HALL OF FEH

Oh, yippee, another Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony is over. This annual event, conducted since 1986, is by nature now less about honoring the major pioneers and influential forces in rock music, as most of them have long since been inducted. It is more about the politics of the B- and C- and Z-list performers left to consider, and an excuse for a painful sloppy jam session. Ick.

You have to have been around in rock for 25 years to get a HOF nod, but as the pool of cool grows smaller, you get some really, really bizarre inductees. ABBA next to Iggy Pop? Come ON! You might as well have the Trolololol dude inducted with Little Richard or something. This idea that began with good intent -- to honor the performers who made rock n' roll a force of nature -- ended up corrupted by money and personal politics. Surprise, surprise, huh, but still a real shame. The HOF stumbled from its original vision and now has to suffer through the rest of its days fretting about the ramifications over whether or not to put Foreigner or Chicago on the induction ballot.

If you want to be about popularity, sales, and name recognition, then BE THAT. If you want to genuinely and critically examine the importance and influence of artists and others in the industry who truly brought something unique and valuable into rock music, then BE THAT. It's when you mix it up, like the HOF has certainly done, that you lose any credibility your "honor" has. I wouldn't know what the hell to think if I were an inductee. "Um...thanks?"

I don't think there's anything to be done about it now. It should have been, always, fewer nominees, input from the public along with the industry elite that make the choices, not based on what acts will make a good annual show for the rich museum donors, with the nerve to say, "Yeah, this year we won't be having a vote or a show. We're still thinking, and the jury is still out on a lot of these people. That doesn't mean they suck or that you shouldn't like them or that WE don't like them. We are just trying to make this all MEAN something."

Would the museum have financially survived like that? Maybe not. Unless you came up with some donors with similar integrity, lack of ego, and responsibility to future generations of music fans.

ABBA. God.