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On Monday, March 15, 2010, 5 bands were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a mixed bag this time around with ABBA, Genesis, The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, and Iggy Pop and the Stooges getting the nod. Nominated but not getting enough votes were: KISS, LL Cool J, the Chantels, Darlene Love, Donna Summer, Laura Nyro, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Once again Rory Gallagher did not even get to the nomination phase. Joel Peresman, the Hall’s president and CEO, called the inductees “a great cross-section of artists that define the broad spectrum and history of rock and roll and people that have contributed immeasurably to our business.” Sad that characters such as Iggy with no musical talent but a keen flair for the dramatic can be admitted to the Rock ‘n Roll “Hall of Fame” yet amazingly talented musicians such as Rory Gallagher can annually be denied.

But the Hall has never been about talent, it has always been about popularity, in particular U.S. popularity, and in that context Rory never got the media attention necessary to garner an American fan base. Despite over 30 U.S. tours, Rory never cracked that market. This can be partly attributed to Rory’s refusal to release singles, thus not getting the radio airplay that is almost a necessity in as large a market as the U.S. Another contributing factor was Rory’s refusal to change his style to accommodate the latest fad, be it punk, disco, new wave, metal, or any of the other “flavor of the week” that drew the attentions of the American press at one time or another. Without airplay, without adequate media presence, it was left to “word of mouth” to get the message out, and despite incredible live performances by an incredibly talented performer it just wasn’t enough.

Sure there’s talented musicians in the Hall; it’s not just the bubble gum pop groups that make it in. Talented musicians such as Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy are all in there, so you would think that this would give us some hope that Rory Gallagher will be in there one day too, but that may not be the case. Lately, the selection committee seems intent on choosing “big names” in order to fill the seats at the annual induction ceremony, leaving off those ground-breaking groups from the 50’s, 60’s, and early 70’s that made the “big names” of Rock possible. But would Irish super group, and 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, U2 have made it in a London-centric music scene without the groundbreaking work done by Rory Gallagher?

It gets worse. Now the man in charge of the Hall of Fame induction process, Jann Wenner, wants to change the rules and reduce the amount of time necessary before artists can be nominated to the Hall of Fame. It seems he’s running out of big draw bands and artists from before 1990 that merit inclusion into his Hall of Fame, or at least will draw the crowds to the induction ceremony. And let’s be clear about this, this is Jann Wenner’s Hall of Fame, not the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Many of the people on the selection committee, and those who actually get to vote on the nominees are from his staff at Rolling Stone, or are hand picked by him. If Jann Wenner wants to reduce the amount of time before an artist can be nominated for the Hall of Fame, it will happen, and this will mean less opportunity for artists such as Rory to get in.

Despite these almost insurmountable odds, there is a grassroots petition afoot to get Rory nominated to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. To date there are over 1600 signatures. 1600 people who think Rory should be nominated to the Hall. You can go to the petition by clicking on this link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/rorygallagherhalloffame/
  My name is on it, shouldn’t yours?

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