything against those three legendary performers...they just don't rock.
So that's why it's called The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and not The Anything That's Not What My Parents Listened To Hall Of Fame. You could barely fit that onto a t-shirt!
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honors this year’s Inductees:
Mary J. Blige
Cher
Dave Matthews Band
Foreigner
Peter Frampton
Kool & the Gang
Ozzy Osbourne
A Tribe Called Quest
Along with Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Big Mama Thornton for Musical Influence, and Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick, and Norman Whitfield for Musical Excellence, as well as Suzanne De Passe for the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Some of the presenters and performers who attended:
Busta Rhymes
Chuck D
Dr. Dre
Demi Lovato
Dua Lipa
Ella Mai
James Taylor
Jelly Roll
Julia Roberts
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney
Lucky Daye
Mac McAnally
Method Man
Roger Daltrey
Sammy Hagar
Slash
The Roots
“Every year the biggest names in music, film, and culture step onto the stage at our ceremony to pay tribute to the iconic inductees whose music has defined generations”, said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “These are once-in-a-lifetime moments created that will be remembered forever.”
The Induction Ceremony was streamed live coast to coast on Disney+ and is now available to stream as well. ABC will air a primetime special, “2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony,” featuring performance highlights and standout moments on WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1, 2025 (8:00-11:00 p.m. EST), available the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
For more information on the 39th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, visit rockhall.com.
