Eminem, Beck, A Tribe Called Quest, Dolly Parton Among First-Time Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has unveiled this year’s slate of nominees — 17 artists who will have the chance at being enshrined in a Cleveland museum later this year. Hall Of Fame voters will pick seven of those artists. To qualify, these musicians must’ve released their first records no later than 1996. In this year’s class of nominees, only one of the seven first-time nominees is in his first year of eligibility, and that artist’s name is Eminem.
On this year’s slate of nominees, Eminem, who released his indie debut Infinite in November of ’96, is joined by fellow white rapper Beck. This year’s other first-time nominees are a Tribe Called Quest, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon.
Of the returning nominees, Detroit punk progenitors MC5 are going deepest into Chic/Kraftwerk territory. This is MC5’s sixth time being nominated. The other returning nominees are Rage Against The Machine, Kate Bush, Devo, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, the New York Dolls, Pat Benatar, Fela Kuti, and Dionne Warwick. Rage Against The Machine have now been nominated four times. Kate Bush, Devo, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, and the Dolls have are all up for the third time.
Mary J. Blige and Chaka Khan were both nominated for the Hall Of Fame last year, and they didn’t make it in. This year, neither one is nominated. Many other artists who released debut albums in 1996 aren’t on the ballot this year, including Fiona Apple, the Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, Busta Rhymes, Lil Kim, Maxwell, DJ Shadow, and Belle And Sebastian.
Here’s the full list of this year’s nominees:
Beck
Pat Benatar
Kate Bush
Devo
Duran Duran
Eminem
Eurythmics
Judas Priest
Fela Kuti
MC5
New York Dolls
Dolly Parton
Rage Against The Machine
Lionel Richie
Carly Simon
A Tribe Called Quest
Dionne Warwick
In May, the Hall Of Fame will announce which artists made the cut. The induction ceremony will happen in the fall, and we don’t yet know where it will be.