gold star for USAHOF

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Didn’t we just write this?

We did, but The Songwriters Hall of Fame has announced that they will be postponing their induction for the Class of 2020 until 2021, specifically on June 10, 2021 in New York City. The announcement came today from SHOF Chairman, Nile Rodgers.

The Class of 2020 comprises Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics), The Isley Brothers, Steve Miller, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (The Neptunes), Rick Nowels, William Stevenson, Paul Williams and Jody Gerson.

It is not known at this time whether there will be an additional class in 2021, or whether that will be cancelled in its own right to focus on this group.

This is kind of our Christmas morning.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced their 2017 Class, and let’s get right to it.

Pearl Jam, enters on their first year of eligibility and did this surprise anyone at all?  When you think of what the RRHOF is looking for in an inductee they met every criteria and the discussion to enter the Cleveland probably didn’t even exist.  They didn’t have to debate it all.

Tupac also joins as a first ballot inductee.  No word yet as to whether his hologram will be making an appearance at the ceremony, but like Pearl Jam this was largely expected.

Journey, who won the fan vote, also got in on their first nomination, though they have been long eligible.  This is the fourth year in a row where the winner of the fan vote gained entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Progressive Rock finally saw Yes get in after twenty plus years of eligibility.  Arguably, this was of the biggest bands of their genre who had yet to get in.

The Electric Light Orchestra will also be inducted.  Jeff Lynne has long been one of the most respected musicians in the industry and for what it is worth, now all of the Wilburys are Hall of Famers.

The surprise inductee was Joan Baez, who also got in on her first nomination, albeit after thirty-four years of eligibility.  Baez was a folk icon, and she is the lone female to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

Perhaps the biggest relief (in our eyes) is that Chic’s Nile Rodgers will be entering the Hall as the recipient of the Award for Musical Excellence.  Chic had been nominated annually without getting in, and this is likely going to put an end to that debacle. 

Those not selected were Depeche Mode, Janet Jackson, Bad Brains, Jane’s Addiction, The Cars, Chic, The J. Geils Band, Kraftwerk, MC5, Steppenwolf, The Zombies, Joe Tex and Chaka Khan.

We will have a deeper look at this later in the week and we will also begin work on reworking our Notinhalloffame.com Rock and Roll list in late January.
We have been waiting a long time to hear a comment from this man.

In a recent interview in Japan, Rodgers had this to say:



“I honestly, honestly don’t get weird about it.  I can’t figure out what the criterion is. It’s actually sort of funny.

If it’s not based on statistics then it’s just an opinion poll deciding this person’s cooler than that person.  But if a hall of fame is something that says this person had 20 gold records or influenced this amount of people, I’ve sold more records than almost anyone in there. I’ve written more hit records than almost everybody in the Hall of Fame. Come on, guys!

Most people don’t know I wrote We are Family, or I’m Coming Out – they don’t know that. They just go oh, it’s Sister Sledge, or oh it’s Diana Ross.

When David Bowie walked into my bedroom and played his version of Let’s Dance, it didn’t sound anything like the one everybody knows and loves. It was sort of like a folk song. Most of the things I have done, nobody knows that I did them.”


It is interesting that Rodgers did not speak so much of the band’s accomplishments but rather that of his own.  As many of you know, Chic has been nominated for a tenth time, but is their any real reason to think that this will be their breakthrough year?

Rodgers did do everything he said, and most recently collaborated with Daft Punk in “Get Lucky”, an international smash. 

Rodgers has been a successful performer, songwriter and producer and would be a candidate for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Award for Musical Excellence (which was won last year by Ringo Starr) which could go to Rodgers, or a performer like Todd Rundgren and/or Brian Eno, who fits into the same category as Rodgers. 

At least if they did that, we would probably be spared the annual refusal of the Hall to induct Chic, which lets be honest, is mostly nominated because of Nile Rodgers.







196. Chic

If any artist associated with Disco gets into the Hall next, the current top contender would have to be Chic. Ironically, if people wanted to make the argument that they aren’t a Disco band, a few of us at NIHOF would not completely disagree.