Who should get in next at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Every year you slap your forehead in bafflement at an artist or group who somehow got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But there remain some extraordinarily worthy—or at least eminently qualified— artists that ought to be inducted as soon as possible.

Just in case the Nominating Committee is reading, here is who you should add:

1. Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons. It is time for the Hall to stop ignoring Parsons’ growing cult status. The man who invented country rock as a member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers was every bit as influential as inductees Bob Wills, Elmore James or Pete Seeger.

2.  The Doobie Brothers

Sometimes bands seem to be punished for their success on the singles chart. There would be cannonball-sized holes in the Billboard Hot 100 of the 1970s if the Doobie Brothers had not existed. 

3. Paul Revere and the Raiders

It’s the same with this group, who provided so many staples for AM radio in the 1960s. Both the Doobies and the Raiders were consistently excellent live acts and if they didn’t blaze trails, they certainly widened them.

4. Jethro Tull

Here’s the opposite of the Doobies/Raiders effect: Not enough singles chart success, but their albums were artistic as well commercial successes, and Ian Anderson’s flute is one of the most distinctive lead instruments in rock history.

5. Chubby Checker

If rock ‘n’ roll is about dancing, who deserves induction more than the guy who placed 20 dance hits on the charts in the early ‘60s, including hitting #1 twice with the same song, The Twist?

6. The Monkees

Yes, they were initially a made-for-TV band. But they ended up playing their own instruments and writing much of their own material, growing into a real band much the way Pinocchio became a real boy. The Hall voters ought to drop their snobbish denial of the Monkees’ charm, success and cultural impact.

7. Tina Turner

Yes, she was inducted along with Ike Turner back in 1991, but it’s safe to say Mr. Domestic Abuse would only be in as an early influence had it not been for his wife. Her solo career justifies an individual award.

8. Your candidate here

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