Nominees for this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class are an impressive list. The Black Crowes, Joy Division/ New Order, Mariah Carey and Cyndi Lauper are included among 14 nominees. One band stands out to me: Bad Company made the list for the first time. That’s both awesome, but also incredibly sad to report. The British band formed in 1973, debuted “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1975, and was a powerhouse before initially disbanding in 1983. It reunited for tours over the next three decades.
We reached out to North Carolina marketing executive Rick French, chair and CEO of Raleigh-based communications firm French/West/Vaughan, about the nominations. He’s a big Bad Company fan and a Rock Hall board of trustees member. Here’s what he had to say before inductees are announced in late April:
What is your role with the HOF?
I was elected to the board of trustees in 2006 and have spent the past two decades supporting our unique mission to engage, teach and inspire through the power of
rock ‘n’ roll.
How do bands get nominated?
A nominating committee comprised of rock ‘n’ roll historians, board members, current living inductees and music-industry executives painstakingly research, debate and ultimately put forward a slate of nominees for consideration by the full voting membership, which is made up of 1,200 artists, historians and music-industry professionals worldwide, the majority of whom are living inductees. So to actually get voted in, the artist really needs the support of a jury of their peers. There is often a misperception that the Rock Hall as an institution or our board puts artists in, or keeps artists out, and nothing could be further from the truth. We work to create a diverse slate and then let the votes fall as they may.
In any given year, five to seven artists are elected, depending on the size of the slate. This year, we have 14 nominees so I expect seven to be elected, but that isn’t assured.
What pushed Bad Company over the top this year?
A board contingent pushed the nominating committee hard for the band’s inclusion on this year’s ballot. And several high-profile inductees threw their considerable weight behind a nomination. I don’t want to name names, but if you follow the connective tissue of Paul Rodgers’ career to other bands or shared labels he was a part of, you might be able to make a pretty educated guess. Note: Rodgers was the vocalist for Bad Company, as well as Free and The Firm.
Why do you think Bad Company deserves a shot?
I’m biased because Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke is a friend. I would have liked for this to be a Free/Bad Company nomination in the same way we nominated Joy Division/New Order and how we inducted The Faces/Small Faces previously.
Plus, Simon allowed me to join some of Broadway’s biggest stars on stage to sing the Free classic, “All Right Now” at Sony Hall in New York City a few years ago, and that song alone should get Free a nomination.
Nonetheless, Paul is one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll vocalists of all time, and Simon is one of its greatest drummers. Bad Company was a supergroup by anyone’s definition, considering it also included Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and former King Crimson bassist and vocalist Boz Burrell. It delivered one rock anthem after another, from “Feel Like Makin’ Love” to “Bad Company” to “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy.” And if you were in high school in the late ’70s like I was, you couldn’t walk the halls without seeing someone wearing one of those iconic tumbling dice concert T-shirts from the band’s “Straight Shooter” album.
Paul probably didn’t do himself or the band any favors by being so dismissive of the Rock Hall in the past. He has definitely changed his tune, as did Cher last year and Dolly Parton a couple of years ago. It’s hard to push for anyone’s inclusion if it’s a club they say they don’t want to belong to. Are you listening, Oasis? ■
