Let me just say this once and for all: the Rock Hall Class of 2018 is, in my opinion, the worst class in all of the Rock Hall’s history. Not because the inductees don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but because the the class as a whole is the most blandest way for an induction year. The inductees in the performer category range from good to very mediocre (with the exception of one artists who is a great in any year).

I wanna get to the positive of this year right away and say that Nina Simone was my only favorite inductee from that year. Simone was a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the inductees in the performer inductees where they are mostly Classic Rock radio staples. Her tribute performances in the induction are the standout of that year, specifically Lauryn Hill who performed great renditions of “Ain’t Got No (I Got Life)” and “Feeling Good”.

Although I’m not that big of a fan of The Cars, I still think that they deserve to be in the inducted in the Rock Hall. But I kinda wish they were inducted in any year pre-2018 because anther synth-heavy band who was nominated that same year deserves it more. And that they deserve to be in a better class than this boring year.

The induction of Bon Jovi is mixed at best. On one hand, they are a middle of the road classic rock band that took the spot over deserving artists. But on the other hand they’re probably the only Hair Metal band who sings Bruce Springsteen songs so that’s something. But they bring audiences to the ceremonies so in they go.

I gotta be honest, I’m not that big of a fan of The Moody Blues. I might listen to only Days of Future Passed (and maybe In Search of the Lost Chord), but that’s about it for my journey of The Moody Blues. I’m not saying that they don’t deserve to be inducted, but they are better off inducted way before 2018.

And boy, I don’t wanna be blunt, but I just hate Dire Straits. Besides liking “Money for Nothing”, I refer to them as a water-down version of Tom Petty (I made this claim because I thought Tom Petty sang “Sultans of Swing” when I first heard the song). The band got inducted right away as soon as they finally appeared on the ballot after 14 years of being eligible because many people wanted to induct Mark Knopfler into the Hall. And with all the criticism I make about Dire Straits, the Rock Hall did them dirty by having the band induct themselves. Like I said, Mark Knopfler was the biggest sell of getting the band into the Hall, but Knopfler skipped the ceremony and the Hall of Fame couldn’t find any famous Dire Straits admirer to give a speech to them if Knopfler won’t show up.

The Early Influence inductee deserves no other explanation other than Sister Rosetta Tharpe deserves to be inducted. Tharpe is known to be own of the creators of Rock and Roll thanks to her excellent guitar work that she became known as the “Godmother of Rock and Roll”. Although I wished she was inducted in the Performer category because she was on the ballot that year, at least she got inducted and Brittany Howard did justice on the tribute performance during the ceremony.

Artists Who Were Nominated, But Didn’t Get Inducted That Year

13 other artists were nominated that year, and they would’ve made a better choice than 3/5’s of the inductees. I already my analysis on Depeche Mode on my 2020 article and also made comments on the MC5, The J. Geils Band, and Judas Priest on my other posts where they were also nominated, while I’ll do future analysis on The Zombies on my 2019 analysis.

One act that got inducted later on that I will discuss at length in here is Radiohead. Radiohead has been (and still is) the biggest band in the world at that point and they should’ve been a slam dunk when 2018 was their first year they were eligible for induction. When the final 2018 inductees list got announced and Radiohead didn’t get inducted, I got very upset that I now understand everyone’s frustration with the Hall. Radiohead not wanting to go to the induction ceremony because they were on tour isn’t a good enough excuse as to why they didn’t get inducted on first ballot. And unlike Dire Straits, the Hall can find many celebrity Radiohead fans who would agree to do a speech and tribute performances because those fans know Radiohead attending award ceremonies isn’t the kind of thing for them.

Another nominee that should’ve been a slam dunk to induct is Eurythmics. Everyone loves Annie Lennox and inducting her with the Eurythmics should’ve been a no-brainer. But their snub proves that Rock Hall voters don’t care, like Metal, about New Wave.

And unless if you’re extremely British, there was no chance that a lot of people voted for Kate Bush. I mentioned this before, but the Rock Hall is American-centric and there aren’t that enough British votes who would’ve voted for her. The only big name American Kate Bush fan that I can think of is Outkast’s Big Boi, but Outkast isn’t inducted yet so Big Boi can’t vote for her.

Like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Link Wray is a trailblazing guitar player and his exclusion is becoming more bewildering each year. Unlike 1997, more people have known more about The Meters thanks to the internet and growing appreciation, but not enough to get them inducted. Rage Against the Machine also became eligible in 2018, but their politics might’ve kept voters off from picking them. And even though he left a major mark in Hip Hop, many people don’t appreciate LL Cool J as his other peers like Run-DMC and Eric B & Rakim. This ballot was also the first year that Rufus featuring Chaka Khan reappeared after a six year absence. Whether it’s solo or with Rufus, the Hall really wants Chaka Khan to (deservedly) be inducted.

Final Thoughts

The 2018 induction proves that keeping artists waiting to be inducted for so long would make a ceremony a bad one. Having a ceremony where the inductees are artists who have to wait for around 20 years would be a boring and uninspired event. Any of the nominees who didn’t get inducted that year would make a better ceremony than most of the actual 2018 inductees. This ceremony also proves that the Hall should have more than five inductees each year. Having a shorter list just adds more backlog of artists who are still waiting.

Artists Who I Would’ve Voted If I Had an Actual Ballot:

• Kate Bush
• Eurythmics
• Nina Simone
• Radiohead
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe

(Depeche Mode, The Meters, and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan were my final cuts)