Hall of Fame Material?

Tonight, five new artists will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For me, REM is a no-brainer and from everything I've read, most critics and Hall voters are happy with this soon-to-be freshman member.

But the rest? I mean, come on!

Every year, I'm constantly amazed at the utter crap that's deemed worthy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's a constant source of conversation and aggravation in the Kuhn household.

This year's other so-called Hall of Famers include freakish punk entity Patti Smith (who I've NEVER understood), fashionably full of themselves rockers Van Halen, not-quite-the Supremes girl group the Ronettes and the Hall's first and probably not their last hip-hop artist (unfortunately), Grandmaster Flash. Oh boy.

Why successful songwriters and performers like Neil Diamond and Chicago are not in the Hall when these nuts are, is beyond me! What about Jeff Lynn and ELO, the Moody Blues, the Hollies, Hall and Oates, Joe Cocker...I'm sorry, but they look down their noses at commercial success but this is good stuff, too. And now that Van Halen has made it, I can only hope that opens the door for some of these other artists who many thought had no chance in Hell to get in.

I'll listen to the REM and maybe Van Halen portion of the concert (but only to see if there's a fistfight during the latter!). But my guess is that most people will tune out this year's lackluster selections.