I know I’ve written about this before, but I don’t think I’m beating a dead horse. I mean, I haven’t said anything about this since March of 2010.
Why isn’t Linda Ronstadt in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? It simply doesn’t make any sense to me at all. Others feel the same way.
In my head somehow, she’s kind of becoming the Pete Rose of Rock Music. Rose bet on baseball, that’s why he can’t get into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I don’t think Ronstadt ever bet on music.
What can I do about this injustice? Not a damn thing except write about in sometimes. It’s also an excuse to put up a Ronstadt video. Here she is singing “Tumbling Dice.”
See ya Sunday.
(YouTube video)
Larry Gross Online 
Great voice, no doubt about that, but Linda has mostly been a cover artists not writing her own songs. Maybe this has something to do with her not getting into the hall of fame.
One thing for sure. Back in her day she was a hot looking chick.
I think she’ll get in pretty good. She deserves it.
I meant SOON!
I think being diverse has played against Ronstadt when it comes to getting into the Hall of Fame. She’s a rock star for sure but she also sings folk, country, pop, jazz — she really sings it all. In an odd way, she was too damn good to get voted in or at least so far.
She’s a jukebox and not a hall of famer.
Linda has a beautiful and powerful voice regardless of what kind of song she is singing. Being diverse should not work against her at all. It should be a plus!
For this song alone, Linda belongs in the rock and roll hall of fame.
Linda will always get my vote!
She’s not “Hot in Cleveland.”
Just be patient. She will get into the Hall of Fame sooner or later and I honestly do think Pete will get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He may be dead when it happens, but he will get in.
Whether her voice was blaring out of a radio, jukebox or stereo speakers and especially when she performed live in a club (in her early cult following days) or an arena her voice was one of the most gorgeous instruments of the rock era. The rock and roll hall of fame is a sanctimonious fraud of an organization. Donna Summer (god rest her disco soul), Abba, the dreadfully untalented Madonna are in? Give us a break. Ronstadt is a seminal figure in Americana rock and roll. Her radio hits, for all their popularity, tell little of the Ronstadt musical saga. Had she overdosed in 1982 they would be canonizing her. But she got off the celebrity treadmill by choice and worst of all to some – stopped being an adorable size 2. For all her commercial success (100 million+ sales) she never seemed a shill for the music industry. There are few voices as beautifully heartbreaking as Linda’s. An entertainer with a modest graceful soul. She is always in my hall of fame.
Well said, Charles Kane.
The issue with Pete seems to be the criteria for the Hall of Fame. If it’s based on pure athleticism, no one can argue against him getting it. But if character is part of the criteria, betting on baseball and lying has hurt him badly. I am not a big baseball fan, so I am neutral about him getting in.
But as far as Linda, she is awesome. I would love to see her get in.
The argument that Linda is only a “cover” artist is one that is often used to deny her the honor of being inducted, and it simply doesn’t wash for the simple fact that more than half of the artists that are already in have never written their own material either. Linda has actually written at least three songs, if anybody will bother to look at her history.
Beyond the statistics of hit singles and multi-Platinum selling albums, look at the number of female singers over the past forty years who have tabbed Linda as a significant influence on them wanting to become singers in the first place. And then consider the fact that not only has Linda explored rock and roll itself, but also all the myriad styles that led to rock and roll’s birth in the first place: pop; jazz; R&B; gospel; folk; blues; and country music.
Given all these incontravertible facts, to continue to deny her this honor is one of the biggest blights the Hall has ever had on itself, and it won’t go away until the “historians” who run the place set aside their prejudices and look at her history the way they are supposed to.
Linda is great. I think most people are too young to remember The Stone Ponies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5C710lnPfQ