UK Hall Of Fame lacks credibility.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)

Your editorial (20.11.04) describes the UK Music Hall Of Fame as a triumph. I couldn't disagree more. The word "disaster" would be more appropriate. This half-witted project is a tragic lost opportunity for the British music industry.

Leaving aside several of the insane decisions within the barking format, such as The Who and Sting and/or The Police not even being nominated for inclusion, Miles Davis going head-to-head with Cliff Richard, and not one of the contributors to the second great British invasion of the US charts in the mid-Eighties (Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau, Eurythmics) being even considered as inductees, the whole concept is ludicrously mismanaged and all but pointless.

There is a perfectly good rock'n'roll Hall Of Fame already in existence in the US. All those who are admitted have to have been around for at least 25 years, not 15 minutes as some of the UK Music Hall Of Faille candidates seem to have been.

The UK Music Hall Of Fame as it stands just does not matter a hoot compared with the original it lamely imitates, and most artists already selected, if they are honest (and alive), would agree. The UK Music Hall Of Fame is deeply confused about the kind of music it is recognising. The selection from the Fifties contains several names who have zilch to do with rock, such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Yet for later decades, great jazz or AOR artists, such as John Coltrane, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and Tom Jones are ignored, ...