Cure, Def Leppard among rock hall of fame inductees
The 2019 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees has a pronounced English accent, as British rock bands the Cure, Def Leppard, Radiohead, Roxy Music and the Zombies will join the hall’s ranks next year. They’ll join two celebrated American artists, pop star Janet Jackson and singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks.
The selection of Nicks in her first year of eligibility as a solo act is additionally noteworthy in that she becomes the first female musician to be inducted into the hall twice. She was previously voted in as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998.
The new inductees will be feted March 29 in Brooklyn, New York, at the rock hall’s annual induction dinner and ceremony, which will again gather a raft of those acts’ peers and admirers to deliver testimonials and perform some of their music.
Left behind this time from the slate of nominees that made the final ballot for consideration are a slew of American musicians: Todd Rundgren, John Prine, Devo, Rage Against the Machine, LL Cool J, MC5 and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. In addition, the hall’s 1,000-plus voting membership again overlooked influential German techno band Kraftwerk.
As has increasingly been the case in the six years since officials instituted a fan-voting component in 2012, acts ultimately chosen for induction also strongly reflect popular opinion: Def Leppard won that balloting this year, collecting more than 500,000 votes among the total of 3.3 million entered in the fan competition.
Similarly, Nicks, the Zombies and the Cure were among the five fan favourites who are to be inducted. Only Rundgren, among the top five in the public vote, didn’t make the final cut. Radiohead was the lowest ranked by fans among the 15 acts on the final ballot, placing 10th.
The acts being inducted next year represent a broad time span from when each entered the public spotlight — from the Zombies, whose 1965 debut album arrived during the height of the British Invasion, through Radiohead, the alt-rock group that issued its first single in 1992 and its debut album in 1993.
To be eligible for induction, at least 25 years must have elapsed since musicians’ first recordings were released, as a way of ensuring that inductees’ contributions have stood the test of time.
Radiohead, long a critical favourite as well as having significant success on the pop-sales charts, enters the hall in just its second year of eligibility. The Zombies became eligible in 1990, four years after the induction process began in 1986.
The list of performers for the induction ceremony, and the lineup of those who will be delivering induction speeches, will be announced closer to the event.
The ceremony will be open to the public, and ticket information will be announced later. Rock hall members get an early shot at those tickets, and the deadline for new members to get early ticket access is Dec. 31.