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Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame out of touch with British Acts? · Mark and Pete

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  Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame out of tune with British
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  axe? Welcome to Mark and Pete.
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  And as oil prices surge in missiles fly, we pause to induct
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  musicians into the Hall of Fame, with a notable increase in
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  British artists doing so. Yes, this is Mark and Pete. 2
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  blokes with half an opinion. Now here's our first thought.
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  All musicians entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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  It's a fine honour and entertainment and great musical
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  acclaim. Unless you cannot sing despite
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  being a household name, you should be inducted instead to
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  the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame. Yes, when we look at our
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  favorite artists, how many of them really can sing?
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  But more importantly, what I'm really curious about Mr. Pete,
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  is why is it that British performers who I think are
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  really the best in the world don't always seem to get
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  inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
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  Now what has happened here is 6 British acts out of eight
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  inductees have been included. But you really the last time
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  this happened was back in 2021. Why is it that the British are
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  being overlooked? Well, the short answer is, well,
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  Rock'n'roll is really based in the United States, isn't it?
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  I mean, that's the short answer. That's why it's happening.
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  But British artists being overlooked also, it could be
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  something else. It could be what I would what
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  you might call a mild bigotry to get against Britain.
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  I mean it doesn't seem, it seems to be a rock'n'roll country,
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  does it? It's despite the success of some
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  artists, it's really the country of country, the country of
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  country homes and tweed wearing mustachioed figures.
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  What do you think? Well, I, I can see the images
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  you're painting here. I think it's of a bygone era,
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  but maybe you up to date. Yes, names that will get you
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  excited. Phil Collins.
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  Oh yes, always exciting. Yes, Iron Maiden, yes, Oasis,
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  Sharda and Joy Division stroke, New Order.
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  Yes. Now the fact of the matter is
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  many of you will know of these names and you might be thinking,
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  hold on, they've been around for decades.
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  How come the the hits taken so long?
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  Now, ironically, Phil Collins, another one of your heroes love
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  his music, but he's actually been inducted twice because of
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  course, he is part of a Genesis who were inducted in 2010.
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  So you know, the idea of being really sort of inducted twice is
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  a is a great accolade, but it seems to take very long, doesn't
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  it? And, and some of these artists
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  are some of the best selling artists in history.
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  So, you know, Phil Collins is certainly up there ranking
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  amongst the best and, and I, I must say, I do understand what
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  you're saying. I think rock'n'roll really
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  started in the United States. So I can understand that being
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  almost like the the centre of pop music excellence when you
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  think about how it rolled out from the 1950s onwards.
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  Now of course, the British acts have taken it to a different
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  level when we think of The Beatles and we think of, you
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  know, many other bands that have been around.
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  But I, I do, I do sort of sense though, that when this criteria
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  is, you know, how do you induct people?
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  It's, it's interesting, isn't it on, on the rating and the way
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  that they go about actually selecting people.
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  There's obviously a committee that does this, but I'm just
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  curious as why it takes so long to get inducted well.
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  No, no. Well, my understanding is, go at
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  me if I'm wrong here, that in order to be eligible at all, it
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  has to be 25 years after your first record, your first
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  release. Yes, Yeah.
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  But of course, that's still Collins.
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  It's been around a long time and had many, many hits.
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  Yes, it's all 25 years after your final release.
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  That's my point. Yes.
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  So still it's it seems to be taking a long time now.
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  I said it's in America, in a particular part of America,
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  isn't it in it's in Cleveland, right.
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  So they're a bit isolated from the world.
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  You know, they're in their own little world.
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  And even though you have artists who are successful from Britain,
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  who are successful worldwide, they may not be as successful in
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  America. I'm just throwing out things
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  here that may be may be the reason.
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  And so British acts can get overlooked, even though they're
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  more successful than acts that are in there, simply because
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  they're not as well known in the US, which is just just another
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  way of saying the point you made earlier, that it's very US
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  centric. And it also could be that
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  certain they're in a certain genre that isn't appreciated by
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  this group of people who are deciding what I don't.
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  Know is. Who are these people?
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  Who is making us? I'm going to tell you.
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  I ain't gonna right. OK, that's what we all.
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  That's what we probably want to know.
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  How? Does the voting actually work?
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  Well, the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are chosen
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  by a group of around 40 industry professionals described as
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  inductees, academics and journalists who whose passion,
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  expertise and livelihoods is all linked to music.
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  Now, once this list has been decided, more than 1200 people,
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  including every living inductees are sent to ballot and they can
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  then in turn vote for which nominees should be inducted.
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  So essentially it's like a committee.
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  Then you have the inductees, those who are still alive can
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  then decide who then gets invited to be part of the Rock
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  and Roll Hall of Fame. Now, I can see some challenges
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  with this. As you've sort of alluded to,
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  I'm not entirely sure who all of these academics and journalists
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  are. Now there is always going to be
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  a bit of a bias, isn't there Mr. Pete here, because not
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  everybody's going to like a particular genre or even your
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  style of music. And maybe on the other side, for
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  those who are already in ductees, there's going to be a
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  little bit of 1 upmanship surely going on in the voting.
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  I I think it'd be much better surely, if we asked the general
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  public to vote. Wouldn't Wouldn't that be a
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  fairer way of doing it? Well, you say the.
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  Well, what I think is there could at least be an element of
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  that with the, with the growth of, you know, shows such as The
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  X Factor, the use of public voting coupled with the use of
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  judges and put together has become rather widespread and
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  reasonably sophisticated. So I, I, I think that that it
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  would be a good idea to somehow change the way that they did it
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  if they did that and included as part of, you know, you could say
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  it's just as part of the deliberation, but you don't need
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  to let, just let the public decide.
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  You can have some way to give in to the public view and some way
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  to give in to these notable grandy's who you mentioned who
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  can make, who are making decisions.
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  But if you did that, it may well get more attention to the Hall
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  of Fame, make it more popular, and make it a bit more credible.
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  Well, what's interesting here is that the first British acts to
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  be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were of course The
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  Beatles, and they were inducted in 1988.
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  And of course obviously at the time, George Harrison, Ringo
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  Starr and Paul McCartney actually received the the award
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  and ceremony in honour of course, of John Lennon as well.
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  But what's interesting is for those who didn't bother turning
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  up so oddly enough, is that David Bowie gave no explanation
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  as to why he left it to Madonna to pick up his trophy when he
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  was awarded. But more amusingly, I think this
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  really sums up Britain in 2006. Johnny Lydon.
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  Yes. From the punk band, the Sex
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  Pistols sent a handwritten letter explaining why that they
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  would not be going. And he said we're sick, not your
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  monkey, and describing the museum as urine in wine.
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  Now I, I, I, I would have liked to apologise on behalf of all
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  other British musicians etcetera.
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  But it is interesting, isn't it, that you know how people react
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  to this. You might say that is the
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  rock'n'roll attitude that you'd expect.
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  Yes, but absolutely the public attitude, yes.
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  But others, others will see this as a as a great accolade.
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  I mean, I must admit that to be inducted into any kind of Hall
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  of Fame in your chosen profession, surely you'd want to
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  be showcased for generations to come.
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  What do you think? Well, it's either been showcased
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  or it looks like you've sold out and you're part of the machine.
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  It depends. Your background is who you are
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  and who your fans are and what they see of you, what they see
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  you as. To be part of a Hall of Fame in
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  Cleveland with Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll from the from rock
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  and rollers from America may seem to be something of a drag
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  to your public persona, depending on who you are.
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  Well, I think that without any doubt, when we look at
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  Rock'n'roll, the real Rock'n'roll is happening here on
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  Mark and Pete. Amen.