www.mydesert.comIn the baseball Hall of Fame, when one of the all-time greats is denied induction, there is a pretty clear reason why — gambling, steroids, etc. — but in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's much less clear why some of music's biggest stars are left out.
One in particular is Alice Cooper, a forefather of “shock rock” and whose hits “School's Out,” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” have become iconic anthems.
And then there's Tommy Thayer, guitarist for the rock band Kiss, which has its own collection of rock anthems such as “Rock and Roll All Night” and “Shout It Out Loud.”
“The true rock and roll bands, the ones who are still out there rocking, are still doing arenas for 40 years, you would think it would get some kind of recognition,” Cooper said. “What are you going to do?”
Kiss and Alice Cooper are not the only notable acts left out. Others include The Moody Blues, Steve Miller, and Deep Purple.
“And they will be (inducted), we will be,” Cooper said. “I don't know how it works. No one knows how it works. There's a lot of people who really should be in but aren't.”
Thayer said one thing that gets him is how some other acts that already have been inducted might not necessarily be true rock acts.
“It's ridiculous. How can you put Patty Smyth in between those three bands, or Madonna even?” Thayer said. “I love Madonna, but is that rock and roll?”
As a genre, rock and roll has been around since the 1940s. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in its 26th year.
From what Cooper and Thayer can gather, the hall of fame inductees are selected by a committee.
“It's not based on the people's choice, that's for sure,” Thayer said. “There's a club of guys back east that makes these decisions based on what their particular tastes are. I think they're missing out on something. It's laughable some of these bands are not in there. They're some of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time.”Read more HERE.
