The official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations for 2007 were announced today. There are only three first time nominees this year -- R.E.M., Van Halen, and the Ronettes. This is the first year of eligibility for R.E.M., and it's no surprise they have been nominated since they are both popular and critical favorites. Van Halen finally gets nominated in their fourth year of eligibility, and the Ronettes had been waiting since 1988 for a nod.

The rest of the 2007 ballot looks very familiar to last year's ballot. The Stooges, Grandmaster Flash, Patti Smith, Chic, Joe Tex, and the Dave Clark Five didn't make the cut last year (and have been nominated a total of 23 times over the years), but have all been nominated again.

The Rock Hall Foundation Nominating Committee only selected nine artists this year instead of the fifteen or so they have been nominating in recent years. By reducing the number of nominees the voters have to choose from, the Nominating Committee is clearly flexing its muscles and essentially saying to the voters, "you will vote these artists in whether you like it or not."

With all of the talk about the turnover on the Nominating Committee, including a new Foundation director, the new guard seems awfully similar to the old guard.

To comment on the nominations, check out the 2007 Nominees page.