TheB-52’shave embarked on their “Cosmic De-Evolution Tour” with DEVO, a band with which they have a lot in common.
They both formed in the turbulent 1970s. They each found mainstream radio success in the 80s. Both DEVO and the B-52’s have a distinctive, outsider aesthetic that many have struggled to classify. Both bands have defining hits (“Whip It,” “Love Shack”) and a rich discography that rewards those who dig deep.
And, surprisingly, neither band isin the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The B-52’s—Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, and Cindy Wilson—have been eligible for the Rock Hall since 2003, twenty-five years after their first commercial recording (per the Rock Hall’s guidelines). But Schneider, 74, is at the point where he “doesn’t care anymore” whether the band gets in or not.
Photo by Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture alliance via Getty Images
“We should have been in 20 years ago because if it’s about influencing other bands, I can’t tell you how many bands said they were influenced by us,” the B-52s singer said in a new interview with Vulture. “I know Kate is really champing at the bit to get in, but I don’t care.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts only a handful of acts each year, resulting in manyartists going unrecognized for their work. To solve this oversight, the Rock Hall has expanded the yearly class size with the Early/Musical Influence and Musical Excellence awards. Plus, the organization has also worked towards greater inclusion, recognizing the impact of acts within the R&B, pop, and hip-hop worlds.
However, there have always been and will continue to be some notable snubs and eyebrow-raising choices. Many of the B-52’s contemporaries (New York Dolls, Television) have not gotten in, while groups that came after them (U2, R.E.M., Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band) have been inducted.
“It just doesn’t make any sense that we’re not in,” Sneider told Vulture. “Other bands have gotten in who aren’t even rock and roll. I [couldn ‘t] care less about being in there with John Cougar Mellencamp.”
How DEVO (and the B-52s) Could Get Into Rock The Hall of Fame
DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh, who recently spoke exclusively to Parade about the band’s new Netflix documentary, devised a clever way to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“They have a parking lot next door,” he explained. “In Ohio, they have very lax laws about where you can bury people….So I was thinking we could just stack all the members of Devo in this one parking space so we could be Rock and Roll Hall of Fame adjacent, even if we weren’t inside.”
Related: Devo Frontman Didn’t Think ‘Whip It’ Hitmakers Would Even Be a Rock Band at First (Exclusive)
