We will argue that is days like these that created this website.

Over a decade ago, constant debates of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame led us to create our own list of who we thought that should be considered.  Since we put out our first list in 2009, we can state unequivocally that our criticism of the Rock Hall has shrunk, but it remains the most divisive Hall-based institution and their inconsistent schedule remains an issue, as do the way they arbitrarily induct acts who were not voted in through vague categories.

No matter.

Here are the newest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Usually, the Rock Hall inducts the top five vote getters, but this year they chose the top seven.

Eminem was as close to a lock as you can get, and the rapper enters on his first year on the ballot.  Frankly, it felt like he has been a first ballot inductee for over a decade, and while often controversial, his lyrics are often deeply introspective and vulnerable, even when embracing outright misogyny.  

Duran Duran entered on their first time on the ballot, though they have been eligible since 2007.   Known for their style and image, Duran Duran was an underrated band, who still tour.  They ran away with the official fan vote.

Lionel Richie also gets in on his first ballot, and like Duran Duran, he has been eligible for a significant since the 2007 ceremony.   Richie’s blend of R&B and soft pop generated a slew of hits in the 1980s, but this has to impact the Commodores, Richie’s original group who had a far more diverse discography than Richie did as a solo.

Dolly Parton enters after asking the voters not to choose her, but come on, of course they voted for the queen!  She was first eligible in 1986, but this was her first time on the ballot.  We guarantee she will show up and be the classiest person there.

Carly Simon was finally nominated after 25 years of eligibility and the singer/songwriter fills the niche that the Rock Hall loves. 

Pat Benatar made the ballot for the second time this year, having been nominated two years ago with her musical collaborator and husband, Neil Giraldo.  Nominated on her own this time, the voters responded and one of the most copied looks of the early 80s is now in Cleveland.  

Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) have been eligible since 2007 (that makes three?), and this was their second nomination.  With Lennox, Simon, Benatar and Parton, this marks four woman inducted in four separate acts, the most that have ever been voted in.

The other inductees are:

Judas Priest comes in through the Musical Excellence Award, which is the Hall’s way of inducting people who the Rock Hall wants, but either can’t get voters to select, or worthy inductees (see next entry) that have no viable path to enter.  The Rock Hall has a metal problem, so while this is good to see them enter, it is clear that Rock voters are not Metal connoisseurs.  

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also were chosen through the Musical Excellence Award, and it is no stretch to say that they are producing geniuses who helped shape popular music over the last forty years.

Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotton will be inducted in the Early Influence category and the Ahmet Ertegun Award went to Attorney Allen Grubman, executive/producer Jimmy Iovine and Sugar Hill Records founder Sylvia Robinson.

Those who were nominated but did not get in:

A Tribe Called Quest, Beck, Devo, Dionne Warwick, Fela Kuti, Kate Bush, MC5, New York Dolls and Rage Against the Machine.

This means it is time for us to get to work, as we will remove those who were inducted, add those eligible for the next vote, and revise those already on based on your votes and comments.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you can believe that will be watching the impending ceremony, scheduled to take place on November 5, at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.

We have a major update on Notinhalloffame.com as our annual list of those to consider for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The first thing we did was remove the artists who were chosen for the Hall in the latest class. That group consisted of Radiohead (#1), Roxy Music (#5), The Cure (#11), Janet Jackson (#18), Def Leppard (#41), The Zombies (#85) and Stevie Nicks (#122).

The second thing we did is input the new artists who are eligible.  As they were already listed on our site on the Future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eligible section, we took your existing votes and comments into consideration.

That segues perfectly into the third thing that we did, which was to look at the votes and comments that you made on the existing entrants on the list.  This matters to us and we adjusted accordingly.

As such, we are proud to present our new Top 10:

For the fourth time Kraftwerk returns to the #1 spot.  They have been nominated five times including last year.  They were ranked #2 last year and have never been lower than #3 since we started this website.

Oasis makes their debut at #2 making them the highest new artist on our list.  The British group are certainly Hall of Fame worthy however it is unlikely that the Gallagher brothers will show up should they be chosen.

Jethro Tull returns at #3.  To date, they have yet to be nominated for the Rock Hall despite being eligible since 1993.

The Smiths also hold steady at their same position at #4.  The Smiths have been nominated in 2015 and 2016 and have been eligible since 2008.

MC5 moved up one spot from #6 to #5.  The proto-punk group have been eligible since 1991 and have been nominated four times and the last three years.

The highest hip-hop act is now the Notorious B.I.G. who debuts at #6.  Like Oasis, there is an excellent chance that he could enter on his first year of eligibility.

Gram Parsons hold his position at #7.  Parsons has been eligible since 1992 and he has been nominated three times the last occurring in 2005.

Willie Nelson also remains with the same rank at #8.  Nelson has been eligible since 1986 and has never been nominated.

Judas Priest climbed one rung from #10 to #9.  The Heavy Metal outfit from the United Kingdom have been eligible since 1999 and were nominated once in 2018.

New Order swapped spots with Judas Priest and dropped to #10.  They have been eligible since 2006 and have never been nominated.

Weezer debuts at a high profile spot at #40 and Korn also joins them in the Top 50 with a debut at #49.  The Top 100 showcases Outkast at #59, Daft Punk at #71 and Marilyn Manson at #79.

The other new entries are Elliott Smith (#127), Jeff Buckley (#157), Nas (#174), Portishead (#215), The Fugees (#245), Usher (#293), Godspeed! You Black Emperor (#355). Aaliyah (#361), At the Drive-In (#375), Cake (#403), Supergrass (#413), Bush (#425), Ben Harper (#443), Tricky (#506) and Brandy (#534).

The entire list can be found here.

At present we are ranking 588 acts.  Longtime visitors know that when we began this a decade ago we only ranked 100 acts, grew it to 250 and eventually 500.  We have a long term goal of reaching 1,000 hence why when there are new entries we did not remove any to keep at an even 500.

For those wondering about our other list revisions we will have the Baseball and Football ones done shortly.

As always we thank you for your support and we encourage you to cast your votes and offer your opinions!

Two generations of Britmetal slammed out their wares at FivePoint Amphitheater in Irvine, California, on September 27 as Deep Purple headlined the show that Judas Priest opened, with two different kinds of metalheads banging in support of each.

And while both bands have been presenting said wares for more than four decades, each demonstrated that it still had a trick or two up its sleeve even as both reliably fired off the hallmarks that eventually landed one band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while the other is on the short list of the Rock Hall's biggest "snubs." So, did one band justify its inclusion? And did the other further its case for inclusion?

The first content that we ever put up on Notinhalloffame.com was our original Rock and Roll list ranking those who were not yet in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but were worthy of consideration. It ranked 100 acts, and as we continued on we extended it to 500. Our eventual intent is to get to 1,000 and at present we now have 567 ranked.

The selection of The Moody Blues, The Cars, Nina Simone, Bon Jovi and Dire Straits to the Hall means that they are removed and newly eligible acts now populate our list. Rankings of existing musicians have been altered based on your comments and votes.

The new top 25 features:

Radiohead takes over the top spot after being ranked #2. They were nominated last year in their first year of eligibility and it was widely speculated that they would get in but it should be only a matter of time.

Kraftwerk returns to the number two rank after being #1 last year. The influential band has been nominated four times (2003, 2013, 2015 & 2017) and was our original number one selection when we put out our first list in 2010.

Jethro Tull holds firm at #3. To the surprise of many, the British Progressive Rock band has never been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite being eligible for twenty-five years.

The Smiths also held their spot at #4. This is the third year that they have been ranked this high and they were nominated in 2015 and 2016.

Roxy Music is ranked #5 for the second year in a row. They have been eligible for the Hall since 1997.

MC5 is ranked #6 for the third straight year. They have been nominated the last two years.

Gram Parsons moves up one spot to #7, which is his highest ranking to date. He was nominated three times in 2002. 2004 & 2005.

Willie Nelson drops down to #8. Nelson has never been nominated.

New Order returns to the top 10 moving from up from #11. They also have never been nominated and have been ranked as high as #5.

Judas Priest makes their first appearance in our top ten taking the #10 position after being ranked #13. The heavy metal pioneers also earned their first nomination last year after being eligible since 1999.

The Cure moves up to #11 from #14, which is their highest rank to date. They were nominated in 2012.

John Coltrane remains at #12. He has never been nominated.

Todd Rundgren continues to climb our rank, moving from #15 to #13. He has moved up every year since our list’s inception and he has also never been nominated although has been eligible since 1995.

Iron Maiden climbs to #14 after being #17. They have also never been nominated and this to date their highest rank.

Dick Dale moved up one spot to #15. The “King of the Surf Guitar” has never been nominated.

T.Rex rises two spots to #16, their highest rank to date. They have also never been nominated.

Pixies also went up two spots to #17. Never nominated, they have been eligible for the Hall since 2012.

Janet Jackson also increased her rank and is now at the #18 hole. Jackson was nominated in both 2016 & 2017.

Joy Division reached the top 20 for the first time reaching #19. Like New Order, they have never been nominated.

King Crimson returns to the top 20. They were ranked #23 last year and they have never been nominated.

Wu-Tang Clan plummeted from #10 to #21. They have only been eligible for two years.

Depeche Mode continued to rise and are now #22. They have been nominated for the last two years.

Big Star dropped to #23. This is their lowest ranking to date and they have yet to be nominated.

Link Wray moved up three to #24, his first time in our Top 25. The guitar legend was nominated last year and also in 2014.

Beck closes the Top 25. He was ranked at that last year.

As you see, no new act made our revised Top 25. That doesn’t mean that there are not new entries as we have 19 debuts to our Notinhalloffame.com list.

They are:

Bjork at #56.

Dave Matthews Band at #81.

Blink-182 at #90.

Rancid at #100.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at #128.

Snoop Dogg at #178.

The Roots at #235.

Built to Spill at #249.

Shania Twain at #255.

Sheryl Crow at #304.

Counting Crows at #309.

Toni Braxton at #320.

Everclear at #381.

AFI at #387.

Collective Soul at #400.

Aimee Mann at #420.

Frank Black at #454.

Elastica at #484.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your votes and comments and encourage you to offer more as this does alter future rankings.

Look for our revised Notinhalloffame.com Baseball list in the upcoming weeks.

When you are nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it is naturally disappointing when you don’t get the call.

It was no exception for Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford who saw his band nominated for the first time though they were eligible since 1999.

In an interview with 100.7 KSLX in Phoenix, Halford read and shared the rejection letter that the band received:

Thank you for embracing your nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While you didn’t garner enough votes for induction this year, you were part of a very select group of Hall of Fame nominees. Artists are frequently on the ballot multiple times before they are inducted. For example, Black Sabbath were nominated eight times before their induction, Patti Smith seven times, Solomon Burke nine times, and both the Beastie Boys and The Yardbirds were on the ballot three times before their respective inductions.

If you are touring or simply traveling nearby, please visit our museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Our six floors of exhibitions tell the remarkable history of rock and roll and how it changed the world. You’re part of that story and we’d love to share it with you. Again, congratulations on your nomination.

My best,

Greg Harris, President and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

 

Fascinating, right?

While we could easily be wrong on this, we don’t recall a time where a band shared this letter publically.

In the interview, Halford was not bitter but did stress that he felt that the band deserved to be inducted:

“We’ve put our 10,000 hours in and more. Beyond that, we just feel that heavy metal music deserves more space on shelves at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 

We were thrilled and honoured to be even nominated, so it’s kind of bittersweet. We got the nomination, which is something of a recognition for the work that you’ve done, but we didn’t quite get in this time, but I’m hopeful that eventually we’ll get some more metal.”

We here at Notinhalloffame.com think that they will be nominated again.

We love days like this.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced today with some serious shockers, so let’s get right to it!

The 19 nominees are:

Bon Jovi: Bon Jovi is nominated for the second time and poses a serious threat to advance all the way this yesr. Don’t be surprised if they win the fan vote.

The Cars: This is the third nominee in a row for the group.

Depeche Mode. Nominated for the second year in a row, should they get in they would be the first 80’s alternative band to get inducted.

Dire Straits. This is the first nomination for Dire Straits and they should get a lot of support on the fan vote.

The Eurythmics. Another first time nominee, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart churned out some of the most enduring songs in the 80’s.

The J. Geils Band. This is the fifth nomination for the band and the first following the death of J. Geils.

Judas Priest. This is the first time they have been nominated, and they are the Heavy Metal nominee this year. This bodes well for other forgotten metal acts.

Kate Bush. A nice surprise here, as this first time nominee was very large on the British scene.

Link Wray. The inventor of the power chord receives his second nomination. His first was in 2014.

LL Cool J. LL Cool J is nominated for the fourth time and are the hip hop nominee for this year.

MC5. MC5 secures their third nomination ever, and their second in a row.

The Meters. The fourth nomination for the Meters, who saw their first in 1997.

The Moody Blues. This might generate the biggest sigh of relief from their fanbase. They have been eligible since 1989 and has a significant online presence pushing for this induction.

Nina Simone. Another nice surprise here. This is the first nomination for Nina Simone since being eligible in 1983.

Radiohead: In their first year of eligibility, Radiohead is no surprise showing up as a nominee. There is little reason to think that they won’t get in immediately.

Rage Against the Machine: RATM is a first ballot inductee too, though it might be a little surprising that other first ballot eligible acts, Wu-Tang Clan and Beck were not chosen.

Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. Chaka Khan was nominated as a solo last year and frankly there is a better chance for her nominated with her original group.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Huh? While she was a gospel star in the 30’s and 40’s and influential in the American Rock and Roll canon, this seems like an Early Influence inductee and is very out of place here.

The Zombies. This will be the third crack for the Zombies.

Hmmmmm.

While there will be many happy to see the Moody Blues and Judas Priest finally get a chance there will be (as there always is) upset fans over the fact that their favorite act were not chosen as a nominee. This is certainly a diverse group and frankly we need some time to digest this.

We know all of you have some opinions and we would love to hear it.

When the NIHOF committee gathered to discuss our next entrant we did what we could to forget the terrible Mark Wahlberg movie (Rock Star) that was loosely based on them. Instead we chose to focus on how important Judas Priest was in Heavy Metal’s progression.