The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2019, which includes:
- The Cure
- Def Leppard
- Janet Jackson
- Stevie Nicks
- Radiohead
- Roxy Music
- The Zombies
Three of them -- Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard and Roxy Music -- were on the ballot for the first time. Stevie was inducted in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and will be the first woman enshrined twice.
Stevie, Def Leppard, The Zombies and The Cure were all in the Top 5 of the Fan Vote. Todd Rundgren came in third in the Fan Vote, but did not make the final cut.
Ballots were sent to an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, historians and members of the music industry. Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.
In addition to Rundgren, the seven other artists who fell short this year were LL Cool J, Kraftwerk, MC5, John Prine, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Rage Against the Machine and Devo.
The 34th annual induction ceremony will be held Friday, March 29th, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The HBO telecast will follow later in the spring.
This was The Cure's second nomination -- the first came in 2012. Nine out of the 13 members that have been in the group since their first album in 1979 will be inducted -- frontman Robert Smith (who’s the only constant in the lineup), current members Roger O’Donnell, Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper, and former members Perry Bamonte, Porl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams and Michael Dempsey, who appeared only on the band’s first album, Three Imaginary Boys.
Radiohead, who had their first nomination last year, showed their disdain for the Hall by scheduling a tour in South America at the same time as the 2018 induction ceremony. Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway have been dismissive of the whole Rock Hall process in past interviews, so the chances of them not showing up for the 2019 induction ceremony are probably pretty good.
Janet Jackson is now the sixth member of the Jackson family to be honored by the Rock Hall. The Jackson 5 are in, as is Michael Jackson as a solo artist.