State Champ Radio Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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Here’s a list that, frankly, no one wants to be on – artists who have had the most nominations to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without being inducted. Because, whether they admit or not, most artists wants to be inducted, awarded, feted and celebrated.
Three of this year’s nominees to the Rock Hall are creeping up this list. This is the fifth nomination for Rage Against the Machine and the fourth for Kate Bush and The Spinners. It’s the second for Iron Maiden, Soundgarden and A Tribe Called Quest — but we limited this list to artists who have been nominated three or more times without being inducted.
Sometimes, the Rock Hall gives special awards to artists who have been passed over in the regular voting. Nile Rodgers received an award for musical excellence in 2017, the same year his band Chic was passed over for the 11th time. LL Cool J received the same award in 2021 following several snubs. The Rock Hall stresses that all routes to their honors are valid and should be accorded respect. They don’t want anyone to regard special honors as consolation prizes (even if many fans will see them that way).
LL’s musical excellence award removed him from this list. Chic remains on the list because the other members of the group — Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson, Luci Martin and Norma Jean Wright — have yet to be honored.
Eight of this year’s 14 candidates are first-time nominees, which suggests that time is marching on in the Rock Hall nominating process, as it should. You can also see evidence of that in the “most recent nod” column here. 1950s R&B star Chuck Willis’ most recent nod was in 2011. You have to go back to 2005 for Gram Parsons’ most recent nod, and all the way back to 1988 for Ben E. King’s. Barring some new impetus to induct these artists, their chances appear close to nil. But never say never: Kate Bush had a thoroughly unexpected revival in 2022, which greatly boosted her chances of making it in this year.
Chaka Khan has faced the voters seven times without being inducted – three times on her own and four times fronting Rufus.
To be nominated for the Rock Hall, an artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
Here’s how Billboard‘s Andrew Unterberger pegs this year’s nominees in terms of their likelihood of being inducted this year — from least to most likely. Of the six repeat candidates, he is highest on Bush and Soundgarden making it in this year, with the other four deemed less likely to get the job done this year.
Here’s a list of the artists who have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three or more times but haven’t been inducted yet.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is filled with hundreds of artists that combine commercial success with cultural influence: The Beatles (class of 1988), U2 (class of 2005), Blondie (class of 2006), The Who (class of 1990), Stevie Wonder (class of 1989), Bob Dylan (class of 1988) and Whitney Houston (class of 2020) represent dozens of No. 1 records, platinum records and Grammy Awards (and one Nobel Prize in literature).
Sometimes, as with Parliament-Funkadelic (class of 1997), importance can also be measured by the number of times their songs were sampled in hit songs. In other instances, such as the Grateful Dead (class of 1994), inclusion of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame comes from an unmatched touring legacy more than a relatively modest sales history (In The Dark reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1987).
But influence alone might not be enough. In 2022, voters opted not to induct proto-punk groups New York Dolls and MC5, pioneering Afro-funk musician Fela Kuti and new wave group Devo (whose track “Whip It” reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 in 1980). They even passed on Beck, whose 180,000 album equivalents units far surpassed both Pat Benetar and The Eurythmics, although his airplay audience was far lower.
Influence can trump commercial success in determining who voters induct, however. The Ramones (class of 2002) and Velvet Underground (class of 1996) had little commercial success when active. Even as their fame grew over the decades, neither band’s catalog sales matched their significant cultural importance. The Hall has purposefully set aside space to recognize the genre’s foundational musicians. Blues greats such as Robert Johnson (class of 1986), Lead Belly (class of 1988), Howlin’ Wolf (class of 1991) and Elmore James (class of 1992) were inducted as “early influences” for their incalculable impact on rock music, not their album sales figures.
None of this year’s nominees have 2022 consumption numbers nearly as low as MC5 (8,000), New York Dolls (7,000) and Kuti (37,000) had in 2021. Warren Zevon is the at the bottom of the group with 66,000 units. Last year, Carly Simon’s 91,000 units was the lowest of the inductees.
Kate Bush, also passed over for induction in 2022, could have better odds this year after her 1985 recording “Running Up That Hill” re-entered the Hot 100 — peaking at No. 3 — thanks to the Netflix series Stranger Things. Last year, that renewed interest pushed Bush’s album equivalent up 326% and her U.S. radio audience up more than 5,400%, according to Luminate.
Returning nominees Rage Against the Machine and A Tribe Called Quest have some of the highest consumption figures of this year’s batch. Both groups had about the same number of equivalent units in 2021 and 2022. Soundgarden’s 218,000 album equivalent units are in the middle of the pack but could be helped by its airplay audience that ranked second only to Bush.
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Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty / Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Spinners are among 14 other nominees who are one step closer to music immortality after being nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Wednesday, the complete list of nominees came out, including names like Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Iron Maiden, Joy Division-New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Soundgarden, The White Stripes, and Warren Zevon.
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For Elliott, who gave the world the iconic album Supa Dupa Fly, this will be her first time being on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s ballot, per Variety, and there is no one more deserving of the honor.
Among her many accomplishments, Elliott is the first and only female Hip-Hop artist with six platinum albums on her resume. She has written numerous hits for herself and other artists while producing iconic records for the late Aaliyah, Keyshia Cole, 702, Nicole Wray, and Jazmine Sullivan.
This Is The Second Time For ATCQ
For ATCQ, this is the second time the Queens Hip-Hop group has made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s finalist list. They were nominated in 2022 with last year’s inductees Enimem, Lionel Richie, plus Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
ATCQ is one of the best Hip-Hop groups ever, blessing the Hip-Hop genre with three platinum albums that gave us classic records like “Find A Way,” “Award Tour,” “Can I Kick It?” and “Check The Rhime.”
The 70s iconic Detroit R&B group The Spinners, best known for hits like “It’s A Shame,” got their start with Motown Records before jumping ship to Atlantic Records, releasing 19 Top 10 hits on the R&B Billboard Charts, including songs your parents still sing while cleaning the house like “Sadie,” “Ill Be Around,” “The Rubberband Man,” and “Might Love.”
How To Help Get The Into The Hall
If Missy Elliott and ATCQ make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they will join the likes of Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., JAY-Z, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
If you want to ensure Missy Elliott, ATCQ, and The Spinners make it in, fans are encouraged to vote, which they can do daily on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website until April 28.
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Photo: ROBYN BECK / Getty
Sheryl Crow had no words for her excitement about being on the list of 2023 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay, she had a few. “I am BLOWN AWAY by the nomination,” the singer tweeted Wednesday night (Feb. 1). “It really means so much to me. Thank for your support, and for being a part of the voting process! Love you all! [heart emoji],” she added.
Crow joined an eclectic list of nominees for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023, including: Art rock auteur Kate Bush; hip-hop iconoclast Missy Elliott; metal legends Iron Maiden; post-punk-turned-dance-rock pioneers Joy Division/New Order; eccentric pop icon Cyndi Lauper; pop titan George Michael; country GOAT Willie Nelson; rap-metal firebrands Rage Against the Machine; grunge trailblazers Soundgarden; soul vocal pros The Spinners; alt hip-hop progenitors A Tribe Called Quest; garage blues revivalists The White Stripes; and caustic singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.
The rootsy rocker joins other first-time nominees Elliot, Joy Division/New Order, Lauper, Michael, Nelson, the Stripes and Zevon. To be eligible for the RRHOF, an artist’s first commercial release must have come out at least 25 years prior to the nomination year.
After starting her career as a backup singer on Michael Jackson’s Bad tour in 1987 and recoding backing vocals for everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Stevie Wonder, Crow dropped her smash Grammy-winning 1994 debut Tuesday Night Music Club, which spawned the hits “Leaving Las Vegas,” “All I Wanna Do,” “Strong Enough” and “Can’t Cry Anymore.” Her self-titled 1996 follow-up continued the hot streak, landing more Grammy wins for the single “If It Makes You Happy,” and spawning the radio staples “A Change Would Do You Good” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”
Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
Check out Crow’s tweet below.
Warren Zevon’s daughter Ariel says that “tears came to my eyes” when she learned that her father was finally nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But she and her brother Jordan were all smiles as they discussed the nod with Billboard via Zoom on Wednesday (Feb. 1).
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The consideration has been a long time coming. Zevon — who died in 2003 at the age of 56 from mesothelioma, a type of cancer — has been eligible since the mid-90s, and his exclusion from the ballot has been among the most controversial through the years. Social media groups were started to protest and also promote a nomination — echoing good friend and early producer Jackson Browne, who once told Billboard, “Why the fuck isn’t he in there? Come-on!”
Most recently it was revealed that Billy Joel wrote a letter to the Rock Hall in praise and support of Zevon.
And there were huzzahs from many corners of the music world when the nomination was formally announced on Wednesday morning.
Zevon’s legacy certainly merits the celebration. He left 15 studio albums — including The Wind, recorded after his terminal diagnosis. It won Grammy Awards — Zevon’s first — for best contemporary folk album and best rock performance from the track “Disorder in the House,” featuring Bruce Springsteen. Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan and Browne are just a couple of the artists who have covered Zevon’s songs over the years. And former manager/producer Andrew Slater is moving forward with a family-approved documentary.
Both of Zevon’s children have followed in their father’s footsteps and released music of their own. Jordan, who resides in Los Angeles, contributed tracks to the tribute albums Enjoy Every Sandwich and Hurry Home Early, and Ariel, who’s in Vermont, also has acting credits in Silence & Darkness, My Little Assassin and TV’s ER. And while they’re not getting ahead of themselves, both are happy that their father’s finally getting this long-awaited opportunity…
Billboard: How are you feeling about the nomination?
Jordan: I’m excited. I had to wake up at 4.50 in the morning to get the news firsthand, so I’m very caffeinated and possibly a little dizzy, but I’m excited.
Ariel: When I first saw it, tears came to my eyes first and then sort of the shock of it being 20 years later since he passed away. It feels definitely, like, significant. I don’t pay much attention to any of this type of stuff; I’ve removed myself from the whole business aspect of it. But it feels like a significant moment for the Zevon family.
How would he have felt about it?
Jordan: There’s this misconception that dad wouldn’t have cared. I think maybe, to be blunt, the later records didn’t sell a million copies; that didn’t mean he hated the industry. It just meant he was on the fringes because he wasn’t Britney Spears. But he wouldn’t have been, like, “Who cares about that?” It’d be like, “Hey Johnny, hey Ariel, guess what?!” It would have been, “It’s a big deal.” It was his business. He wanted to be good at it. You want to win, you know, best plumber of the year. (laughs)
He’s been on so many lists over the years of someone who’s nomination was overdue. Did you feel that way as well?
Jordan: I’ve respected the choices that they’ve made. It’s been such a broad range of people that I kind of didn’t think it would happen. I thought he was worthy of it, but it seemed like there were so many boxes they were trying to check that getting around to dad might not have happened. It was such a grassroots thing, people rooting for it, that I was excited for them. There’s been Facebook groups and stuff like that for years.
Ariel: I have been asked — and Jordan might have had this similar experience where some of the fans ask me in this, like accusatory way, like I’ve stood in the way somehow, allowing (the exclusion) to happen. And It’s like, “No, I would love it. It’d be great!” So, yeah, I’m especially thrilled for all of those fans who have been pounding their fists saying, “Why hasn’t this happened yet?!” It’s great for them.
Do you have any sense about why it finally happened this year?
Jordan: I don’t know exactly what’s happening right now. I get notifications form the Facebook groups, just so I can post things once in awhile. They’re hosted by other people. But the people asking to join his group and the amount of people that have gone to his website over the past few months has just skyrocketed. So I don’t know.
I think there is a feeling from awhile back, like strike while the iron is hot. But I’ve seen this resurgence lately that I can’t really account for. It’s been amazing to watch. But before any of this…I just kept wondering, “Where is everybody coming from?” It’s pretty exciting. It’s just something in the air, I guess.
What’s today been like? Have you been hearing from a lot of people?
Jordan: Yeah, I have. It’s just some of the people like Roger Bell and Duncan Aldrich, and some of the crew that he’s worked with. I haven’t heard from, like Jackson (Browne) or Waddy (Wachtel) or anybody like that. But it’s bene nice.
Ariel: Some, although again I’m pretty removed from everything. But yes, I have gotten calls and messages saying congratulations. There is definitely a buzz about it, and it’s exciting. It’s an exciting thing to share with my kids. My kids are actually almost 20, so for them it’s like, “Look what’s going on!” They’re pretty psyched about it. They’re passing around the voting thing to all their buddies at college. That’s great.
Jordan: I’m the older one but Ariel is the smarter one, and she’s distanced herself from social media and stuff, which I should really be doing at my age. (laughs) But I’ve been more kind of tuned into all the Facebook hits and sharing and everything else and, yeah, that part has been a little out of control. My 14-year-old is excited, but her biggest question is, “If he does get in, will Billie Eilish be at the ceremony?” (laughs)
Were the two of you aware of the Billy Joel letter that had been sent?
Jordan: No.
Ariel: No, I didn’t know. He’d be cool to see play a song.
Jordan: OK, we’ll put that one out there.
Ariel: That’s one I hadn’t even thought about but that’d be really cool. (laughs)
It is just a nomination at this point, but are you allowing yourselves to think about what the induction night might be like?
Jordan: I do. It’s been a while since I’ve attended or done one of those things, and you know it may be a little geeky, but that’s kind of like a like a sports game, or something like that. I know the energy and the way they’re put together. So I can just kind of picture it almost on the technical aspect and basically the adrenaline of the entire evening, and I kind of picture it that way.
It’s almost a rhetorical question, but what’s your stump speech to the voters? Why does your dad deserve to get in?
Ariel: For one thing, you know, great artists, great writers, great songwriters, write things that echo again and again throughout the ages, right? And I feel like probably some of that momentum happening right now is that his words are still resonating, maybe truer than ever, his view on his perspective on the world.
It resonates in a whole deeper, broader sense, I think, for a lot of people nowadays given where we’re at globally and everything else. So I would say that’s a good sign of somebody who probably deserves to be recognized, for a contribution to the arts, just generally speaking.
Jordan: You know, I’ve been just engulfed in music all my life, and listening to so many different genres. And I just think the quality of the music and the songwriting, it’s such a different level, and I think that he put so much care into it. He didn’t flippantly write songs. When he was writing songs there was a typewriter. There was a lot of little balled up pieces of paper. He even told me, “It’s really hard.”
And I think that when you put his education, musically and intellectually, along with his experiences, it just combined to make something that is really in, and of its own. You can have, like, the dangerous songs and the party songs, and then the more fore-thinking songs like “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” and “My Shit’s fucked up,” which means so much more even now than they did then. I just think his view and the way that he managed to keep writing for such a long time. And commercial put aside, quality-wise he still kept writing some songs that I think are just really, truly amazing, throughout his career. I just think he is pretty fucking good!
It’s fitting that on Wednesday morning (Feb. 1) Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott became the first-ever female hip-hop artist to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. The pioneering rapper/songwriter/producer celebrated the news in a statement in which she said, “This is an incredible honor. I’m so humbled and grateful to be counted amongst all the incredible honorees.”
Elliott joined a list of 2023 nominees that also included Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, The Spinners, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
“I’ve spent my career making the kind of music I love and it means so much to know that I have touched others as well,” Elliott added. “But to hear that I am the first female hip hop artist to EVER be nominated into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame?!? Wow!! This one hits extra different as I hope it opens doors for other female emcees to be recognized!”
To be eligible for the RRHOF, an artist’s first commercial release must have come out at least 25 years prior to the nomination year. After making a name for herself in her early 20s writing and rapping on songs by Raven-Symoné, Jodeci, SWV and Aaliyah, Elliott’s genre-expanding debut, Supa Dupa Fly, dropped in 1997, featuring the psychedelic video for “The Rain,” her first of many eye-popping collaborations with director Hype Williams.
Elliott won a Grammy — one of four she’s earned to date — for best rap solo performance in 2002 for her landmark hit “Get Ur Freak On” and hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her 2003 single “Work It.” In addition to her six solo albums, Elliott has continued to be one of the most in-demand producers and songwriters in the business, working with everyone from Mary J. Blige and TLC to Beyoncé, Ciara, Fantasia, Jazmine Sullivan, Monica and Fifth Harmony, among many others.
She was also the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2019), the first to receive the MTV VMAs Video Vanguard Award (2019) and with more than 40 Million records sold worldwide she is the best-selling female rapper in Luminate history.
RRHOF Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
Cyndi Lauper is definitely good enough for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” singer who blazed a technicolor trail through the 1980s with a string of bouncy pop hits and equally colorful videos was overjoyed to celebrate the news that she is among the 2023 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“It’s such an honor and thrill to be recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nominee,” Lauper tells Billboard about bout joining the 2023 class of nominees that also includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, The Spinners, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon
“Seeing my name on this year’s ballot with so many talents that I admire means so much to me,” she adds. “It has been a lifetime privilege to reach so many different kinds of fans with a message of following your own path (and having fun along the way, too).”
First-time nominee Lauper made the list nearly four decades after the release of her smash debut solo album, 1983’s She’s So Unusual, which included such forever hits as “Time After Time,” “She Bop” and her signature empowerment anthem, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Thanks to those hits and covers of new wave band The Brains’ “Money Changes Everything” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” the album spun off four straight Billboard Hot 100 top five hits and charted on the Billboard 200 for more than a year.
The Grammy-winning album arrived at a time when MTV was a rising avenue of exposure for visually interesting acts, with Lauper’s technicolor hair, larger-than-life persona and fun-time videos helping to push her to the top of the pop heap. She continued to spin off hits throughout the decade, including “True Colors,” “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough,” “I Drove All Night” and others as she dipped her toe into acting in films and TV (Vibes, Life With Mickey, The Simpsons) while becoming an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ causes and a beacon for a new generation of female rock and pop stars.
Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
The nominees for this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class were announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1) — and unlike last year’s group, which featured mostly previously nominated acts, eight out of the 14 artists featured in the 2023 crop are first-timers, including two in their first year of eligibility.
As has been the increasingly common trend over the last 10 years, the “rock” qualifications of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are becoming increasingly flexible — this year, encompassing rap legends, pop superstars, country icons, R&B hitmakers and artists who are not easily classified under any one specific genre. There are still a handful of more traditionally rock-based acts recognized as well, but none of the Baby Boomer bands that have essentially comprised the Rock Hall’s foundation for most of its 35-plus-year existence.
The artists voted into the Rock Hall last year further suggested that a singular sound and legacy was more critical to induction than down-the-middle rock credentials. Dolly Parton, Eminem, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon and Eurythmics were all granted Rock Hall entry, despite none of them hailing from any traditional rock background. (Even the two most “rock” of the inductees — Duran Duran and Pat Benatar — were early MTV-era stars whose induction would’ve been unimaginable for most of the Rock Hall’s lifetime, as they were afforded little respect from the traditional rock media during their commercial peaks.)
Will the nominees from this year follow a similar path? Let’s break the 14 artists down, from our picks for least likely to most likely to get inducted later this year.
The Spinners have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three other times — in 2012, 2015 and 2016. But for sole remaining founding member Henry Fambrough, being on the ballot has not lost its thrill.
“It’s a pleasure being selected by this,” Fambrough tells Billboard from his current residence in Virginia. “We’ve been in this position over years and years, but we just haven’t won anything yet. But it’s a pleasure being selected like this. When you’re nominated like that, at least someone is thinking about you. You’re not sitting at home not hearing anything — you know what I’m saying?”
The spinners were named on Tuesday as part of a class of nominees that also includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
The quintet, which formed during 1954 and has been known at varying times as the Detroit Spinners and the Motown Spinners, has logged 17 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, insuring immortality with R&B chart-toppers such as “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” “The Rubberband Man,” “Then Came You” with Dionne Warwick and others. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976 and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.
It started out recording for manager/group member Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi Records, then became part of Motown when Fuqua sold the company to his brother-in-law, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. Its successes there were only modest, with just two R&B chart Top 10s from a pair of albums. “We didn’t have our own producer at Motown, like the Supremes and the really big stars did,” Fambrough recalls. “We’d get (the songs) they didn’t do, or get the other producers who were trying to get in.” The Spinners did tour, often supporting Marvin Gaye and other Motown acts. And the group members had other jobs at Motown, including working in the record packing plant or tour managing other acts. Fambrough, meanwhile, served as chauffeur for Gordy’s mother.
Despite the limited success, however, Fambrough feels the Spinners were well-served by their Motown tenure. “Harvey Fuqua and Cholly Atkins, our choreographer, they taught us,” he says. “(Executive) Maurice King, he told us, ‘Look, we’re gonna build you guys, so once your hit records stop coming you’re gonna be able to work. People are gonna want to hire you because of your act.’ “We hung on to that, and it was true. When our hit records stopped coming we were still going to Vegas and on the cruise ships and stuff, ’cause people wanted to see us.”
The Spinners real success came when it signed to Atlantic Records during the early 70s, at the suggestion of Aretha Franklin. There the group met up with producer-songwriter Thom Bell, who started with “I’ll Be There” and promised the group that “a year from now, you’re gonna be the No. 1 group in the country,” according to Fambrough.
“And we were like, ‘Yeah. Right. Thank you’ — but it was true.” Teamed with Bell, and with the lead vocal triumvirate of Fambrough, Bobby Smith and Philippe Wynne, the Spinners reeled off a hit parade that left its Motown years in the dust and put the group on par with fellow hit-makers such as the O’Jays and Earth, Wind & Fire. The fertile stretch lasted into the late 70s, declining after Wynne left the group and the Spinners subsequently stopped working with Bell.
But the group has never stopped — and doesn’t intend to, according to Fambrough. During 2021 it even released Round the Block and Back Again, its first album of original material in nearly 40 years.
“We made a pact with each other, back in the beginning,” Fambrough says. “We said, ‘We’re gonna make it or we’re not gonna make it, but whatever we do we’re gonna do it together.’ And when one of the guys would pass away we would get somebody else to come in who was thinking like we thought and had the idea of the future that we wanted and just keep it going.
“I’ll stay with them as long as I can — I might be on a stool, but I’ll be on stage,” he adds with a laugh. “And if I’m not on stage, I’ll still be with them. The other guys…are gone, but they’re still with us any time we sing. This group’s bigger than any one of us.”
Peter Hook says news of Joy Division/New Order‘s joint nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame “made me smile all day” after he learned the news on Tuesday (Jan. 31). It also made him chuckle a little too.
“To be honest with you, we were always against this sort of thing when we started,” the two groups’ founding bassist tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in England. “It was the old punk thing — we hope we die before we get old and destroy all the old musicians, etc. etc. and what rubbish awards ceremonies are. Then all of a sudden you get one, and as you get older you realize… yeah, it’s a wonderful thing. I’m humbled, I really am. It’s nice, and it’s fun to be appreciated.”
The groups were named on Tuesday as part of a class of nominees that also includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, The Spinners, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
And, he adds, “I will be rooting for us. Ever since we started as Warsaw, I’ve always felt great competition towards other bands. You want to do better than them, you want to achieve something. So this really appeals to me.”
The nomination marks the first inclusion on the ballot for either band. Joy Division has been eligible since 2004 and New Order — formed by Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (with Gillian Gilbert) after Joy Division singer Ian Curtis’ suicide in 1980 — since 2006. It’s not the first time the Rock Hall has put two bands together as a unit; the Small Face and Faces were inducted jointly back in 2012. And Hook feels that the commonality between Joy Division and New Order makes their pairing both acceptable and appropriate.
“It feels OK to me,” he explains. “It was an odd thing. Joy Division was such a wonderful, powerful entity, and it was so sad the way it ended. But the three of us — Bernie, Stephen and I — got real strength from starting New Order together. We started (Joy Division) after seeing the Sex Pistols, and we’ve been banging our heads against walls and doors and kicking them down musically since then. We were always the square peg in a round hole as Joy Division and very much a square peg in a round hole as New Order. (The Rock Hall) is a hell of an accolade, but my God, I think either band has earned it. We are definitely up there without a shadow of a doubt.”
The potential of a Joy Division/New Order induction does come with the specter of some possible drama. Hook — who’s written two memoirs about his life and in outside of music — has been at odds with Sumner, Morris and Gilbert since 2011, when New Order reformed without him after a four-year hiatus. The resulting lawsuit was settled out of court, but Hook says the musicians “still haven’t spoken, personally in 11 years. We’re still fighting hammer and tong, tooth and nail… I think we’re going for the record for the longest group fallout in history. It’s very tragic.”
But he’s hopeful that, if inducted, all parties will put aside their differences at least for one night.
“It will be a difficult awards ceremony if we get there, but as my wife said we’ve got to rise above these things… and be nice and be courteous and think the best,” Hook says. “Maybe this is the olive branch that we may need to end the injustices that were done with New Order in the end. It’s a very strange position to be in but, y’know, we’re not the first group that’s been ostracized by each other, and we won’t be the last.”
Since the schism New Order has released two studio albums along with several live sets and the 2020 single “Be a Rebel.” On Jan. 27 the box set Low-Life was released, compiling New Order 12-inch singles and filmed live performances. The group will play a set of shows in Texas during March, including an appearance at South By Southwest.
For more than a decade, meanwhile, Hook has led his band, The Light, in performing Joy Division and New Order albums in their entireties. He returns to the road in March for The World is a Vampire Festival in Mexico and starts a U.K. tour in April, playing both of Joy Division’s studio albums (Unknown Pleasures and Closer), a variety of New Order songs and the Substance compilations from both bands.
“It’s all about music,” says Hook, who launched a music business master’s degree program at the University of Central Lancashire in England during 2012. “The reason it’s OK to be playing Joy Division was the fact I thought it needed celebrating more, and for me not to celebrate it I felt was wrong. So it’s been wonderful to do and it’s been wonderful to keep on celebrating New Order music, and probably I will be doing it until I die — and beyond.”
