The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame voting ends on April 21st and they will officially announce the class of 2025 by the end of the month. Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees in the Performer category will be:

1. Joe Cocker: This should probably become an official rule at this point: If Paul McCartney puts his stamp of approval on your candidacy, you're as good as gold.
2. Cyndi Lauper: After playing nice with the Rock Hall the last few years, the Nominating Committee gave Lauper a clear ballot path to induction. Lauper has been the leading vote getter on the Ballot Tracker, appearing on over 75% of known ballots. This should be her year.
3. Outkast: Also doing extremely well with voters is the only hip hop artist on the ballot. The Nominating Committee should feel ashamed they made Outkast wait this long. Artists with first-ballot Hall of Fame credentials are increasingly rare, so it's absurd the Hall of Fame is just finally getting around to these legends.
4. Bad Company: As has been said many times, they appear to be this year's Foreigner. They have the support of their peers, and they haven't been shy about teasing their appearance at the induction ceremony.
5. Chubby Checker: Here's an artist who may benefit from the e-ballot system which will prompt snap judgments from voters who probably think he was already inducted decades ago. A closer inspection of his candidacy would reveal some of the significant limitations in the depth of his career, but how many voters are going to dig deeper?
6. Billy Idol: It was a good sign for Idol's chances when he revealed in an early interview after the ballot was released that his longtime collaborator Steve Stevens was included in his nomination. The Rock Hall rarely goes deeper with solo artists, so it showed that either Idol's team or the Hall were already thinking about his induction.
7. The White Stripes: Jack White has always venerated the legends that were among the first inductees in the Hall of Fame, and now he has the opportunity to join them. A White Stripes reunion performance would be guaranteed to be a highlight of the ceremony.
8. Soundgarden: In the last 10 years, only six artists have been inducted as performers after having been nominated more than three times. Soundgarden should make it in on their third try, with strong showings among public ballots and the fan vote.

Additional Notes:

• What about Mariah? It's hard to leave her out again, but she proved last year that she wasn't too big to fail. Some voters may have softened on her in since last year, but we're predicting it still won't be enough.
• Eight performer inductees again? Last year's high water mark may not be back given the length of last year's ceremony, but we'll see what other priorities the Hall of Fame has in the other categories.
• Joy Division / New Order are one of the most deserving artists on the ballot and yet they will probably miss out again. This is a case where the Rock Hall waited way too long to get them on the ballot and their cultural relevance has faded.
• Phish will win the Fan Vote which will keep them in the annual Hall of Fame conversation for a few years, but their performance in that poll is one of the weakest of any leader in recent history, so the Rock Hall may decide to go in a different fan-friendly direction.
• If Chubby Checker gets in, he'll be the second artist from the defunct Singles Category to be inducted into the Rock Hall proper, after Link Wray did it in 2023.
• The behind-the-scenes PR campaign for Cocker would have been better timed to roll out during the old paper ballot system, when voters had a week or two to wait before having to make their final decisions. Under the new e-ballot system, the majority of voting is probably completed within just a few days after the nominees are revealed. (The Rock Hall should reconsider when they send out official ballots. Waiting a week or two could be beneficial.)
• What do our readers think is going to happen? The results from our own prediction poll:
  

• The Rock Hall's "Fan Vote" winners were Phish, Bad Company, Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarden, Joe Cocker, and Chubby Checker.
• For the special categories, we'll predict that Iron Maiden will get forced in as Musical Excellence (with just a video package at the ceremony since they probably won't show up), and Carol Kaye will finally get her due.
• Will the Hall of Fame continue nominating and/or inducting artists just after they die? Maybe? The Rock Hall has shown they don't care how crass it looks and will use the morbid momentum to do what should have been done years ago.

Who do you think will be inducted? Leave your thoughts below.

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