The Replacements may be back, but they’re still getting no respect: The Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 was revealed by Rolling Stone tonight, and the ‘Mats, while nominated back in October, didn’t make the cut. Instead, Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, KISS, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt will be inducted come April.
According to Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band will be given the Award for Musical Excellence, while Beatles manager Brian Epstein and original Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldgham each will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.
The induction ceremony is set for Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 10, and will feature tickets sold to the general public for the first time. The event will be broadcast on HBO in May as well.
Among the other nominees that didn’t make the cut this time around: LL Cool J, N.W.A., Deep Purple, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Meters, Link Wray, Yes and The Zombies.
To be eligible, artists must have released their first single or album in 1988 or earlier; of the 2014 nominees, Nirvana was the only act to be nominated in its first year of eligibility (the band released “Love Buzz” in 1988). Although they’ve been eligible for some time, this was the first nomination for both the ‘Mats and Gabriel as a solo artist, although he was inducted in 2010 as a member of Genesis.
I love the Mats, but it’s a bigger joke that Deep Purple still isn’t in.
So, Kiss and Hall & Oates had a deeper impact on rock history than The Smiths, Replacements, Joy Division, or The Cure? John Lydon was right, the Rock Hall is a piss stain.
Yep you got that right. Bands like Replacements and the Pixies will never get their due respect within corporate Rock n Roll Hall of Crap…their loss they have no sense of what bands should be honored with an accolade. Yea Kiss right :0( ….Boston is a band with much more quality and substance to their music than Kiss…there was just a gimmick with their makeup and costume.
So many great bands come to my mind like The Cult, Waterboys, Wire Train, Joy Division, Ministry. I prefer Alice in Chains and Soundgarden over Nirvana. I guess it’s an honor to not be honored by them.
While I understand your point about those bands, especially the Pixies and The Cure, marketability and ability to be a transcendent act is what puts Kiss in the Hall. They were one of the biggest bands and best live shows for a while. It is a damn shame that so many talented bands get overlooked, however, a lot of them just weren’t able to take that next step to superstardom. What I don’t like is that Hall and Oates got in over them. Nirvana does make sense though, as they were probably the quintessential 90’s band
i am so glad Rush is in so we are spared the comments by the angry nerds that would complain every single year
Glad to see Peter Gabriel get some recognition. However, Nirvana? Hall and Oates? The Mats and Deep Purple deserve it more.
Until the MC5 and Joy Division make the list, this is a faulty hall..
Everyone will get in eventually. I have no doubt about that. But the artists nominated and inducted have made undeniable impacts on music. If there’s a tragedy here it’s that N.W.A. didn’t get in. Equal impact as Nirvana, roughly the same era, but no one died in 1994 for the sympathy 20-Years-Ago-Today win. That’s not to diminish Nirvana at all. I love them. Eventually everyone is honored. NWA will get their due. Hard to say whether or not the Replacements will. But the Hall is also a popularity concert … more so since it became televised on HBO. Anyone who thinks otherwise should visit the Experience Music Project — that’s where the real music is honored for real.
Have to disagree with the statement “everyone will get in eventually”. Wenner and his flunkies are going to keep on nducting a few token, commercially successful college rock-related acts (U2, REM, Pistols, Ramones) to shut us up, but will ignore the likes of the Mats, Pixies, JD/NO, Smiths. Eventuaally, they will have a new crop of crapulent commercial acts to play with, and we will see the likes of Dave Matthews, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Linkin Park get in. Maybe Radiohead makes it in, but that’s about it.
NWA did not have the same impact as Nirvana – and Easy E died a little less than one year after Cobain died. So I guess they are a shoe-in NEXT year with that “sympathy” vote.
Nirvana changed everything. And that initial ripple is still influencing sounds we hear.
Well, I’m not the hugest fan of either act, but I liked them both in their time. I guess that gives me some objectivity on this point. Have to say that the facts do not support your statement that NWA had a lesser impact on music than Nirvana. NWA are the blueprint for everything that followed in hip hop. And although I’m not a fan of hip hop post-NWA, it is the dominant musical genre of the last 20 years. True, Nirvana had a monstrous impact on alternative music (with even worse results as far as what followed), but alternative music (if that is what is can still be called) has faded as a genre while hip-hop has done nothing but grow. Given that fact, I don’t see how NWA’s impact is less than Nirvana’s impact. Again, not crazy about either of these acts, and I don’t like the impact either had. But I’d have to say that NWA had at least as big an impact.
Oh yeah, and on the Easy-E point, I don’t think the two deaths are comparable. Your timetable alone shows that. Straight Outta Compton was released in, i think, ’88. Soon thereafter, Ice Cube left, and the band disbanded a few years later. By the time he died, in 1995, Easy E was nowhere near the height of his career (you’ll recall Dr. Dre going after him on the Chronic more than two years earlier). By contrast, Cobain died at the zenith of Grunge. And he did so in a way that immortalized him (cuz people think suicide is deep for reasons I’ll never get). Anyway, no disrespect intended, but you would have to agree that the deaths are not comparable in terms of how the respective deaths influenced people’s opinions about the band. Let’s face it, it’s not like hip hop culture was ready in 1995 to embrace a fading star who died from AIDS. Don’t believe me? Ok, here: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.23995/title.bone-thugs-n-harmony-alleges-that-eazy-e-s-cause-of-death-hurt-his-legacy
Still wondering when the inventors (with Bowie) of “Alternative” make it in…ROXY MUSIC!
Glad Replacements didn’t get in. Outcasts. Rock and Roll Hall of Infamy-Yes.
Has anyone here actually been to the rock and roll hall of fame? They aren’t exactly trying to attract fans of The Replacements or The Pixies. Broad appeal drives visitors #s, not obscurity.
And no slagging Hall & Oates, they were amazing!
Who gives a shit? Neither the Replacements nor their fans need validation from anybody (or any joke “institution” like the HOF). Really…is Big Star gonna end up in there? Dinosaur? Who gives a shit?
Agreed. If the Mats are listening, the best revenge here would be to play shows in Los Angeles in 2014. That would show ’em — and make me extremely happy.
Beat me to it.
Agreed 100%.
Self serving jerk off for those people.
Is Deep Purple or any other “great” band any less great b/c they are not in the RRHOF ?
Tommy said so…so what?
Linda Rondstadt? Hall & Oates? Are you fucking kidding me? What did they ever contribute except Horrible Horrible music? If the Mats ever do get in (I doubt it :), they should follow the lead of the Sex Pistols and tell the Hall of Shame to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
One simply cannot make a coherent case for the Replacements ahead of Devo, Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Depeche Mode (none of whom have even been *nominated*), the Cure or Kraftwerk. Then again, very little about the Replacements could be described as coherent, and I suspect they’d like it that way.
Could not agree more. Considering the immense influence Kraftwerk had, it’s nothing short of shocking that they’ve been snubbed. But at the same time, Kraftwerk don’t pander to the music establishment’s gatekeepers. Kraftwerk have always done things their way, and on their own terms. The Hall tends to frown on acts like that. Kraftwerk are the very antithesis of Rock & Roll. Yes….. even more so than ABBA, Madonna, Donna Summer, and all the rap groups already inducted.
Besides on the off chance that Kraftwerk ever did get inducted, Ralf would likely send one of the robots to accept the award. (You’ve gotta understand how Kraftwerk operates to truly get that) Kraftwerk are in the enviable position of not needing to have the approval and acceptance of the people who make the decisions on the induction/selection committee. Talk to Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, The Smiths, OMD, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Ultravox, The Pixies, and any other old-school alternative band, and they probably all feel the same way.
There’s likely more honor in NOT being inducted at this point than there is in getting in.
And I agree with what was said above……. no dissin Hall & Oates! Like KISS, they deserve to be honored. And while I think Nirvana got this year’s popularity vote (much like U2, REM, and Madonna did), even they deserve to be enshrined. This is probably the most solid class in a very long time.
Don’t fret about The Replacements. They’ll get in. Of all the ‘college’ bands, they have the best chance. The Smiths & The Cure will get in within the next 5-7 years. Pixies too. But none of the synth-based acts will get in before the next 10 years. Moby will likely get inducted before Kraftwerk. No disrespect to Mr. Hall, but THAT would be a crime.
I have been to the Rock Hall and there saw two pieces of Replacements memorabilia, including a hand-written early draft by Paul of the lyrics for “Here Comes a Regular,” (http://paulwesterberg.com/fame.htm) so it is blatantly inaccurate to say they get no respect. Just not the ultimate honor.
And once again, they overlook TRIUMPH. Bastards!
Well if I needed my choice of music to be validated by the rock establishment then my collection would be quite limited and lack any eclectic quality. Any creative enterprise is a purely subjective activity and I just don’t get how you can justify such arbitary choices – whether it’s music, art or literature. I don’t really care who is or isn’t ‘in’ as there are plenty of bands who get overlooked by those who say they champion the alternative.
This Rock Hall Of Farce gets more ridiculous every year, i respect Nirvana for the impact they had in the early 90s but i’ve never liked them and surely bands like the Cure, New Order and Depeche Mode should be inducted first..? They lay the foundation for what was considered alternative rock in the 90s. I’ll never understand this. I suppose next year all those above mentioned bands will be snubbed yet again for Oasis or somebody..
Nirvana deserves to get in just for killing hair bands and the “heavy metal” love ballad. They led a movement that changed rock and roll and allowed a lot of bands to get exposure that never had it before.
Yes, maybe the Mats don’t exactly ‘fit’ with the drivel that gets into the HOF these days. But they’re influence CANNOT continue to be ignored.
Nirvana gets in this year. Did everyone forget that Cobain’s biggest influence was the Mats? He named ‘Nevermind’ after one of their songs for christ sake. Now that the 90’s bands are starting to be on the ballot, you can’t just ignore their biggest influence. To name a few: Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Green Day…
Maybe Paul and the guys want nothing to do with the HOF, but they deserve all the respect and admiration on the fucking planet!!!!
To think of a “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” that does not include Link Wray already is egregious. How he has been neglected over all of these years is mind-boggling. The Zombies deserve to get in for Odessey and Oracle (better than Pet Sounds) alone. And The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is THE most important American electric blues band of the 1960s. As for the ‘Mats, they deserve to be inducted before Nirvana, but the whole thing has turned into a popularity contest, hence KISS getting in before New York Dolls. Also, where the hell is MC5? Hawkwind? King Crimson? Captain Beefheart? John Mayall? Gram Parsons? Can? NEU!? Kraftwerk? Amon Duul II? Fairport Convention? Soft Machine? Tim Buckley? Big Star? And the plethora of blues artists?