Why Bob Should Be in the RARHOF

[michelej1]

[Excerpt from a Huffington Post on Deep Purple Bassist's HOF snub]

Roger Weisman April 6, 2016

Trying in Vain to Find Logic in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction Process

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-...b_9619494.html

The “original and current members, and those who played on multiple records” rule does explain many omissions, but not all. It does not explain the exclusion of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch in 1998. Though Welch not a member of the original band or its later classic Rumours line-up, he was a pivotal member for several years and albums and was essential to saving a fracturing band while helping it make the transition from blues-infused hard rock to the pristine pop rock for which it is best known. Welsh attributed the snub to a then-recent breach of contract lawsuit between him and his former bandmates. This of course, would be a fallacious argument if the band indeed did not have some sort of say in who was inducted.

But apparently the band may have some say. When the Rolling Stones were inducted in 1989, the band requested that founding pianist Ian Stewart (“Stu”) be inducted with them, even though he was fired from the band (or to be more specific, was demoted from band member to session musician and road manager) before their first album. This decision was made by the Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who argued that the stocky, square-jawed Stewart did not fit the image of the young rebellious band. Jagger, Richards, and company, however, held him in high esteem. Keith Richards would frequently say, even after Stu’s death in 1985, “I still feel like I’m working for him. It’s his band.” They presented the argument to the Hall that, in spite of the fact that he had never been credited as a band member on any album, as a founder, he should be eligible. Now while he technically fits the rule that excluded Jack Sherman, as a member who was not terribly well known, it is hard to imagine that the Hall would have automatically inducted Stewart if it were not for the band’s intervention.