Aptly nicknamed the Godfather of British blues, John Mayall influenced everyone from Mick Fleetwood to Eric Clapton. In 2005, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE.) Sadly, the blues pioneer died July 22 at age 90—only three months before his Rock of Roll Hall of Fame induction was scheduled. And blues-rock singer-songwriter Joe Bonamassa recently chastised the organization for failing to give Mayall his due while he was alive.
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Joe Bonamassa Says John Mayall “Deserved to Go In Decades Ago”
Joe Bonamassa is glad John Mayall was at least aware of his impending Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. However, “I am sad and slightly pissed off that he didn’t live to see it because he deserved to go in decades ago,” the GRAMMY nominee said in a recent interview.
Blues musician Alexis Korner is another example, Bonamassa added. Korner, who died in 1984, will also receive the Musical Excellence Award this year.
“He deserved to go in — these are first, second-ballot people,” the blues musician told Ultimate Classic Rock. “There’s a lot of omissions that I think they need to start reconciling quickly, because you cannot wait for them all to die to then go, ‘Well, we’re gonna put you in posthumously.’
Joe Bonamassa continued, “It would have meant something to John to get that statue. It would have meant something to people like my friend Chris Squire from Yes. Yes goes in the year after he dies — it would have meant something.”
Other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Oversights (According to Bonamassa)
Along with John Mayall and Alexis Korner, the proto-punk band MC5 also will receive the Musical Excellence Award at the October ceremony. Sadly, none of the members are alive to accept the award. Dennis Thompson, the band’s drummer and final surviving member, died in May at age 75.
Thompson’s reported reaction after learning of the induction? “It’s about f—ing time!”
Joe Bonamassa says the organization needs to avoid this issue as more and more musical legends age. “There’s a lot of people that are now aging out or becoming in their late 70s and 80s that really should have been in decades ago,” he said. “They need to get them in because it’s the right thing to do for the artist.”
Featured image by Larry Marano/Shutterstock
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