The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame isn't broken — it's evolving
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Long live the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Photo: Duane Prokop/Getty Images for CARE USA
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will announce its nominees for the class of 2026 in the coming weeks, but not before the museum's perceived shortcomings have entered the spotlight once again.
Why it matters: The Rock Hall is Cleveland's biggest tourist attraction. As its impact has grown, so has its standing as one of the music industry's more polarizing institutions.
Driving the news: In a recent Wall Street Journal column titled "Scrap the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," Christian Schneider calls out the Rock Hall for having "loosely defined standards."
✍️ What they wrote: "Weighing the relative merit of music is offensive, because it's impossible," Schneider writes.
- "The solution is simple: Scrap the induction charade and turn the building in Cleveland into the American Museum of Popular Music."
Friction point: Schneider's argument is two-fold. First, the inductions no longer focus on the genre rock 'n' roll, whose popularity has been in decline for decades.
- Second, that rock 'n' roll should not be measured in the context of a hall of fame, which goes against the genre's rebellious nature.
The other side: John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, has argued that the Rock Hall does continue to honor rock 'n' roll's origins as a mix of various other genres, including blues, country, gospel and jazz.
- "I'm really trying to have people understand why hip-hop, country, and pop artists are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Sykes told Vulture last December. "Because they all have one thing in common — they have attitude and move culture."
💭 My thought bubble: The Rock Hall has its flaws, including a lack of women and a failure to induct several worthy acts.
- However, the concept of a hall of fame, while divisive, creates a discussion and draws people's attention to rock 'n' roll and its lasting impact on the music industry.
The bottom line: With the museum undergoing a massive expansion and the annual ceremony drawing millions of viewers, the Rock Hall isn't going anywhere anytime soon.