Nine first-timers top Rock Hall’s list
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2018, released Thursday, has nine first-timers on the ballot, including Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine and Nina Simone.
But, as with every year, there’s plenty of room to debate the glaring omissions.
Janet Jackson, who appeared on the ballot the past two years, was left off this time. So was four-time nominee Kraftwerk.
Another shocker: Soundgarden wasn’t included this year. The Seattle grunge pioneers preceded Pearl Jam, which was inducted in 2017. Frontman Chris Cornell’s death earlier this year sparked recognition of Cornell’s place as a founding father of grunge and a vocal powerhouse.
The rock hall foundation’s nominating committee selects the names for the ballot, and nominees have to have released their first album or single at least 25 years before.
Five inductees will make it past the nominations, chosen by more than 900 historians, people in the music industry and every living inductee. The public can also weigh in on the Rock Hall’s website.
Sometimes artists repeatedly make it onto the ballot and never get inducted. This is the fifth time the J. Geils Band has been on the ballot, and the fourth for the Meters and LL Cool J.
If LL Cool J does gets inducted, it’ll be a big year for the rapper; in December, he becomes the first rap artist to be a Kennedy Center Honors recipient.
But, then again, who cares about getting in? Certainly not first-time nominees Radiohead.
“I don’t want to be rude. But if you ask me what I’d rather be doing that night, I’d rather be sitting at home in front of the fire or going to a gig,” Ed O’Brien of Radiohead told Rolling Stone in June about the possibility of getting inducted.
Other first-time nominees include Dire Straits, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, Moody Blues and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Washington Post