The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2021 nominees are in — and the names look like they’d made up one hell of a concert lineup. This year’s first-time nominees are Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden, The Go-Go’s, Fela Kuti, Carole King and Dionne Warwick.
Returning nominees are: Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Chaka Khan, DEVO, New York Dolls, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Todd Rundgren and LL Cool J.
Inject that playlist into our brains, please.
Should Foo Fighters make it in, and they’d better, Dave Grohl will become a two-time member of the Rock Hall. He’s already recognized for his work as the drummer for Nirvana. Carole King, who is already in as a songwriter but is now nominated as a performer, could also join the two-timers club — as can Tina Turner, who is already enshrined alongside Ike Turner.
To be eligible for nomination, an artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Last year’s class was made up of Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., T. Rex, and The Doobie Brothers.
The Class of 2021 will be announced in May, and will formally be enshrined during an event this fall. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, last year’s ceremony had to be reimagined as a television special on HBO. Fingers crossed for 2021.
Fans can vote daily here for their five favorite acts now through April 30. Though at this time this story was published, the voting webpage was down and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was preaching patience on Twitter. Their bad.
The physical Rock & Roll Hall of Fame building, located in Cleveland, Ohio, is currently open to the public with limited operating hours. As of now, it includes 338 inductees. Readers can find them by class here, by category here and alphabetically here.
The very first group inducted into the Rock Hall, the class of 1986, consisted of Chucky Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Alan Freed, John Hammond, Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Phillips, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jimmy Rodgers and Jimmy Yancey.