Bob Welch Exhibit At Musicians Hall Of Fame

[David]

Wasn’t Bob’s absence in the induction directly connected to the foundation’s executive board? That board gets final say, although apparently it isn’t very consistent with its decisions. The most Mick and Chris could have done was issue a “recommendation.” The board used to include Jan Wenner and thirteen other people, including Robert Hilburn, who is still part of it. Those fourteen people in 1998 decided that Welch and his Fleetwood Mac work weren’t Hall caliber, according to clippings at the time. I can easily see (and understand) how critics like Hilburn would scoff at the idea of inducting Welch for 1971–74, regardless of the esteem in which some of us fans hold those years. It really all makes a certain amount of sense in Fleetwood Mac’s case (though not in other cases, like the Crickets and the Miracles).