Today, the Rock and Rall Hall of Fame announced its list of nominees for the 2020 class. Among, them was the long overdue legendary act Motorhead. Lemmy was and is rock and roll, so it's unfathomable to me that he's not in already, but better late then ever.
On closer inspection, you would notice that it's actually the classic lineup of Motorhead that was invited to be nominated, which would be Lemmy, ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor. That means longtime members, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikey Dee would not be inducted.
That's ridiculous.
After Lemmy, Campbell is the longest tenured member of the band, having joined in 1984 and playing with Motorhead until the end. The third longest tenured member? Mikey FN Dee, who joined in 1992 and was with the band for 23 years.
The Rock Hall offers no explanation for how the members that are inducted are chosen. As Loudwire pointed out, Soundgarden are also nominated this year, and each member of the band had been included as well as Hiro Yamamoto, who was only with the band for five years.
Just induct everybody! Why is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame constantly so stuck up about these things?
Mikey Dee is taking a diplomatic approach, telling Billboard "I remember when we won a Grammy (in 2005) he was prouder than any of us. He really glowed I said, 'Lem, this is pretty fucking cool,' and he said, 'You're right, mate. This is great.' And when we got our hands in the Rock Walk on Sunset in Hollywood, that was also a moment for him, and he was really proud. And this here [nomination] is the king of kings, if you will, so he would've been very, very proud."
"In my book, if anyone really deserves to be in that Hall of Fame, it's Motorhead in so many ways because of the inspiration on thousands of bands," Dee reflected. "Even the biggest of the biggest have been so influenced by Motorhead and Lemmy. It's the real deal. If you talk to Ozzy [Osbourne], he thinks that Motorhead should have been in before Black Sabbath, even."
As for the snub, Mikey says "That is pure wrong, I would say, and I know Phil will be very disappointed, too. We've been carrying the flag for 25 years together, and actually brought Motorhead to what it was. We did 25 years out of the 40."
We hope the Rock Hall corrects this error.
