Rock Hall of Fame organizers must second guess themselves a lot - or should if they don't.  The fact that so many deserving musicians have been shut out while plenty of questionable ones got in has undermined the museum's credibility.  Like Rolling Stone magazine, the RHOF has a lot less to do with Rock than it used to, causing increasing numbers of fans to substitute 'Lame' or 'Shame' for 'Fame' when referencing it. Nominating or actually inducting artists like Madonna, ABBA, LL Cool J ahead of Rush, Heart, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, The Cars, Joe Cocker, The Doobie Brothers, Todd Rundgren, the J. Geils Band and Yes just ain't right.  Part of the problem is that the rush to induct too many too fast depleted the A List contenders too fast.  Another is that the Hall evidently thought that bringing in pop and rap artists would broaden the appeal and boost attendance.  Both ideas seem to to have back fired.
That said, this year's class was pretty interesting.  Monday (3/14) saw the addition of a group of musicians that had all been eligible for induction for more than a decade. Neil Diamond might have gotten off the best line of the night at the Waldorf Astoria Monday (3/14) when he told Bruce Springsteen, 'You keep practicing, you'll go places.'  Alice Cooper, long overdue for induction, shared the moment with all of the members of his 1970's band, minus the late Glen Buxton who passed away four years ago.  The belted out Eighteen, Under My Wheels and School's Out, with a chorus of school kids singing along on their closing number. Dr. John treated the crowd to Right Place, Wrong Time and Such A Night before Neil Young entered to induct Tom Waits, calling the notoriously low key Waits a 'magician, spirit guide and changeling', terms that could easily be applied to Young, too.  So could most of what Waits had to say on accepting the honor: 'They say I  have no hits and I'm difficult to work with, and they say that like it's a bad thing.'  Bruce Springsteen joined Darlene Love on guitar for versions of He's A Rebel and two other songs.  Leon Russell, the first recipient of the Musical Excellence Award, did Delta Lady and A Song For You. A condensed version of the marathon ceremony will air on FUSE TV Sunday.  The induction returns to Cleveland next year.