Number one on my list, always and forever, will be the Johnny Burnette Rock 'N' Roll Trio. To read how some writers describe the Rock 'N' Roll Trio, one may conclude that they were nothing more than a footnote in the history of rock and roll, although many writers, such as Colin Escott, Howard Dewitt or Hank Zevallos could easily set things straight. The Trio may have been regional during their heyday, but their influence far transcends their limited popularity to where they are highly regarded by both musicians and rockabilly fans. This influence began early on in their career. They brought what at the time was a unique meld of rhythm & blues and country to the Memphis clubs, and Elvis Presley was known to occasionally sing with the band before he signed with Sun. The term "rockabilly" comes from one of their songs, "Rockbilly Boogie". Paul Burlison did his part in the history of fuzz tone by playing with a loose tube on his amp on "The Train Kept A-Rollin'", and their version of this Tiny Bradshaw song influenced the rave-up version by the Yardbirds, which in turn influenced the showstopping version by Aerosmith. Many of the British rockers were familiar with the work of the Trio, to which they simply refer as "Johnny Burnette". For example, you'll find their "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes" included on "Live At The BBC" by the Beatles. And the influence on the Beatles' didn't stop there. You'll find that Paul McCartney's version of "Honey Hush" on his album "Run Devil Run" is based on the Trio's version rather than the original by Big Joe Turner. Or how about Ritchie Blackmore's quote that not only did J.S Bach influence his guitar solo on "Highway Star", but so did Johnny Burnette? It's little surprise that a psychobilly band like the Cramps have covered the Trio's "Tear It Up", as well as their songs becoming standards of rockabilly revivalists like Robert Gordon or the Stray Cats. After the Trio broke up, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette became one of Rick Nelson's main songwriting teams, writing or co-writing the hits "Waitin' In School", "Believe What You Say", "It's Late" and "Just A Little Too Much". Johnny Burnette went on to a hit solo career, and had just signed a brother/sister duo, Richard and Karen Carpenter, to his new label when he died in a boating accident. Dorsey Burnette had a pop and country hit with "Tall Oak Tree", and went on to have a country music career before he died in the 70s. Paul Burlison quietly opened an electronics store and raised a family, and after his kids grew up, he returned to touring and playing with many of the musicians who adored the Trio. It's not hard to discover other ways this trio influenced rock and roll. Sadly, this year's discoveries were contained in the GoMemphis obituary to Paul Burlison, who died on 25 September 2003. Bill Ellis' article lists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton among the guitarists influenced by Burlison, and Led Zeppelin and Motorhead are listed as groups who have covered the Trio's songs. All this, and I haven't even begun to talk about the careers of Johnny's son, Rocky Burnette ("Tired Of Toein' The Line") or Dorsey's son, Billy Burnette, both influenced by their fathers' work.

But there are so many others. How about the popular and influential r&b artists that were part of the Johnny Otis Revues, such as the singers Big Mama Thornton, Little Esther Phillips or Johnny Ace, or the fantastic r&b saxophonist Big Jay McNeely? How about contemporary blues musicians that significantly influenced rock and roll, such as Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Roy Brown, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Parker, Slim Harpo, Albert King, Albert Collins or Junior Wells, or those influential contemporaries who not only performed the blues but have mastered a wide variety of forms, such as Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown or Taj Mahal? Speaking of contemporaries in other genres that significantly influenced rock and roll, how about the Maddox Brothers & Rose, the Louvin Brothers, Patsy Cline, Miles Davis, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings or Merle Haggard? How about the many deserving doo wop groups still not yet inducted, such as Billy Ward & His Dominoes, the Clovers, the Five Satins, the "5" Royales, the Five Keys, the Penguins, the Cadillacs, the Skyliners, The Solitaires or Little Anthony & The Imperials?

Brenda "Little Miss Dynamite" Lee is the first female rockabilly artist inducted, so how about the queen of rockabilly, Wanda Jackson? How about the rest of the great soul singers, such as Chuck Willis, Jerry Butler, Brook Benton, Bobby Womack, Joe Tex, Percy Sledge, Johnnie Taylor, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass or Luther Vandross? Or how about the influential comic rhythm and blues of Rufus Thomas, or the influential madcap New Orleans r&b of Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns? How about the precursor to loud, fuzz-tone power chord music, Link Wray? How about one of the few artists to keep rock and roll alive during the years between The Day The Music Died and the Beatles' debut, Jack Scott? Outside of Motown artists, the only inducted girl group has been the Shirelles; so how about what is widely considered to be the first girl group, the Chantels? Or Phil Spector groups like the Ronettes or the Blossoms (the Blossoms are the real voices behind the Crystals' "He's A Rebel", and they sang background vocals on so many major hits of the 60s, even on group member's Darlene Love's hits, as well as on the TV show "Shindig"). Or how about non-Phil Spector girl groups, like a girl group with an edge, the Shangri-Las? How about a popular solo artist who represents the girl group sound, Lesley Gore?

Speaking of women, how about one of the best pop stylists of all time, Connie Francis? How about pop/rock artists who have gained huge followings internationally, such as Cliff Richard & The Shadows or Abba? Or how about the woman who was Queen of Soul before Aretha Franklin, Carla Thomas? How about real surf music, the r&b influenced instrumental music that real surfers listened to, such as Dick Dale? Or how about an instrumental band, the Ventures, from which whose records many guitarists learned how to play? Dusty Springfield and Gene Pitney have been inducted, but arguably the best singer of Burt Bacharach and Hal David songs has yet to be inducted, so how about Dionne Warwick? Speaking of songwriters, there are way too few songwriters inducted as non-performers, especially in contrast to the number of label executives that have been inducted, and there are so many deserving songwriters including Otis Blackwell, Rudolph Toombs, Percy Mayfield, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Bert Berns (a.k.a. Bert Russell), Ellen Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Don Covay, Chips Moman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Fred Neil, Norman Whitfield, Jackie DeShannon, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Shel Silverstein, Russ Ballard, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, Bernie Taupin, Tom Waits and Warren Zevon, some of whom are worthy to be inducted as performers. And while we're talking about songwriters worthy of a performer induction, how about a performer induction for Carole King?

There are many Motown acts inducted, but how about the woman whose early hits built Motown, Mary Wells, or how about saxophonist Jr. Walker & The All-Stars? Many of the blues rock bands of the British Invasion have been inducted, but how about the forerunner of them all, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, the training ground for so many of those musicians? Talking about the British Invasion, how about the Dave Clark 5, the Hollies, the Spencer Davis Group or the Small Faces? Talking about blues rock, how about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band? There have been way too many folk rock acts inducted in recent years, but still, how about the Turtles, Fairport Convention, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Bruce Cockburn or the obscure but influential Bert Jansch? How about a great garage band, like Paul Revere & The Raiders? How about the real psychedelia that fans enjoy, like Love, the Zombies or the 13th Floor Elevators? How about other psychedelic groups like Spirit? Booker T. & The MGs have been inducted, but how about other instrumental soul groups like the Meters or the Bar-Kays (both the first and second incarnation)? How about the often-snubbed metal bands, like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, not to mention metal's showmen, KISS and Alice Cooper?

How about progressive rock bands, whose influence can still be heard in groups like Nine Inch Nails and Tool, like the Moody Blues, Yes, Genesis (who transformed later into an equally successful pop rock band), Jethro Tull or King Crimson, or the pioneers of prog metal, Rush? And how about the eclectic Roxy Music? Speaking of being influenced by prog, how about an arty, idiosyncratic soloist who influenced many female artists, Kate Bush? Speaking of prog, how about Kraftwerk, the ones who sparked genres like new wave, techno and electronica? Speaking of sparking new wave, how about the punk and proto-punk bands, like the Stooges, the MC5, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, the Sex Pistols, the Boomtown Rats, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshees, the Buzzcocks, the Jam, Wire, the Only Ones, Black Flag or Pere Ubu? Speaking of new wave, how about Blondie, The Cars, Human League, Joy Division or the Pretenders? Queen has been inducted, but what about the group that was a major influence on Queen, David Bowie and most glam and metal bands, T. Rex? How about a band influenced by David Bowie, Black Sabbath and others that is credited as the origin of Goth rock, Bauhaus? How about a boldly innovative group such as the Pretty Things? How about the touchstones of power pop, The Move, Big Star and Badfinger?

Great singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Paul Simon have already been inducted, but what about Don McLean ("American Pie"), Cat Stevens or the short-lived but incredible Jim Croce, Harry Chapin or Harry Nilsson? How about the lighter side of r&b, such as the 5th Dimension, the Spinners, the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, the Chi-Lites or the Stylistics? Many artists have gotten second inductions for both their careers with a band and as a soloist, so how about Ben E. King, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Diana Ross, Lou Reed, John Fogerty or David Byrne? Speaking of Lou Reed, how about other edgy songwriters and performers like Peter Gabriel, Jonathan Richman, Nick Lowe or Graham Parker? How about the wunderkinds of songwriting, production and recording, like Todd Rundgren, Dave Edmunds, Al Kooper or T-Bone Burnett? Speaking of Al Kooper, how about jazz rock bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears or Chicago? Speaking of Chicago, how about those classic 70s rock and pop/rock bands that are still wildly popular, like the Steve Miller Band, Electric Light Orchestra, the Doobie Brothers, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Styx, Foreigner, Heart, Boston, Kansas or Journey? Speaking of classic 70s rock, how about a blues rock American band like Grand Funk Railroad? Speaking of blues rock, how about a band that successfully transitioned from blues rock into pop rock, the J. Geils Band? How about a that influenced many metal and power pop groups, Cheap Trick? How about an artist that combined new wave with the classic 70s rock sound and convinced many women that they can rock too, like Pat Benatar?

How about r&b songbirds like Patti Labelle or Chaka Khan with Rufus? Speaking of Rufus, how about 70s/80s soul groups like the Ohio Players, the Pointer Sisters, the Commodores, the GAP Band, Cameo or Kool & The Gang? How about the queen of disco whose career carried on beyond that genre, Donna Summer? Or how about a disco group that had wide influence over the years, Chic? How about the blue-eyed soul of Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer or Hall & Oates? How about heartland rocker John Mellencamp? The Eagles are inducted, but how about the father of country rock, Gram Parsons, or an Eagles' contemporary, as well as one of the bestelling women in rock in the 70s, Linda Ronstadt? Or how about a southern rock band like Lynyrd Skynyrd? How about Texas rockers like the Sir Douglas Quintet? How about the foundations of hip-hop, the turntabling Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the gang leader and social activist Afrika Bambaataa or Kurtis Blow? Aerosmith has been inducted; how about other hard rock bands, like Thin Lizzy or Van Halen? Or how about a hair metal band, like Def Leppard? Or how about those bands who laid the foundation for industrial rock, such as Cabaret Voltaire, Chrome or Throbbing Gristle?

How about a great roots revival band, like the Blasters? How about a rock band that played roots rock with a techo edge, like Dire Straits? How about a band that combined a retro 60s sound and look with new wave, like the B-52's? How about a band inspired by punk, heartland rock and techno, like U2? And since we're talking about rock hybrids, how about zydeco acts like Clifton Chernier and Buckwheat Zydeco? And shall I mention avant-garde acts, such as Can or Captain Beefheart?

This list exposes an amazing bottleneck of the influential and popular artists that have evolved and perpetuated rock and roll from its humble beginnings to 1979. All of them are eligible to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and most of them have been eligible for years. But the road to induction in this shrine of critical and industry kudos begins with a nominating committee that submits a ballot of nominees to a pool of over 700 voters who decide which artists will be inducted in any given year. The problems are that the process restricts the number of inductees in any given year, the biases of the nominators guarantee certain artists and subgenres do not make the ballots and the whims of the voters delay the induction of some nominees in favor of others. The politics, that is the relationships and interactions between these people and interest groups in advancing their views of rock and roll, in no way detracts from the caliber of the inductees, which has been unexpectedly excellent. But the politics, especially the biases, do undermine potentially tremendous support and adoration the Museum could enjoy from the fans, who look for the above names among the inductees and ask, bewilderedly, "Where's my favorite artist?" And let's not forget the gaping holes that have resulted in the Hall Of Fame's telling of the history of rock and roll. The common answer that "they'll all eventually get in" is not a realistic assessment of the situation, especially with critically disdained subgenres. It's becoming more and more unlikely that some of these artists will ever be nominated, let alone inducted. These problems will unlikely be resolved anytime soon, so the frustration many fans feel will continue this year, as I have observed it has continued and increased over the last several years. Considering it is dubious that the process and the people involved with it will dramatically change to solve this bottleneck, the question then is, will the ballot of nominees and class of inductees win over more fans to support the Museum, or perpetuate many fans' continuing disdain for this great undertaking?