The Rock & Roll Hall of fame announced their 14 ‘class of 2025’ nominees yesterday and – as is typical for their annual rollout – it’s an eclectic list vying for attention and hoping to make the judge’s final roll call in April.
Of course, with the entire gamut of musical genres to choose from (the only qualifying requirement being that they first released a record a minimum of 25 years ago) places on the list are hard to come by, and while some clamour to be included, some treat the ‘honour’ with a little less respect.
One band who haven’t made the cut are The Prodigy and, when alerted to the fact that, once again, they’d been passed over, band leader Liam Howlett has expressed his disappointment.
“I’ve said before, I never gave a f___ about the charts. But somehow Fat of the Land going to No. 1 in the USA felt different,” he told Rolling Stone ahead of upcoming Australian tour dates. “It had an extra ‘f___ you-ness’ about it as only a few British bands had ever done that. So yeah, you could say it gave me a certain cheeky pride for a while.”
“We always kept it real and always kept our integrity intact,” he went on, when the subject of the RNR Hall of Fame was addressed more directly. “It’s not something I’ve ever thought about, but yeah, as you spoke about it we should be up there. Make it happen!”
Howlett’s stance is diametrically opposed to another Liam’s take on the new nominations - Liam Gallagher whose band, Oasis, have just been nominated for a second time.
Writing on his favourite soapbox, X, Gallaher expressed his distaste for the award stating that: “RNR hall of fame is for WANKERS.” His latest take only backs up a similar stance from last year. “F*** the Rock n Roll hall of fame it's full of BUMBACLARTS LG,” he wrote, while instructing fans not to "waste your time" voting.
Speaking to the Sunday Times he said: "It’s like putting me in the rap hall of fame, and I don’t want to be part of anything that mentally disturbed. Besides, I’ve done more for rock n’ roll than half of them clowns on that board.”
It remains to be seen whether Oasis will get lucky this year (after not making the grade last year). Likewise if The Prodigy will ever make the cut at all.
The only thing is for certain is that only one of these Liams will thank them for it.
