Again, don't rule out The Stylistics. They inducted the two people who arranged all their stuff and it what be in-line with recent inductees such as The Spinners.
As a reminder, here's the names that came up in this year's Nom Com but didn't get enough votes to make the ballot:
Alice in Chains
Alicia Keys
The Bangles
Boston
Bryan Adams
Coldplay
Diana Ross
George Thorogood
Gloria Estefan (or Miami Sound Machine)
Lenny Kravitz
Linkin Park
The Monkees
Sinead O'Connor
Styx
Tommy James and the Shondells
Wings
We don't know how any of them fared, votes-wise, but I'd imagine a few are on their way to the ballot. Absolutely absurd that some people just didn't bother with Diana Ross or Coldplay or The Monkees. It reeks of complete protectionism for their own pet picks. Like who the heck votes for Melissa Etheridge over those names?
That's all. Jim C selectively uses data to back up his favorites, and his opinions hold no weight. It is waste of time to even argue with him, let he talk to himself...
House of Pain has 250m more streams of their hit. They have pretty much same amount of monthly listeners (6m). Everlast sold a ton with "What it's like" so you can't ignore that. He gets an extra 3m listeners. It is pretty much apples to apples. Don't think either act is significantly better than the other. If House of Pain isn't HOF worthy, then Cypress Hill isn't either.
DMX sold 75m. He had 5 #1 albums in a row (2 in one year). He was difficult and didn't play ball with music industry people and he suffered in later years. He has enduring mega rap hits that won't ever die (featured in Deadpool movie, etc). He is a very strong candidate.
Toto's "Africa" is one of top 5 biggest songs of the 80s. It is worldwide mega-hit. They sold 50m, had a solid run til 88, and a bunch of members played important roles as sidemen. Versus inducting a few members as a sidemen, it makes sense to induct the whole band. Steve Lukather is one of the most recorded guitarists ever. Jeff Porcaro was elite at a very young age.
The Kansas case is the same as Toto. A few big songs from a faceless band that nobody really cares to pay to see live. It won't happen. The big names in the classic-rock arsenal are The Monkees, Jethro Tull and Boston and then there's acts with a foot in the classic rock lane that would likely get in now (King Crimson, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, BOC).
Had the Hall done its job and inducted far more people in decades past, then somebody like Three Dog Night could have easily been ushered in, but influence wanes and the voters and committee move on. The only group that really was helped significantly were early R&B pioneers like Hank Ballard, Ruth Brown, etc. that basically nobody would have remembered 15 years after they were inducted. It says a lot that their peers held them in such high esteem and were influenced by them, but lower name 60s/70s acts are basically done and dusted at this point. Someone like Television would probably have a greater case than Three Dog Night in 2027 and they're far more influential.
Casper wrote: