Central Floridave
Posts: 52249
Joined Forum: 07/22/2003
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Suffice to say that Todd Rundgren could care less as to whether his third time will be the charm with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The veteran rocker -- who kicks off his Clearly Human Virtual Tour on Sunday, Feb. 14 -- has been placed on the nominees ballot for a third straight year. But he won't be waiting with bated breath for the results.
"It's no secret that I don't care about it," Rundgren told Billboard during a break from rehearsals in Chicago, where the tour concerts will be emanating from. "It doesn't matter how many times they nominate me. It's not gonna make me care."
A few factors account for Rundgren's ambivalence (at best) towards the Rock Hall, which he terms "an industry invention." For starters, he's a firm believer that "true halls of fame are for retirees and dead people, because your legacy has been established. I'm too busy working to worry about my legacy -- and plan to continue working until whenever." He also finds the makeup of the nominee list and inductee classes veering too far from what he considers appropriate.
"I'm a big Dionne Warwick fan, but name me one Dionne Warwick rock 'n' roll song," he explains. "While I'm aware of Fela Kuti, I can't name a single musician who's ever cited him as a principal influence. Year by year it makes even less sense, so why would I be more excited about it or suddenly change my mind? Why don't they just start inducting blues guys? Why do they have to go to Dionne Warwick or Mary J. Blige?"
Rundgren's chief complaint, however, stems from how he feels his own fans were "duped" when he was first nominated during 2019. "They run this scam called the fan pool...but most fans don't realize that their votes count for absolutely nothing," Rundgren said. The top five nominees from the fan votes are turned into one additional ballot that's counted in addition to the 1,000-plus by artists and music industry professionals.
"So the first time I got nominated all my fans, who all these years have been like, 'Geez, you've got to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!," they all stepped up and bumped me up to No. 3 in the fan pool -- by a pretty wide margin. And then when the actual inductees were 1, 2, 4, 5, 6...they essentially hosed my fans. So that made me angry, and I had to tell them that it was pointless casting votes, 'cause it really doesn't count for anything."
Rundgren is also tacitly represented on this year's ballot via the New York Dolls, who's 1973 debut album he produced. "I was living New York City and was moving out to go upstate, and I thought I would pick one of those bands and do a little valentine to the New York scene before I left -- and the Dolls were pretty much the top contender," he recalled. "It was kind of a circus making that record 'cause they were living what they imagined was a rock 'n' roll lifestyle even though they hadn't put out a record and nobody out of New York City knew who they were."
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StirfryMcflurry
Posts: 8746
Joined Forum: 08/17/2016
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Originally posted by: Central Floridave
"I'm a big Dionne Warwick fan, but name me one Dionne Warwick rock 'n' roll song," he explains. "While I'm aware of Fela Kuti, I can't name a single musician who's ever cited him as a principal influence. Year by year it makes even less sense, so why would I be more excited about it or suddenly change my mind? Why don't they just start inducting blues guys? Why do they have to go to Dionne Warwick or Mary J. Blige?"
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