Reflecting on careers of Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis ahead of Hall of Fame induction

MELISSA TOWNSEND: That, of course, is Janet Jackson with Control. Oh, take me back. It was an album she made with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Well, this weekend, Jam and Lewis will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The songwriting and producing team met when they were in high school in Minneapolis. They've been together for 50 years and have created 50 number one songs on the Billboard Pop, R&B, and Dance Charts.

To talk about them and all of this year's Hall of Fame honorees, I'm joined by Jon Bream. He's a music critic for The Minneapolis Star Tribune. He's also one of the people who decides who's inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jon Bream, welcome to Minnesota Now.

JON BREAM: Thank you. One of many voters.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: One of many, right. Not the only one.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Thanks for clarifying.

JON BREAM: Hundreds of voters.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. Well, let's start with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They're being recognized for musical excellence. What's the criteria to decide if someone-- or in this case, a team of people-- should be honored in this way?

JON BREAM: Well, that's a good question, Melissa, because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is not very transparent about how it works. There are about several hundred people who vote, and we vote in the performers category. Each year, they send out a list of 15 nominees that come from an anonymous nominating committee.

We don't know how or why these people get nominated. We don't know the criteria. Then, we get to vote. There's no opportunity for write ins, so you can vote for up to five people. We don't know how the voting totals work. We don't know if you need a certain percentage of the voting totals to get in.

Then, they come out with an announcement and say, these are the people who will be inducted. And then this unknown board committee chooses people in musical excellence, which is non-performers, which is how Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis got in-- also how Jimmy Iovine who's a producer and the guy behind Beats with Dr. Dre-- the headphones-- he's in.

Alan Grubman, who is a lawyer to the stars and he's on the board of directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-- hey, he's going to be inducted, too. So we do not know how it works.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Interesting. I know you wrote an article in 2021, just last year, called, "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Should Clean Up Its Act." It sounds like you have some thoughts on this subject.

JON BREAM: Well, I'm not the only one who doesn't understand how it works. Because what happened a couple of times-- or even happened again this year. Judas Priest has been on the ballot many times. They didn't apparently get enough votes to get in, but oops. The board of directors or however-- the committee in charge has decided they should go in as musical excellence.

Now, Jam and Lewis are not performers, per se. They're producers and songwriters, so you can understand why they're not on the ballot. Judas Priest was on the ballot, didn't get in-- we're going to put him in anyway. Same thing has happened with Ringo Starr.

Same thing happened with Nile Rodgers whose band Chic is on the ballot for, I think, 11 years. Never got in, but they put Nile in as a producer and songwriter. And that's not to say that he doesn't deserve to go in as a producer and songwriter.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: So do you feel like this is still an honor for the artists who are inducted, even though there's sort of a little mystery about how they end up on the list?

JON BREAM: Well, the Hall of Fame has been around since the mid-eighties. It has lots of credibility. It's got a gorgeous museum in Cleveland that people like to visit. So it has credibility. It's just there's questions and concerns because there's no transparency.

We know how people get elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They're very transparent about how they operate, what their rules and procedures are.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? We don't know what's going on, but we just know they put on a great show every year. They broadcast it on TV, tape delay. So this year's induction is Saturday in Los Angeles.

And then two Saturdays later, HBO will broadcast highlights of the ceremony. So if you think about it, Melissa, ultimately, it's about putting together a good TV show, so you need a certain number of stars to perform on that show.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Well, let's turn--

JON BREAM: Some years they elect five people. Some years it's seven. Some years it's eight. We don't know how many are going to get in at any given time, so we don't know what the procedure and rules are, right?

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Let's turn our attention back to the artists here, Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam. Tell me a little bit about your perspective on their influence on music.

JON BREAM: Well, they're probably the most successful producing team duo in the history of popular music. They had six number one singles. The only producers who've done better than that are George Martin who worked at the Beatles, of course, and Max Martin who's worked with countless artists like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and all the current hitmakers-- Britney Spears.

Jimmy and Terry-- people think, oh, they did Janet Jackson, of course, and they had a lot of R&B hits. Yes, but they also had a much broader palette. They worked with all kinds of artists-- Spice Girls, Sting, Rod Stewart. They had a number one hit with The Human League. They had a number one R&B song with Herb Alpert.

So they've worked with so many different artists, and they just have kind of a magic touch. They get to know the artists to find out what the artist wants to say. They help the artists craft a song, and they produce records that sound great on the radio.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yeah, they really do. Some of the other artists being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year include Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon. Is there an artist on this list who really stands out for you?

JON BREAM: Well, I can't say that I voted for all of them because we only get to vote for five. Eminem is making it in his first year of eligibility. I think it's highly deserved. I think he's really an extraordinary force in hip hop. I'm excited to see Dolly Parton in there. I think she's a remarkable artist, a remarkable person.

And it's nice to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame broaden its palette to embrace some country people because rock and roll is really an attitude more than a style of music, and Dolly certainly has a rock and roll attitude. She's a real trailblazer, breaks the rules, rebellious. Even though she seems pretty straight conservative, she's very, very much her own person and makes her own rules, and I think she's extraordinary.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yeah. That podcast that focused on her that was released a couple of years ago was just fantastic. Did you catch that?

JON BREAM: No, I didn't. Anything Dolly does is usually pretty magical.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Now, I understand she initially declined to be included. Is that right?

JON BREAM: Yeah. She didn't think she belonged because it's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and she doesn't see herself as rock and roll. But as I said, rock and roll is a state of mind. It's an attitude, not necessarily a style of music.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Right.

JON BREAM: And she's accepting it, so apparently she's going to show up.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: I'm guessing you have a list of artists that you think maybe should make it into the Hall of Fame but haven't yet. Who'd you'd like to see in there?

JON BREAM: Well, my thing is put people on the ballot. For years I've said, let the voters decide. They put Neil Diamond, for instance, years after he was first eligible. The eligibility rules-- this is one thing that's clear. 25 years after releasing your first album, you are eligible.

I think it was like 18 years after he was eligible that they put Neil Diamond on the ballot. So I just say, do like Baseball Hall of Fame does. Five years after a career ends, they put them on the ballot. Let everyone decide. I just say, have more than 15 people on the ballot. Have write ins.

There's all kinds of artists. A lot of the prog rock groups have been left out for years, and now they're finally getting in. Yes, and some of those other bands never were on the ballot. But there's lots of people that have been left out.

I can't think of who off the top of my head I would put on the ballot, but I just think there needs to be more people on the ballot, and let the voters decide rather than just a select anonymous committee deciding who should be on the ballot.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. All right. Well, thanks, Jon, for being on Minnesota Now.

JON BREAM: My pleasure. Keep rocking.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Keep rocking. Jon Bream is a music critic at The Minneapolis Star Tribune and one of the people who votes on who is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 2022 induction ceremony is this Saturday, November 5.