R&R HoF: How are inductees picked??

Alright, yesterday came the announcement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, The Spinners, DJ Kool, I want to get this, let's see, who else is it?

We have something blocking my ability to see this. Shaka Khan, Al Cooper, Bernie Taupin, Don Cornelius, all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and my first reaction was, wait, Willie Nelson's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? How do we even have a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if Willie Nelson is not in it? Rick French, French West Vaughan, and also a National Trustee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame joins us. And I'd sent you that text last night, how is it even possible that Willie Nelson, in his 90s and still touring, is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and you said what to me? Well, first of all, Adam, it's always nice to be on with you.

And second, I said to you, well, we are sometimes a little slow, but in time we always get it right. And so, you know, Willie will be going in this year in celebration of his 90th birthday and it should be a great induction ceremony November 3rd at the Barclays Center in New York. My gosh, the haze, I can just see it right now from all the Willie Nelson fans that might be in attendance. So now, you told me last night that this was the first year he was actually on the ballot.

Why does it take so long? I mean, is it simply because he's more connected to country music than he is necessarily to rock and roll music? Yeah, that is the reason. And it's kind of the best way I can describe this is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame have tried to observe each other's lanes. And that's because there are certain artists that could cross over to each, and they do.

You know, we have artists that are in both Hall of Fames, but it's not a large number. And so Willie was always more closely associated with country music. And we kind of broke the seal last year when we put Dolly Parton in to open it up to those that also had a rock or pop influence. And that's a kind of a change in philosophy that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has had under our foundation chairman, John Sykes, wanting to kind of expand the definition of rock and roll. And it's logical because if you think about rock and roll as it's at its very roots, you know, it emanated out of, you know, African beat music that kind of evolved into rhythm and blues and soul. And so rock is a lot of people think of rock and roll through the prism that they became most familiar with it. And the truth is that, you know, the forerunners of rock and roll were the Little Richards and Chuck Perrys and Buddy Holly for the world.

And the definition has continued to evolve over time. And so that has then required us to, I guess, build a bigger tent to bring more of these performers that probably should have been in before under that tent. And so that's what we're trying to do here. So is the Rick, Rick, Rick French, French West Vaughn and a national trustee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is joining us here in the Adam Gold Show. Should we prepare ourselves for an onslaught of, I'll just say, country stars, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, I just met, you know, mentioned two other members of the highwaymen. Should we, should we be looking for that to start being, you know, front and center in future induction ceremonies? So Johnny Cash is already in, but oh yeah, but Waylon Jennings is not.

And so sure. So why was Cash in, but why was Cash in and Willie Nelson not? I think that Johnny Cash personally was viewed as a little more rock and roll than Willie Nelson was.

Okay. And so I think from the former way that we were looking at traditional rock and roll, Johnny Cash fit that that definition a little better than Willie Nelson did at that particular time. But it's a good question. And it's a legitimate question to ask, you know, there, there are a number of those that could, and I think you're gonna, you know, to answer that question, I think you will see more, more of those that are in the Country Music Hall of Fame crossover. And I also think you're about to see the explosion of hip hop as you're seeing in this class with, you know, DJ Kool Herc and so on.

Missy Elliott is the first female rapper to go in. I think you're going to start to see more of that emphasis also come to the forefront. No question about it. All right, the final thing. I am looking forward to the, the ensemble crew put together to perform George Michael songs. Now, I don't know if it's going to be anything like what we saw when the late Tom Petty, the late Prince, Jeff Lynn, Steve Wynwood all did While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which I will say, I probably listened to I Pull It Up on YouTube once a month.

It's that good. I have to, I have to assume that we're going to see something similar to that. I hope we do, you know, to, in order to perform the music of those that are deceased, we, we ask their estate and family members for their blessing to do that rather than just perform it. That's why sometimes you'll have an artist that's past the where we don't actually perform the music in the show, certainly with George Michael and the influence that he had as a solo artist and with Wham!

and so on. I would sure hope that we're able to do that. And if we are able to do that, I think we'll have artists coming out of the woodwork who were influenced by George Michael, who would want to be part of that. And I think along that same lines, what you're going to see with Willie, I would not be surprised to see some of his frequent collaborators also get on board and want to do some stuff with him. It would seem to me like he would be the perfect artist to maybe close the show and have a big ensemble jam similar to what you're talking about. When we had Tom Petty and Prince and George Harrison and all of that in that jam session.

That was unbelievable to watch. That's the best part, I think, of our annual induction ceremony is the collaborations that are unannounced and come together at the end of the show. There's a little bit of an Elton John theme here. Michael and Elton John performed together at one point. And Bernie Taupin, who obviously wrote songs with Elton John, Taupin is going in. By the way, I love the fact that Don Cornelius is being inducted.

It'll be a what, a stone gas, honey? Is that what he used to say? I was a Soul Train watcher as a kid, Rick. I was as well.

I grew up in Detroit and Soul Train was on and I used to watch Soul Train and really enjoy the show. And so I think he's deserving in the same way that others that have furthered the art form and really the Casey Kasems of the world and people like that who should be in. So I was really glad to see him on this list. And it's no accident that Bernie Taupin and George Michael might go in in the same year because then you can reach out to an Elton John and say, can you participate in the show? Which I would be very surprised given his friendship with Bernie and how they collaborated and everything, if he wasn't part of it. But yeah, we try to bring these classes together so that there is an ability to kind of cross pollinate with artists and collaborate. I think this year's show is going to be just spectacular.

Rick French, French West Vaughan and a National Trustee Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I appreciate your time, man. I don't like talking just once a year, but we'll make a date for sure for a year from yesterday and we'll do it again. Sounds good. I'm always happy to talk to you, my friend. And congrats and go hurricanes tonight. You got it. Thank you very much, Rick.

Rick French. Yeah, we'll talk before we get a year done.