Judas Priest MC5, Motörhead, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, T.Rex and Thin Lizzy are among the nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s class of 2020. Also nominated are Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Depeche Mode, The Dobbie Brothers, Kraftwerk, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan and Todd Rundgren. The top vote-getters will be announced in January and inducted May 2, 2020 at a ceremony at Cleveland’s Public Hall.
A voter pool of more than 1,000 artists, historians, journalists and members of the music industry will select the new class. Fans will also have a chance to take part in the process by voting at RockHall.com or an interactive kiosk at the museum in Cleveland.
According to Rolling Stone (via blabbermouth.net) the Hall Of Fame has also announced the individual members of each band that will be inducted. Les Binks, K.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Ian Hill, Dave Holland, Glenn Tipton and Scott Travis are on the ballot for Judas Priest. Trent Reznor will accept the honor alone should Nine Inch Nails get in. Motörhead are represented by Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, while T.Rex members Marc Bolan, Mickey Finn, Steve Currie, Bill Legend were selected and Thin Lizzy will be represented by Phil Lynott, Brian Downey, Eric Bell, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson.
Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford, tells Billboard, “It’s just another thrill, again, to be nominated and so quickly because I know sometimes the nominations can get stretched out for quite a long period of time. So to get another one so quickly is wonderful and another great moment for the Priest and for our fans.”
“There’s always a tinge of controversy about the Hall,” Halford adds, “but the fact that Priest is here again speaks volumes about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame respecting heavy metal music, especially British heavy metal music.”
31 Responses
If they don’t put priest in again, then some heads are gonna roll!
Clever.
Funny, I said the same thing a few years ago. JP has more than enough Firepower to get in, I think they’ll make it this time.
Might I also opine that John Sykes in not being inducted with Thin Lizzy. While I know he came in at the tail end, I do think he deserves some recognition.
Okay, if not here, then when Whitesnake is eventually inducted. If he isn’t included at such time, the Rock Hall is far more deluded than I ever imagined.
I’ve always been a fan of Soundgarden, but there’s no way they should get in before Alice In Chains! Or STP!
I hope Priest gets in, but they are not more diversified than Iron Maiden. Maiden has more of a world presence than Priest. But, we must support our genre so we can get more real bands nominated and voted in.
I respectfully disagree, where is Maiden’s Turbo? Screaming for Vengeance? Painkiller? Priest always changes their sound from album to album, and whether I like said sound, or not, I give the band tons of credit for stepping outside the musical box.
On the other hand, if a Maiden song comes on the radio, I instantly know it is them, even before Mr. Dickinson utters a note. All the bass lines sound very similar and repurposed. Does that mean that I don’t think Maiden is worthy of induction? Absolutely not. Does that mean that I think they should be inducted before Priest? Absolutely not.
I agree we should be supportive of the genre, but fair is fair. In my humble opinion, those who came before, and paved the way, should be inducted first.
With this list of nominees there a chance that a good percentage of people inducted will be posthumous only the core members of Motörhead are considered and all have passed and I agree with Dana on the Soundgarden nomination