Say goodbye to white male rocker privilege.
For once, white male rockers are in the minority among the new class of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
After years in which they’ve made up the majority of rock hall honorees, they’re barely represented in 2023. And even the one rock band to be enshrined — protest outfit Rage Against the Machine — is a multiracial act that hardly fits the traditional establishment that has ruled the RRHOF for decades.
Nominees who felt more like usual suspects — including Soundgarden, the White Stripes, Iron Maiden, Warren Zevon and the new-wave mash-up of Joy Division/New Order — were all passed over this year.
Instead, it is indeed a new order with three women leading the list — Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott — who couldn’t be more different, ranging from alt-rock to hip-hop. And rounding out the 2023 inductees are George Michael, a gay pop superstar; Willie Nelson, a country music icon; and the Spinners, a black R&B vocal group.
Michael’s induction, coming seven years after the “Faith” singer died at 53, is the latest posthumous honor coming after Whitney Houston, the Notorious B.I.G., Nina Simone and Tupac Shakur in recent years.
It’s certainly great to see Nelson — who just turned 90 last Saturday — get his flowers while he can still smell them. And after Dolly Parton’s induction last year, country music is on a roll in the rock hall.
The Spinners are probably the biggest surprise among this year’s inductees. But their string of ’70s R&B classics — including “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “Mighty Love” “Sadie” and “The Rubberband Man” — epitomized the Philly Sound.
And it’s cool to see Bush — buoyed by the “Stranger Things”-driven success of “Running Up That Hill” — finally get her due on her fourth nomination.
But it wasn’t the year for all the girls to have fun: Spare a thought for Cyndi Lauper, who was passed over in her first nomination.
And while hip-hop is rightfully represented by the visionary Elliott, the legendary New York rap posse A Tribe Called Quest missed the cut again.
Meanwhile, funk queen Chaka Khan —who, between her recordings with Rufus and her solo work, should have been inducted a long time ago — will at least be getting the Musical Excellence Award when the induction ceremony takes place on Nov. 3 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.