The 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees were officially announced on December 13th. The Rock Hall announced five inductees in the Performer category and one Early Influence inductee:

Performers:

• Bon Jovi
  
• The Cars
  
• Dire Straits
  
• The Moody Blues
  
• Nina Simone
  

Early Influence:

• Sister Rosetta Tharpe
  

Inductees will be honored at the Induction Ceremony in Cleveland on April 14, 2018. An edited broadcast of the induction ceremony will again air on HBO.

Since 2013, when Rush was finally nominated and then inducted, the Rock Hall has continued the trend of giving into the will of the people. In 2014, they inducted KISS. In 2015, it was Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 2016, Chicago made it. And last year, Journey was finally allowed entry. With the exception of KISS, all of those artists were inducted the first time they were nominated, and they each won the “fan vote.”

And they aren’t alone. Since 2013, 58% of inductees have finished in the top five of the fan vote. The Rock Hall has also leaned heavily on artists who are nominated for the first time, with 62% of inductees getting in immediately (including five out of six last year).

So, there is some correlation between the fan vote winners and the inductees, as well as those who are fresh names on the ballot. The official fan poll winners were: Bon Jovi (2nd nomination), The Moody Blues (1st nomination), Dire Straits (1st nomination), The Cars (3rd nomination) and Judas Priest (1st nomination).

Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees of the Rock Hall class of 2018 will be:

• Bon Jovi: Jann Wenner’s dislike of the band has probably been one of the main reasons they haven’t gotten in yet, but his influence seems to be waning, and the momentum is strong this year. Don’t be surprised if a big summer tour follows their induction with Richie Sambora back in the fold.
• The Moody Blues: If it weren’t for Bon Jovi, The Moody Blues would have been the big story this year. Their fans have been nagging the Rock Hall for years about the snub. Voters should vote them in quickly now that they have the chance.
• Radiohead: Yes, their disinterest could hurt their chances of induction this year, but Level 3 or 4 Hall of Famers don’t come around very often. The Rock Hall will look hopelessly foolish and out of touch to an entire generation if they don’t get in (as if they don’t already).
• Dire Straits: Like Jeff Lynne and E.L.O. last year, voters will jump at the chance to induct Mark Knopfler.
• Judas Priest: The Rock Hall undeniably needs more metal, and Judas Priest are more than happy to be inducted. Unlike Radiohead, they even left a gap in their tour schedule for the induction ceremony.
• Nina Simone: Women getting inducted is rare, but a black woman hasn’t been inducted since Donna Summer in 2013.

Since this is a Cleveland Induction Ceremony, the Early Influence category should be resurrected. We’ll predict they’ll again pull from the performer ballot and induct both Link Wray and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Inductees will be officially announced on Wednesday, December 13th.

The Rock Hall Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 14 at Public Hall in Cleveland.

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For eleven years we have been conducting our own unofficial poll here which, unlike the official Rock Hall poll, requires voters to select five artists on their ballot. The results (after 1084 ballots):

1. The Moody Blues 53%
2. The Cars 51%
3. Radiohead 44%
4. Dire Straits 39%
5. Bon Jovi 38%
6. Nina Simone 34%
7. Eurythmics 31%
8. Judas Priest 31%
9. Depeche Mode 29%
10. The Zombies 26%
11. Kate Bush 25%
12. Rage Against the Machine 20%
13. MC5 15%
14. Sister Rosetta Tharpe 15%
15. Link Wray 14%
16. LL Cool J 14%
17. The J. Geils Band 13%
18. The Meters 6%
19. Rufus featuring Chaka Khan 5%

The Rock Hall has very few first ballot Hall of Famers left to induct. So when Radiohead, this year’s no-brainer, decides to preemptively make plans to be elsewhere on induction night, it’s a bad look for the Rock Hall.

Despite the perceived acrimony, the Hall of Fame has actually had a pretty good run of artist participation in the induction ceremonies lately. You have to go back to 2006 when the Sex Pistols wrote the “piss stain” letter and rejected the honor that there was this level of total indifference from an inductee. Since then, there have been a few artists who have stayed home, like Andrew Loog Oldham (2014), Axl Rose (2012), and most of Van Halen (2007), but there is usually at least a portion of the band there to collect the trophies and play some songs, even if they’re doing it more for the fans than the Hall of Fame itself.

Radiohead don’t seem to care about any of it. Earlier this year, Andy Greene from Rolling Stone got these great quotes from the band about the Rock Hall:

Phil Selway: "It's a bit like having the free bus pass in the UK when you reach a certain age. Blimey. Have we got to that point? God knows [if we'll go]. We'd have to sit down and talk about it, but it's probably not at the top of my list of things to do. But who knows? I don't know.”

Jonny Greenwood: "I don't care. Maybe it's a cultural thing that I really don't understand. I mean, from the outside it looks like ... it's quite a self-regarding profession anyway. And anything that heightens that just makes me feel even more uncomfortable.”

Ed O'Brien: "I don't want to be rude about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because for a lot of people it means something, but culturally I don't understand it. I think it might be a quintessential American thing. Brits are not very good at slapping ourselves on the back. It seems very show-biz and I'm not very show-biz. We haven't even been asked. I don't want to be rude. But if you ask me what I'd rather be doing that night, I'd rather be sitting at home in front of the fire or going to a gig. I realized years ago that I didn't like award ceremonies. You walk in there and you feel self-conscious. It's just really uncomfortable. Wherever there is media there seem to be a real level of bullshit. It just feels non-authentic to us.”

Thom Yorke: "It wouldn't be the first place ... don't ask me things like that. I always put my foot in my mouth.”

Colin Greenwood: "I'd be grateful if we got in. Look at the other people that have been inducted. I don't know if everyone else will go though. It might be me just doing bass versions of everything like, 'Come on, you know this one!' I'd have to play the bass part to 'Creep' five times.”

So what options does the Rock Hall have, assuming Radiohead gets the necessary votes for induction?

1. The remote trophy presentation: You’ve probably seen something similar on other award shows, where the artist is shown receiving their trophy via satellite and maybe does a song from the concert. With Radiohead performing in Argentina the night of the ceremony (two hours ahead of Cleveland), this is technically feasible, but it seems like a long shot, especially after the band rep’s terse statement of, “They’re not attending.”
2. Make the best of it: Treat Radiohead’s induction similar to the way they have with others who wouldn’t perform (Madonna, Black Sabbath) and put together a tribute performance (“Creep”, of course) that would at least provide some content for HBO to work with.
3. The bare minimum: The Rock Hall would show the inductee video, have someone make a speech, then accept the award on Radiohead’s behalf and just skip the tribute performance.
4. The deferral: If the Rock Hall believes this year’s absence was just an unfortunate conflict and have been assured that Radiohead will have a change of heart and agree to participate in the future, they could basically defer their induction a year or two.
5. The blackball: The Hall of Fame could simply ignore them and move on with other artists who aren’t so resistant to the idea of being inducted.

So what will the Rock Hall do when they inductees are announced next week? Our guess is they will go ahead and induct them with the bare minimum option. The Rock Hall would likely prefer to get their induction out of the way now rather than go through this humiliation again.

One of the greatest sources of controversy with the Rock Hall each year is the snubbing of particular members of inducted bands. We even made a giant list of the most egregious examples.

In an attempt to get ahead of these controversies, the Rock Hall has started releasing which members are included at the time the nominees are announced, in the hopes to get the furor out of the way by the time the inductees are announced in December. So, of the 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees, which members of the nominated bands made the cut? Let’s take a look:

Bon Jovi

Nominees: David Bryan, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Alec John Such, and Tico Torres

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Hugh McDonald has been Bon Jovi’s (unofficial?) bass player for the last 20+ years (maybe since the beginning?) and might be this year’s most egregious snub. [Update 12-19-2017: Hugh McDonald has been added to the list of inductees.] Also, Phil X has filled in recently for Richie Sambora on guitar.

The Cars

Nominees: Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes, David Robinson, Ric Ocasek, and Benjamin Orr

Who did the Rock Hall miss? No one.

Depeche Mode

Nominees: Vince Clarke, Andy Fletcher, Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Alan Wilder

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Touring members Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno.

Dire Straits

Nominees: Alan Clark, Guy Fletcher, John Illsley, David Knopfler, Mark Knopfler, and Pick Withers

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Guitarists Hal Lindes, Jack Sonni, and drummer Terry Williams would seem to have a case for inclusion.

Eurythmics

Nominees: Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart

Who did the Rock Hall miss? No one.

The J. Geils Band

Nominees: Stephen Jo Bladd, Magic Dick, J. Geils, Seth Justman, Danny Klein, and Peter Wolf

Who did the Rock Hall miss? No one.

Judas Priest

Nominees: Les Binks, K. K. Downing, Rob Halford, Ian Hill, Dave Holland, Glenn Tipton, and Scott Travis

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Halford, Downing, Tipton, and Hill formed the core band while they had a revolving door of drummers. Drummers Binks, Holland and Travis were included, while early drummers John Hinch, Alan Moore and Simon Phillips were left out. Short term subs, vocalist Tim Owens and guitarist Richie Faulkner, were not included.

MC5

Nominees: Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer, Fred “Sonic” Smith, Dennis Thompson, and Rob Tyner

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Early contributors Leo LeDuc, Billy Vargo, Bob Gaspar and Patrick Burrows were left out.

The Meters

Nominees: Joseph Modeliste, Art Neville, Cyril Neville, Leo Nocentelli, and George Porter Jr.

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Pretty much anyone who joined the group after 1976: Willie West, Russell Batiste, David Batiste, Sr., Brian Stoltz and Ian Neville.

The Moody Blues

Nominees: Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Mike Pinder, and Ray Thomas

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Early members Denny Laine [Update 12-16-2017: Denny Laine has been added to the list of inductees.] , Clint Warwick, and Rodney Clark. Also missing is 80’s keyboardist Patrick Moraz.

Radiohead

Nominees: Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway, and Thom Yorke

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Producer Nigel Godrich has been an indispensable 6th member and deserves some kind of recognition, even though he’s not officially in the band.

Rage Against the Machine

Nominees: Tim Commerford, Tom Morello, Zack de la Rocha, and Brad Wilk

Who did the Rock Hall miss? No one.

Rufus featuring Chaka Khan

Nominees: Dennis Belfield, Al Ciner, Andre Fisher, Chaka Khan, Tony Maiden, Kevin Murphy, Ron Stockert, Bobby Watson, Willie Weeks, and David Wolinski

Who did the Rock Hall miss? Even with 10 nominated members (so much for the rumored cap?), there are others who didn’t get named: Paulette McWilliams, James Stella, Chuck Colbert, Jr., Lee Graziano, Dennis Belfield, Nate Morgan, Richard “Moon” Calhoun and John Robinson.

The Zombies

Nominees: Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy, and Chris White

Who did the Rock Hall miss? They nominated the classic lineup but left off more recent band members Keith Airey, Tom Toomey, Jim Rodford, Steve Rodford and Sebastian Santa Maria.

So, did the Rock Hall get it right this year?

The Rock Hall announced the 2018 Nominees this morning.

• Bon Jovi
  
• Kate Bush
  
• The Cars
  
• Depeche Mode
  
• Dire Straits
  
• Eurythmics
  
• J. Geils Band
  
• Judas Priest
  
• LL Cool J
  
• MC5
  
• The Meters
  
• The Moody Blues
  
• Radiohead
  
• Rage Against the Machine
  
• Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
  
• Nina Simone
  
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe
  
• Link Wray
  
• The Zombies
  

Please vote in our fan poll!

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The 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place on Friday, April 7th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Induction Schedule (begins at 7:15 PM):

1. Chuck Berry Tribute (ELO performs “Roll Over Beethoven”)
2. Electric Light Orchestra (“Evil Woman”, “Mr. Blue Sky”; Inducted by Dhani Harrison)
3. Joan Baez (Inducted by Jackson Browne; “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” - solo; “Deportees”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” - with Mary Chapin Carpenter & Indigo Girls)
4. Yes (Inducted by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson; “Roundabout” - with Geddy Lee; “Owner of a Lonely Heart”)
5. 2Pac (Inducted by Snoop Dogg; "Ambitionz Az a Ridah," "I Get Around," "I Ain't Mad at Cha" and "Dear Mama" medley by Alicia Keys; “Americaz Most Wanted” with Snoop Dogg and YG; “Hail Mary” with T.I. and Treach; “Keep Your Head Up”)
6. Journey (Inducted by Pat Monahan; “Separate Ways”, “Lights”, “Don’t Stop Believin” - with Arnel Pineda)
7. Nile Rodgers (Inducted by Pharrell; no performance)
8. In Memoriam
9. Lenny Kravitz’s Prince Tribute (“When Doves Cry”, “The Cross”)
10. Pearl Jam (Inducted by David Letterman; “Alive” - with Dave Krusen; “Given to Fly”, “Better Man”)
11. All-Star Jam (“Rockin’ in the Free World”)

The show ended around 12:05 AM.