I think with the RRHOF, it is the HOF people who choose which members of a band are inducted. It is then up to those individuals whether they turn up. In some cases inductees may be deceased.
So Fleetwood Mac themselves would have had little, if any, influence in who was inducted. Mick being the all round good guy he is, probably suggested Bob to the HOF people.
There was some controversy when Genesis were inducted as Anthony Phillips was not inducted. He only played on their first two albums, neither of which was a hit, but he wrote most of their early songs and a great deal of material that would continue appearing on Genesis LP's long after he left. He was the bedrock of the band in its formative years and without him Genesis wouldn't have ever got off the ground or on the road.
With Bob Welch, he didn't play on any massive hit records or write any huge hit singles for Fleetwood Mac...and sometimes the Welch era is overlooked compared to those before it (Green and Buckingham/Nicks). But Bob was very much the glue that held Fleetwood Mac together during some difficult years, he contributed some great songs and the Mac actually had their most consistent albums at that point.
Without Bob there would have been no Buckingham/Nicks or future Fleetwood Mac...the effort he put in should not go unrecognised just because it didn't sell millions.
But as far as the RRHOF goes, perhaps he doesn't fit their criteria...whatever they are.
Can that be changed retrospectively? Probably not...for it would require the HOF people to admit they were wrong in 1998. And that will not happen.
|