Rock Hall hits rock bottom, inducts Whitney Houston instead of Thin Lizzy

By Steve Newton

Just when you think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame might not necessarily be a total waste of space, they go and screw up big-time again.

And this time it’s a real doozy.

Today the Rock Hall announced the inductees for its class of 2020, and guess what? They had a chance to put the finally-nominated and totally deserving Thin Lizzy in there, and instead they went with Whitney Houston.

Whitney freakin’ Houston!

What is it about her music that makes anyone with a half a molecule of brain matter think it’s got anything to do with rock and roll? It’s the total opposite of rock ‘n’ roll, for fvck’s sake.

But snubbing my beloved Thin Lizzy wasn’t the Hall of Lame’s only shocking misstep today. They also inducted Depeche Mode and the Notorious B.I.G. instead of the way more worthy Motorhead, Soundgarden, MC5, and Judas Priest, bands that actually rock.

I will give them credit for inducting T. Rex, finally. But now I will have to take T. Rex out of Newt’s Rock Hall, because the rules are that there can be no overlapping between the “official” Rock Hall in Cleveland and mine in my mancave in Delta, B.C., Canada. Mine has existed since 2015 to point out the amazing talent that doesn’t get recognized in the RRHOF. Here’s who I’ve inducted so far:

Class of 2015: Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, Link Wray, Iron Maiden, and Thin Lizzy (replacing Deep Purple).

Class of 2016: Blue Oyster Cult, Mott the Hoople, UFO, Ten Years After, and Robin Trower.

Class of 2017: Warren Zevon, Albert Collins, Jethro Tull, Ronnie Montrose, Rick Derringer, and Gary Moore.

Class of 2018: Motörhead, T. Rex, Free, the MC5, Humble Pie, and the J. Geils Band.

Class of 2019: Mountain, the Cramps, Roy Buchanan, Nazareth, the Georgia Satellites, the New York Dolls, and the Tragically Hip (yes, I’m Canadian).

That other Rock Hall added six acts to its Class of 2020 today, so tomorrow I’ll add six to mine, plus one to my Class of 2018 as the necessary replacement for T. Rex. Let me see your last-minute nominees.

To hear my audio interviews with the legends of rock since 1982, become a patron of the Newt on Patreon. The interviews posted so far include Newt’s Rock Hall inductees Link Wray, Iron Maiden (Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, and Steve Harris), Blue Oyster Cult (Buck Dharma), Warren Zevon, Albert Collins, Ronnie Montrose, Gary Moore, Motorhead (Lemmy Kilmister), Mountain (Leslie West), the Cramps (Poisoon Ivy), Roy Buchanan, and the Tragically Hip (Gord Downie).