ABSTRACT
In her response to “Why no Yes in the Rock Hall?” (Chapter 69), Dr. Lauren Onkey, who at the time was the Vice President of Education and Public Programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, addresses John Covach’s criticisms of the Rock Hall’s induction process. Onkey emphasizes the subjective nature of rock criticism, and how the shifting tides of taste have made the Rock Hall’s canon a highly mutable object. As we peer into rock’s future, it is intriguing to speculate what different forms the Rock Hall’s canon may assume in the years to come. Unlike 1986, when the Rock Hall ushered in its first members, rock is no longer the most dominant presence in contemporary popular music. In recent years hip hop and electronic dance music, each now with its own lengthy history, have both mixed and intermingled with rock, while simultaneously usurping its place at the front of pop music culture. To what extent will the Rock Hall attempt to fold artists from these genres into its canon? Or will we instead witness a retrenchment, and a decision to champion overlooked bands from the 1970s such as Yes, who lie more firmly within rock’s historical realm? One significant change has been the addition of a fan vote, beginning in 2012, which has allowed the public to participate in the process. While the weight accorded the fan vote is statistically minimal (the fan vote accounts for only one of 900 total submitted ballots), awareness of this vote has perhaps had an influence on the overall vote. How else to explain that every year since 2014 at least three of the top five winners in the fan vote have ultimately been inducted into the Rock Hall. Regardless of the correlation, the Rock Hall induction process is likely to remain a hotly contested and vital entity in the shaping of rock history.
