Every year we go through this and every year I have to say that the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame is a big joke. When ABBA is in the "Hall of Fame" but Iron Maiden or Cheap Trick are not, it is a sham.

However, it is nice to be honored and this year saw a few surprises. The inductees for this year are Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, and Darlene Love.

Alice Cooper and his band should absolutely be in the Rock Hall. Before Cooper, the shock rock era was nonexistent. The likes of Marylin Manson could not exist without Alice breaking the barrier. Performance art and arena rock were taken to a completely unseen level thanks to Alice's stage show and presence. Congrats to Alice for his induction.

I actually just assumed Tom Waits was inducted into the hall already. Tom has that distinctive voice that all rock front man would kill for.  His storytelling through his lyrics inspired Bruce Springsteen for god's sake! He is a whiskey soaked raconteur and an extremely talented musician. His ability to span rock, jazz, and movie soundtracks, is stunning. He absolutely deserves the nod this year as I stated before, I thought he was already in the hall.

Neil Diamond I guess deserves to be in the hall, if only for "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon." That song is one of my top ten favorites and even the famous cover song by  Urge Overkill.

The only song I know by Darlene Love off the top of my head is my favorite Christmas Song, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). She had a powerful R&B voice that combined with the Phil Spector Wall of Sound made for a wonderful Christmas song.

Alice Cooper sample:



Tom Waits sample:



Neil Diamond sample:


Darlene Love sample: