Yes is not in the Rock and Roll hall of fame.
Nor Chicago,
nor the Doobie Brothers.
Well the pistons keep on turning
And the wheels go round and round
The steel rails are cold and hard
For the miles that they go down
Without love, where would you be right now
Chicago! Love the way they chose the name for their band. Love the band!
"Roundabout" was written when Yes was on tour in 1971. From Aberdeen to Glasgow, after a gig in Scotland, they kept driving through roundabouts ("maybe 40 or so")... Anderson was smoking weed so everything was vivid and mystical ... It was a cloudy day, we couldn't see the top of the mountains. We could only see the clouds because it was sheer straight up ... I remember saying, "Oh, the mountains–look! They're coming out of the sky!" - and he had the good sense to jot some lyrics in his notebook . " ... A lake they passed as they neared Glasgow became the idea behind the line "In and around the lake". Upon their arrival at their hotel in Glasgow, Anderson and Howe began to put down song ideas on their recorder. (wikipedia)
The Four Seasons, the Four Tops, the Who: the Hall of Fame guardkeepers got that right. Queen, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd - right on.
Johnny Cash? Legendary, yes, but in Rock and Roll?
Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. -wikipedia
Cat Stevens -- whatever name he goes by -- is cool, but how does his music crowd out the quintessential 1970s Rock and Roll bands like Yes, Chicago, and...
Miles Davis, "the most revered JAZZ trumpeter of all time, not to mention one of the most important musicians of the 20th century,"(Rolling Stone, ) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 as "one of the key figures in the history of jazz". But.... this is the ROCK not the JAZZ hall of fame.
Okay, in the 1980s, Davis employed younger musicians to create pop music sounds on albums such as The Man with the Horn (1981) and Tutu (1986). Still. The Rock and Roll hall of fame, but Yes, Chicago, and the Doobie Brothers are left out?
"Jesus is Just All Right with Me," the Doobie Brothers sang, and they're just all right with me.
As for who gets nominated into Halls of Fame--the Nebula and Hugo awards, the Oscars and the Pulitzers--it's all just mystifying.