Someone else had it right when they said people took the "rock and roll" designation too literally. At one time "rock and roll" was synonymous with the music of youth, rebellion, innovation, etc etc etc. People categorize things too much these days. With that in mind, I would consider artists like LL, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, etc to be far more "rock and roll" than the safe, predictable, watered-down cookie cutter garbage on the radio today that's being called "rock." Nickelback springs to mind. (Creed is back, too. Ugh.)
I would include in the hall of fame any artist that pushed popular music forward in some significant way. I'd have no problem with say, Depeche Mode being nominated, but people would bitch about that because it doesn't fit their criteria of what rock and roll is.
On a side note, though, there's a ton of bands that should have been nominated long ago but haven't. Ultimately the R&R hall of fame doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I would include in the hall of fame any artist that pushed popular music forward in some significant way. I'd have no problem with say, Depeche Mode being nominated, but people would bitch about that because it doesn't fit their criteria of what rock and roll is.
On a side note, though, there's a ton of bands that should have been nominated long ago but haven't. Ultimately the R&R hall of fame doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.