Ray’s Real Rock & Roll Hall of Fame™

In May of 2020, Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) will be inducted into the "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" in Cleveland, Ohio. He will join such Rap/Hip Hop acts as Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, N.W.A., and Tupac Shakur.

In the mean time, Jethro Tull, Bad Company, The Scorpions, Ozzie Osbourne, Pat Benetar, Tod Rundgren, The Monkees, Billy Idol, Blue Oyster Cult, ELP, The Guess Who, The Carpenters, Jim Croce, Steppenwolf, Thin Lizzy, Three Dog Night, to name just a handful of classic rock acts, have been snubbed.

The Cleveland site should be renamed the "Music Hall of Fame," STAT! After all, it's a much  more accurate moniker, considering they select non-rock acts for induction. Consequently, I am taking over the "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" selection from this point, renaming the new institution Ray’s Real Rock & Roll  Hall of Fame™.

Mission of Ray’s Real Rock & Roll  Hall of Fame™ 

Alan Freed, a disc jockey in Cleveland, Ohio first used the phrase, “The Rock and Roll Session” to describe the music he played during his radio show. The Year was 1951, and the music was an amalgamation of rhythm and blues and country music. While the roots of rock ‘n’ roll can be traced back to the first rock & roll song as recognized by Freed’s definition was a single from 1951 called “Rocket 88,” written by Ike Turner, and sung by Jackie Brenston and recorded by Sam Phillips, who later went on to found Sun records and discover Elvis Presley.

Induction into Ray’s Real Rock & Roll  Hall of Fame™

To be inducted into Ray’s Real Rock & Roll Hall of Fame™, an act must meet the following musical criteria:

• the act must be consistent within the spirit of Allan Freed’s first usage of the term "rock & roll;"

• the act must be influential to either the genre as a whole or to a generation at large; consequently, the act must have achieved its first record twenty-five years, or one generation, prior to induction;

• the act must have the essential instruments of rock & roll, including (at a minimum) drums, bass, and guitar (keyboards are optional), which must be played by the act, not sampled;

• the act must be appreciated by the creator of Ray’s Real Rock & Roll Hall of Fame™, Ray

Inaugural Class of Ray’s Real Rock & Roll  Hall of Fame™

While each forthcoming list is broken out by decade, the artists are not in any particular order within that decade. In addition, artists may make the list once, regardless of their successes in subsequent decades. If you see them twice, please let me know. Also, if you see a glaring omission, please let me know that as well, that they might be inducted at a later date.

Enjoy...

(C) Ray Cattie