Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is one of the crowning achievements in the music industry. It solidifies an artist's contributions to music history and truly marks them as a legend. The struggle with the Hall of Fame as of late is that they have been straying from inducting rock artists. The N.W.A. was inducted last year, and Tupac could possibly be inducted this year. However, neither are rock artists. Journey is just being nominated this year and have been eligible for more than a decade, and yet they have some of the most identifiable songs in the world. One band that has been overlooked for eight years has yet to be nominated for induction, let alone be inducted, yet they have one of the top-selling albums of the 1980s. The band? Huey Lewis and the News.

The 1980s was a fascinating time in music. So many artists were exploring a variety of burgeoning genres such as dance and new wave. New subgenres of music consistently emerged, constantly changing what rock music looked like in the mainstream.

In the midst of trying to create something new, San Francisco-area band Huey Lewis and the News went back to the roots of the rock genre, incorporating elements from the musical styles of Elvis Presley and Motown. Their breakthrough album, Picture This, released in 1982, produced their first top 20 single, "Do You Believe in Love." However, it was their 1983 album "Sports" that solidified the band's melding of early rock and roll style and modern sensibility, producing four hits: "I Want a New Drug," "Heart and Soul," "If This Is It," and "The Heart of Rock & Roll." The album soared to number one in 1984 and remained a chart mainstay well into the next year. A contributor to the appeal of the band were their creative music videos, which incorporated humor and capitalized on the power of MTV. The band itself was also charming, with Lewis as the charming frontman and the News a comical group of friends.

If there was a thought that the band couldn't get hotter, the thought was crushed when Huey Lewis and the News scored their first number one single, "The Power of Love," from the "Back to the Future" soundtrack. While "Sports" must have been a difficult album to follow," the News emerged with "Fore!" in 1986, which produced five Top 10 singles. Two of those singles, "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder," both reached number one. Their next two albums were not as successful due to the ever-changing musical landscape, but the band still managed to have charting singles. The band continues to tour and have sold tens of millions of albums all over the world, a feat many contemporary artists will never know.

Many bands from the mid-1980s released material that does not hold up thirty years later. However, the themes in the News' songs stand out. Not only does the band have songs about love beginning and love lost, but there are also songs in their catalogue about committed love. Tracks like "Stuck With You" and "Doing It All For My Baby" describe long-term, happy relationships, a theme that seems to be absent from much music. It is refreshing to listen to her tracks, because while elements of the songs are very time-period, there is endurance to the songs, which certainly meets the qualifications for the Hall of Fame.

This rounds back to my point. Musicians who have not contributed to the rock genre are being admitted to a hall of fame that is designed for rock artists. Something is wrong with that. Huey Lewis and the News are a band who directly drew inspiration from the pioneers of the genre, and yet it seems that they will never receive the credit they deserve, not from the music community, at least. It's why young fans likely are unaware of the band; in some ways, they were too clean-cut and faithful to the genre to get attention. They didn't party or sexualize their image. They, quite simply, brought it all back to the heart of rock and roll, and to me, that's all you need in a rock band.