Why Does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Hate Miami?

Two years ago, Jann Wenner got himself kicked off the board of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an institution he helped form. In an interview with the New York Times, Wenner admitted that racial and gender bias play a part in who gets inducted. If only the interviewer had asked Wenner if geography plays a part in who gets inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well.

Because otherwise, it makes no sense why, year after year, acts with Miami ties get ignored.

You look up and down the roster of inductees, and it's slim pickings for South Florida. The soul duo Sam & Dave, who sang hits like "Soul Man," is the only truly homegrown act. However, we'll also include The Bee Gees, as the brothers recorded some of their biggest hits after relocating to the 305. But unless you want to count acts who moved to Miami long after they made it big, like Iggy Pop or Madonna, that's about it.

We'd like to promote five nominees to remedy that. A note to sticklers: Most of these musicians are not practitioners of rock and roll. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is really the popular music hall of fame. It honors those who are beloved and influential, but mostly those who are essential to recounting the history of popular music. We think these five acts, listened to in alphabetical order, more than qualify.

1. The 2 Live Crew

At this point, one or two hip-hop acts are inducted into the Hall of Fame every year. In the latest class, A Tribe Called Quest and Outkast received the honor, joining Eminem, Missy Elliot, and over a dozen other rap or rap-adjacent groups already enshrined. Somehow, they forgot about Luke. You can't tell the story of hip-hop without considering how influential the Miami bass sound was that 2 Live Crew popularized. But you truly can't tell the story of modern popular music without going into how record store owners were arrested for selling copies of 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be album. The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court over whether musicians could get as nasty as they wanted to be on their recordings. Eventually, 2 Live Crew and free speech prevailed.

2. Gloria Estefan

With Cyndi Lauper just inducted, it seems even more outrageous that Gloria Estefan and her Miami Sound Machine have never been nominated. While Cyndi Lauper had two number one hits in the 1980s, Estefan had three with "Anything for You," "Don't Wanna Lose You," and "Coming Out of the Dark". And while Lauper cut an unforgettable, iconic image with her rainbow hair colors and high-pitched voice, Estefan has undoubtedly been more influential. The current success of music in Spanish or Spanglish with English-speaking listeners would not have happened without dipping pop radio's toes into Latin rhythms with hits like "Conga" and "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You". Estefan later recorded albums with lyrics completely in Spanish, opening her hardcore fans' ears and minds to songs in a non-native language.

3. Jane's Addiction

Though always identified with Los Angeles, Perry Farrell, lead singer and founder of the art rock quartet, grew up in South Florida. A former North Miami Beach High School student, Farrell shared with New Times how the local music scene shaped him, particularly his love for the local punk band, Critical Mass. I'd put Jane's Addiction's first two full-length records, Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, with any of their already inducted peers like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Guns N' Roses. But beyond the great music, what makes them especially significant is that Lollapalooza started in 1991 as a Jane's Addiction farewell tour. The success of Lollapalooza led to the music festival craze. So it's not a stretch of the imagination to say that without Jane's Addiction, there would be no Coachella, no Bonnaroo, and no Ultra Music Festival.

4. KC and The Sunshine Band

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame originally started on the notion that disco sucks and that real music like rock and roll should be honored. Over the years, however, disco has been allowed into their hallowed halls with Donna Summer and The Bee Gees. It's time to acknowledge Hialeah's own. KC and The Sunshine Band. They had a mindboggling five number one hits in the late 1970s, including earworms that if you hear once, you'll never forget, like "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty," "That's the Way (I Like It)," and "Get Down Tonight". It's time to end the snobbery once and for all and embrace disco fully.

5. Marilyn Manson

This one is least likely to happen after the allegations of domestic abuse on the shock rock singer, even if the Hall of Fame is packed with abusers, including Ike Turner, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the repentant John Lennon. But at one point in the late '90s, Marilyn Manson had a case for being the most famous (or infamous) rock star in the world. They had two number one albums with Mechanical Animals and The Golden Age of Grotesque, but the outrageous visual motifs and their loud sounds captured the zeitgeist so much that they were blamed for everything from school shootings to teenage suicide. It all started down here when Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids would play any South Florida stage that would have them.


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