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
I really do not care about the Rock Hall of Fame, but it is fun to muse upon who one thinks should rightfully be in there. It certainly can provide for some lively debate. Personally whether one likes him or not, I tend to agree with Ted Nugent that it’s mostly based on politics.
With that being said, here’s who I think should go in this year based on chronological order and influence-
T. Rex, The Doobie Brothers, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, and Pat Benetar.
While the MC5 & Todd Rundgren were certainly influential, I don’t know, I don’t feel they were as much as the others and though Kraftwerk pushed synthetic sounds further into rock, (I myself do like some of the more techno stuff, but that’s another story) it’s not what I think of first when it comes to rock.
Lastly yes, I am being a bit PC by placing Pat Benetar over Motorhead but rock has been mainly a male dominated genre and Benetar was one of the firsts to carve out a place for women in rock, plus her and Neal Geraldo have been doing it for some time now not just for a couple songs or records. I remember her selling out or almost selling out the Meadowlands Arena back forever ago.
Bye for now.
Pat Benatar – 100%
Ted Nugent – 100%
Styx – 100%
Boston – 100%! I realize Boston has a limited catalog (only 6, or 7? studio albums over 43 years) but let’s look at Guns N’ Roses, even less! Boston has the greatest debut album of all time, maybe a tossup with VH, and GN’R as well. Boston has influenced a ton of rock bands, that alone should count for something, besides all the great music that they made. It shouldn’t be about the quantity, it should be about the quality, and Boston’s music speaks for itself!
I’m sure Priest will get in if KK sturs up the controversy, the Hall loves that stuff. Campbell, and Dee deserve, to get in with Motörhead. After all, it was OK for everyone, and their grandmother, to be inducted in with the Grateful Dead.
Benatar deserves to be in, she was first rock woman singer I like listening to, far more deserving than Stevie Nicks/
Anybody dead, or a group with dead members, except Motörhead is a shoe in. For God sakes please stop nominating Chaka Kahn.
Pat Benatar doesn’t belong in there…lol….her hit was a cover…the song sort of sucked, and she made a lot of mediocre records with a few decent tunes in there, with some horrible, I mean horrible videos, remember how annoying her drummer was?..her husband is a kick ass guitar player but so what? She makes Sammy Hagar look like Ernest Hemingway for God’s sake…the ROF is just getting mired in total mediocrity because they have to admit bands every dumb year …and then you have Priest, who should’ve been admitted at the very first chance they were eligible…and they still have to talk about it?
I am just glad Doug isn’t on the board, sorry….lol…
Maiden’s clakkity clakkity clakkity music ….they haven’t been good in almost 40 years…lol…
Her “hit?” Like she only had 1? She had over 35 singles, half of them being top 40 hits, and the other half being rock radio Staples for 40 years! Let me educate you, Shannon, “Heartbreaker” was technically a remake, but Pat did adjust some of the original lyrics, and she MADE that song the great song that it is! And let’s talk about her second album – Crimes Of Passion, absolutely one of the greatest albums of all time, and one of my absolute favorites! Not only did Benatar co-write half of the great songs on that album, there is NOT one weak song on that album! Forget about the videos, everybody looked goofy in the 80’s! Although some of her early videos weren’t goofy at all. I could go on all day about Benatar (and her great band) and all of their accomplishments, but obviously it’d be a waste a time on your closed mind, time that I don’t have anyway.
The Washington Nationals are going to the World Series, I wonder what the Dodgers are doing right now? Oh yeah, one more thing, Stevie Nicks totally deserves to be in the HOF, with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, but Benatar should’ve went in first before Nicks as a solo artist.
Man, Doug, you HAD to bring up the Dodgers? is there enough rock salt over at your place? I mean I winced when I read that, are you happy now? were they playing your team Doug? F the freaking Nationals Doug (people call them the Nats and I HATE that). That W on their hat looks like the Walgreens logo for goodness sake…and they’re hot now….the Dodgers f ed up big time…you don’t expect your starter to go in cold and close…starters don’t do that, they have to get stable for 1one or two innings and settle down…what the heck were they thinking when they stuck Kershaw in there to freaking close????
Pate Benatar made albums that were passable, somewhat decent, not terrible…not the greatest of all time…I liked Promises in the Dark because that was when you usually didn’t hear guitars like that on the radio….yes, Pat got hard rock on the radio when that was actually somewhat difficult…so for that, you think she’s something she isn’t…same with all these other pretty good, not great, bands you make lists for…lol……but, since you stated your case, I will actually pull up that record and listen to it again….
And her videos were really bad, way worse than “I am a Warrior” …way, way worse.
You take out those guitar solos and those guitar accents and Crimes of Passion is one wet noodle of a record….lol…
..I Never Want to Leave You..where Pat thinks she’s Sting all of the sudden….oh no, no, no…not even Neil can save this one but he tries at the end….
….and right into that horrid song…..GONG!!!
Most of her early videos were performance videos, nothing goofy about them at all. What’s wrong with “Hit Me With Your Best Shot?” She can take it! Only a tough, strong, spunky female rocker like Pat Benatar can pull off a song like that, and she did! “Treat Me Right,” “You Better Run,” (2nd video MTV played in ’81) “Hell Is For Children,” (so true) “Little Paradise,” “Prisoner Of Love,” “Out-A-Touch,” (one of my faves) awesome album! And what about “Precious Time?” Title track, “Fire And Ice,” “Promises In The Dark,” “Just Like Me,” I mean, the fire, and the passion in the way Pat expresses herself, come on! There’s only one Pat Benatar! See how videos (sometimes) hurt songs? “The Warrior” – Patty Smyth and Scandal, IMO is a great song, (go ahead and laugh) but the video? Well, after all it was 1984! If it was up to me, Benatar, Styx, Nugent, Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, The Doobie Brothers, JP, Maiden, would all be in the HOF! I know I’m forgetting a few more, but they know who they are.
Great comment from you as usual….you always state your case well and I can’t argue with that…ok, I will check out some of this again and will keep my impressions to myself if they’re negative; but I ain’t listenin’ to the first four songs on Crimes of Passion again! Foreigner, Priest, and the Doobie Brothers would be the only ones I would put in from that list…maybe Ted Nugent…..but that isn’t a slam dunk.