It has been a long time coming but Upper Darby, PA’s Todd Rundgren will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
During my many interviews with Upper Darby, PA’s wizard and true star Todd Rundgren, he always shied from the idea of awards, medals and ceremonies for his multi-colored work. Be it his blues and psychedelic pop with locally-born bands Woody’s Truck Stop and The Nazz, his Sound of Philadelphia-Gamble-Huff-Bell inspired double album solo classic Something/Anything, the space soul of A Wizard/A True Star and Todd, and countless rock outs and analytical jams. To say nothing of producing the likes of Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, fellow local Patti Smith’s Wave and XTC’s Skylarking, Todd Rundgren never craved the accolade.
That said, he finally got one. After several nominations, tries, and denials… Todd Rundgren just got placed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2021 iteration.
In what be the Cleveland Rock Hall’s most diverse group of new entries, Rundgren will join this year’s inductees such as Foo Fighters (which means Dave Grohl gets in twice, the other victory being Nirvana), The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z ( I can hear the bitching about hip hop in the Rock Hall now), Carole King (in already for her role as Gerry Goffin’s songwriting partner), and Tina Turner (in already for her work with Ike Turner) as part of the Performers category.
To complete the 2021 list of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awardees: Billy Preston, LL Cool J and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads will receive their own Musical Excellence Awards. Gil Scott Heron, Kraftwerk and Charley Patton will get Early Influence Awards. And Sussex Records founder Clarence Avant is gifted with the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
The live-and-in-person (as opposed to last year’s virtual ceremony for Depeche Mode and the Doobie Brothers) induction ceremony will now be held at Cleveland, Ohio’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on October 30. A recorded broadcast of the awards – and the live presenters and musical tribute guests – will air on HBO Max and streamed on HBO Max at a later date, to be announced.
I will mess this up and miss someone but to date, Patti Smith, Gamble and Huff, Hall and Oates and Jerry Blavat are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Chubby Checker is not. Get him in next.
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