Credit: Far Out / Public Domain
Sat 8 August 2026 4:00, UK
Far Out’s own Tom Taylor described the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, fairly and accurately, as “the great arbiters of taste that everyone seems to hate and disregard” recently.
It’s the kind of description that has applied to the institution for almost as long as it has even been an institution, but, in fact, they don’t even really claim to be arbiters of taste, as much as they are arbiters of impact.
Once a band has been active for 25 years, they become eligible for nomination into the Rock Hall, at which point the panel then look less at the quality of any given act (which explains why the likes of ELO, Chicago, the Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Journey have been admitted into the Hall) than they do at both the musical impact and innovative qualities of an artist.
Even that has led to some criticism over their inductions. If you are looking at impact and innovation in Rock and Roll, then you can’t go too long without mentioning Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but the Hall didn’t deign to celebrate her until as late as 2018 (she should have gone in at the first time of asking, alongside inaugural inductees Elvis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry).
Similarly, whatever you think of them, acts and artists like Chubby Checker, Television, Devo, The Smiths and Fiona Apple should all be considered Hall of Famers. However, one group whose impact, innovation or, especially, the quality remains undebatable is The Kinks, and the Rock Hall at least got it right when inducting the group in 1990.
Alongside their annual award show, the Rock Hall celebrates and commemorates the legends of popular music all year round at their museum in Cleveland, OH, which is home to a permanent display showcasing the Hall of Fame’s official ‘The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll’ list, compiled by museum curator James Henke, along with “the museum’s curatorial staff and numerous rock critics and music experts”.
Although they have not been placed in any particular order, the list features 500 songs and spans around 80 years of music, with the earliest recording being Mamie Smith’s ‘Crazy Blues’ from 1920 and the most recent is 2006’s ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ by My Chemical Romance, but unsurprisingly, the majority of the songs come from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones tied for most entries on the list with eight titles apiece.
Further reading: From The Vault
Further down, with a still impressive four songs to their credit, are The Kinks, with ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘A Well Respected Man’, ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and ‘Lola’, which are all deserving.
But any conversation about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wouldn’t be complete without somebody asking why a particular song hasn’t been inducted, so here are four such suggestions: ‘All Day and All of the Night’, ‘Where Have All the Good Times Gone?’, ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ and ‘This Time Tomorrow’, which should all be enough to push The Kinks up to their place beside their fellow British invaders.
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