The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame voting ends on April 15th and they will officially announce the class of 2024 by the end of the month. Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees in the Performer category will be:

1. Kool & the Gang: The overwhelming support for Kool & the Gang from voters who have made their ballots public is unprecedented. The Rock Hall is probably kicking itself for waiting so long to nominate such a wildly successful band that crossed multiple genres and decades, and is clearly beloved.
2. Cher: Despite her suspicious public protestations about the Hall of Fame before she was nominated, Cher will likely cooperate and walk in after finally making her first ballot.
3. Foreigner: There's never been a public campaign like the one organized by Mark Ronson in support of his stepfather (Mick Jones). The band was eager to embrace the endorsements of Hall of Famers like Paul McCartney, Slash, Dave Grohl, and Chad Smith, and also heavily promoted the Fan Vote.
4. Peter Frampton: There was an outpouring of love when Frampton performed with Sheryl Crow at the 2023 induction ceremony, which vaulted him onto this year's ballot. Frampton's career peak in the 1970s was in the sweet spot for a significant chunk of voters who were coming of age during that time.
5. A Tribe Called Quest: The Rock Hall seems to want Tribe to get inducted before they can move on to other equally deserving hip hop artists such as Wu Tang and OutKast. Expect ATCQ to make the cut this year to open up future ballots for others.
6. Sinead O'Connor: As unfortunate as it was that it took her death to get the Nominating Committee's attention, the career reflection that followed gives Hall of Fame voters a unique opportunity to cement that legacy.
7. Lenny Kravitz: Like Sheryl Crow last year, Kravitz has countless friends in the industry that he can count on for votes. As a musical chameleon, he appeals to multiple demographics.

Additional Notes and Open Questions:

• The Rock Hall's rule change to allow voters to select seven artists instead of just five has been a massive improvement. Listening to voters work through their ballots on the Who Cares About the Rock Hall? podcast has shown that much of the pretzel logic voting of past years is gone. We're glad the Rock Hall finally took our suggestion ;)
• It's going to be fascinating to see how the increase to seven picks will impact the voting. The expansion could lead to some unexpected results.
• Allowing voters choose seven artists implies they will induct seven names from the ballot, but they haven't explicitly said they will do that. After inducting seven in 2022 and 2023, anything less than that will be a disappointment given the giant backlog.
• What about Ozzy? Despite his icon status, voters may look another way because 1) he's already an inductee with Black Sabbath, and 2) metal doesn't get much respect from the Rock Hall's voters.
• Dave Matthews Band dominated the official Fan Vote, and if they get passed over again, they'll cement their position as the number one populist snub.
• Is Mariah Carey too big to fail? It will be a tough pill to swallow for a star of her magnitude to miss out on a career achievement like this, but for whatever reason, voter support appears to be soft.
• Lenny Kravitz has had a quiet a year. He's already performed two career-spanning medleys at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival and the 2023 People's Choice Awards, where he picked up a Music Icon Award. Just last month he was honored by his daughter and Denzel Washington when getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After all of that, a Rock Hall induction may seem redundant.
• The public health issues of Ozzy, Peter Frampton, and key members of Foreigner, could certainly motivate voters to cast their votes for them this year.
• What do our readers think is going to happen? The results from our own prediction poll:





• The 2024 induction ceremony will be back in Cleveland this fall and will likely sell out quickly, no matter who gets inducted. Last year the Rock Hall was forced to lower their exorbitant ticket prices after demand was soft for the Brooklyn ceremony.
• Paul McCartney has appeared at two of the last three Cleveland ceremonies. Maybe he'll be back again this year?

Foreigner's a lock. https://t.co/TcTupbD4Dp

— Future Rock Legends (@futurerocklgnds) February 27, 2024

• The Rock Hall's "Fans Ballot" winners were Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne, Cher, Lenny Kravitz, and Kool & the Gang. Historically fan vote winners have been inducted slightly more than 50% of the time, so it's no guarantee of induction (last year only one artist from the top five made it in).
• Lastly, a quick plug for our other websites which, like this site, focus on the greatest of all-time in their respective categories: Future Country Legends, Future Hip Hop Legends, and Future Football Legends. If you're into best-of lists and Halls of Fame, you'll find a lot to like over there.


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