My Ten Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs: Warren Zevon (#3)

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Here’s another person overlooked for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for eons, and coincidentally another person that I matched on Scott’s (@teamfreak16 ) list of his Hall of Fame worthy acts. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, here’s today’s act. #3: Warren Zevon You can say it’s “me,” because I’m such a big fan. I saw him 15 times over the years. I’ve been a fan since “Accidentally Like a Martyr” slapped me upside the head in February 1978. I remember the impact that song made on me like it just happened. Yeah, I’m a fan. But you know something? If you look up the lists of various individuals who are far more knowledgeable in the world of rock and roll than I am you’ll see Warren Zevon’s name on their lists as well. When David Letterman inducted Pearl Jam into the Hall of Fame in 2017 he said he hoped to be back “soon” to induct Zevon. So you can’t chalk this up to just the rankings of a fan. He has more qualifications than Tom Waits. Actor? Check! Critically acclaimed? Check! Wrote a hit for someone else (“Downtown Train” for Waits, “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” for Zevon)? Check! Plus, unlike Waits, Zevon made the charts. TWICE: once as the male half of a folk duo lyme and cybelle, and once with his classic 1978 howl-along “Werewolves of London;” which, like Jimmy Buffett’s biggest hit, may be one of his weakest songs. You may not know this, but Zevon’s first gold record came, not in 1978 but in 1969, for the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy. He wrote a song that appeared on the album (“He Quit Me”). Sadly, he’s one up on Waits: mesothelioma took Zevon’s life in 2003. And, as Scott said, the Hall, for some perverted reason, loves inducting the dead, so what’s the wait? Zevon’s heritage was Russian, so here’s a song in which he sang a little in Russian: