The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is something of a joke at this point, IMHO, since it overlooks artists that Jann Wenner/rolling stone seemingly doesn't like. Kraftwerk?!? Why are they not in the hall of fame? Besides The Beatles, I cannot think of a group that has changed the way music sounds as much as Kraftwerk has. Listen to "Trans-Europe Express" today, and remind yourself that this came out in 1976. 19fucking76. And then ask yourself how come they are not in this supposed hall of fame? Neil Diamond? Hugely succesful and one of the first singer songwriters. One could argue he got that whole movement going in the 70's. Yes, technically Dylan was a singer-songwriter, but he was billed as a folkie. Dick Dale? King of the surf guitar, he is extremely influential, more so than Blondie, and I like blondie. The Beach Boys are deservedly in the HOF, but how is Dick Dale overlooked? Yes/Rush/ELP/King Crimson? in fact, what about prog rock in general? A whole movement of music ignored because it's not hip? Shame on you Jann Wenner and the hall of fame. Abba?!?!?! The number 2 selling recording act in the world... and they are not in this thing? Yeah you could say they are not "rock" but that's besides the point by now. The Monkees? Yeah yeah, not a real group, commercial, blah blah blah... get over your serious artsy selves already! How many people started playing music because of this show and the songs on it? I would think a lot. One could say the songs were derivitive, ok, but they were still great and hugely popular. The whole TV/Music connection, while hinted at with Rick Nelson, and The Beatles on Ed Sullivan really gets exploited here. Whether or not that's a good thing is not the issue here. It's one of the things that makes them historically important. I'm sure there are more, but to me these are glaring omissions. And because of these omissions, I find it hard to take the Hall seriously.