new Dashut blog - Truth & Consequences (My Times with FM)

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Welch was overlooked in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Can any speculation or theories be confirmed?

I think there's possibly too much conjecture surrounding this. Despite what has been said I'm not sure the bands themselves have that much influence. The R&R Hall of Fame is a ridiculous organisation- it means pretty much nothing outside the U.S. anyway.

I guess the whole point of the R&R Hall of Fame is to celebrate the most successful and influential artists. For its own credibility (not that it has much) I'm sure they want to limit the inductees to only those that truly merit recognition. I keep hearing about all members of The Grateful Dead being inducted but that is very much a one-off. The vast majority of bands with multiple line-ups only have a small number of members inducted- where possible the line-ups most closely associated with the time of the bands greatest success. There are many examples of significant members of bands that were never inducted. A prime example would be the omission of Bruce Johnson from the Beach Boys. In some cases where bands have members coming and going on a regular basis it must be tough identifying which members merit inclusion. In Fleetwood Mac's case it is fairly easy to see the distinction between the different eras.

Bob Welch was a vital member of Fleetwood Mac. However, he was never a truly influential musician and never had that much commercial success. The early band had huge success in the UK and Europe and were extremely influential. Even more so the 'Rumours' era band. The question is- would Fleetwood Mac have been inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame simply on their body of work from 1970-1974. The answer is a resounding no. I love the music from that period- I particularly love Christine McVie's songs from that period as well as those of Danny Kirwan. Bob Welch's songs were consistently good, though not absolutely great (though I particularly love Future Games, Sentimental Lady and Hypnotized). Bare Trees, Mystery To Me and Heroes Are Hard To Find are among my favourite albums. In his entire career though, Bob never hit the top 10 with an album (he never broke the top 30 with FM) and only once made the top 10 with a single.

If Bob Welch had been inducted then there would have been a case for Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. If they had been inducted then you are looking at viable arguments for adding Bob, Dave, Dave, Bekka, and even Bob Brunning. As Mason had already been inducted he would have been in line for a second induction- would he really have merited it? I'd say no.

Christine may have had personal reasons for not wanting Bob Welch inducted and she may even have been openly vocal about it. However, I'm not sure her voice really held that much sway over the closed shop that decide on inductees. Bob Welch seemed like a lovely guy and steered the band through a difficult period. Unfortunately he just wasn't really a tremendously notable artist in the wider scheme of things.

...and that's just my opinion.