By Kal Weiss
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF) has introduced sixteen inductees for the class of 2024 spanning across four categories.
The inductees in the Performer category are Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & The Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, and A Tribe Called Quest.
In the Musical Influence category, there is Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Big Mama Thornton.
In the Musical Excellence category, there is Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick, and Norman Whitfield.
Suzanne de Passe is the inductee nominated for the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Seven nominees will have to wait to get nominated again, however; they were Mariah Carey, Jane’s Addiction, Sade, Sinead O’Connor, Oasis, Lenny Kravitz, and Eric B. and Rakim.
The RRHOF is no stranger to upsetting people with their snubs. Many fan favorites such as Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Joy Division, Wu-Tang Clan, OutKast, and John Coltrane have been snubbed for years. This year specifically, people were most surprised by Cher’s induction — on The Kelly Clarkson Show, she said, “I’m not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You know what? I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you. I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves.”
Cher had the right to say that. Out of the 719 inductees, only 61 have been women and 108 have been Black. Currently, Stevie Nicks is the only woman in the RRHOF.
In an interview with Newsweek, Ashley Maclin, a media correspondent for bossip.com, an entertainment-focused online magazine, said in response, “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just recently started to be more inclusive and diverse, and it shows that we still have a long way to go when it comes to women getting the deserved respect.”
In the past years, RRHOF has worked to include diversity in their nominations, considering that rock and roll is a genre that was founded by Black residents of the Southern United States. Despite the effort, it is still very obvious that there is an imbalance between marginalized groups and the winners of previous classes.
“Did they get it right?” is a loaded question in a case like this — there is a stacked history behind the genre of rock and roll itself and the creation of the RRHOF. To narrow it down to this year’s list, I think RRHOF did get it right this year. They are honoring some of the biggest rock and roll influences by letting them have the chance of getting such a prestigious award (alive or posthumous). Even being nominated is an action that shows that these people have changed the course of how rock and roll is perceived and performed. It gives a pedestal to the people whose creativity and musical prowess has changed the world.
If you want to see coverage of the RRHOF 2024 induction ceremony on Saturday, October 19, it will be streaming on Disney+, ABC, and Hulu.
