Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond will get Jon Bream's Hall of Fame vote.
Ah, progress for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe. Neil Diamond and Alice Cooper finally made the ballot for induction after years of eligibility. Same for Donovan, Dr. John and Tom Waits. Bon Jovi are newbie nominees, too, in their second year of eligibility. (An artist is eligible 25 years after the release of its first recording.). I'm not voting for Bon Jovi, the populist choice. They don't deserve to get in on their first time on the ballot. Heck, they don't belong in the Hall at all – too derivative, too safe, too few significant songs. Kiss warrants induction. They finally showed up on the ballot last year for the first time but didn't even merit a nomination this year by the secretive Hall nominating committee, which never reveals how it operates. And what about Rush, Jimmy Buffett, Steve Miller Band, the Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates or even Frank Sinatra? But I digress. That's easy to do with all the oversights and misguided moves by the Rock Hall. Let's evaluate this year's 15 nominees: I'm definitely voting for Neil Diamond (the hook master who not only wrote and recorded some of the catchiest ear worms in pop history but has connected, for four-plus decades, with his live crowds the way Springsteen, Bono and Prince do with theirs); Alice Cooper (who invented a new kind of rock theater and contributed some classic songs) Tom Waits (a marvelously original and offbeat artist who also wrote some great pop ditties); and the Beastie Boys (who fought for their right to invent their own creative brand of hip-hop) . Solid cases can be made for disco queen Donna Summer, a great voice with a variety of hits, and LL Cool J, one of the most enduringly successful hip-hop stars. But they won't get my vote. Chic had a few big disco hits but they don't deserve to be in the hall anymore than Chicago, which isn't on the ballot. I dig Dr. John and his New Orleans voodoo vibe, and I dearly loved the J. Geils Band and their greasy R&B party music but neither is hall of fame caliber. Pop singer Laura Nyro was a special songwriter but less influential than, say, the Replacements, who've never been nominated. (I know that's comparing apples and oranges but this is the Popular Music Hall of Fame. And don't get me started on how Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard should join Hank Williams and Johnny Cash in the Rock Hall.) Other repeat nominees – 1950s two-hit wonder Chuck Willis, '60s girl-group siren Darlene Love and '60s R&B star Joe Tex-- are minor figures in vintage rock, not hall of famers. Ditto for first-time nominee Donovan, the 1960s acid folkie. Even though voters are allowed to rank up to eight nominees, I'll probably vote for only four this year. Which of the nominees do you think deserves induction?
