2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

[RF34]

By Andy Greene | October 9, 2014
The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2015 are in, and the list includes Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, N.W.A, the Smiths, Lou Reed and Sting. The rest of this year's hopefuls are the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Kraftwerk, Chic, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, the Marvelettes, the Spinners, Stevie Ray Vaughan, War and Bill Withers. The top vote-getters will be announced toward the end of the year and inducted on April 18th, 2015 at a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio.

For the third consecutive year, the public gets to vote alongside the artists, historians and music industry insiders of the Rock Hall voting body. From now until December 9th, fans can vote on RollingStone.com for the nominees they’d like to see inducted (click here to vote). The top five acts will comprise a "fan's ballot" that will count as one of the ballots that determine the Class of 2015.

In order to be eligible for this year’s ballot, artists or bands need to have released their first single or album in 1989 or earlier. Many of the nominees have appeared on previous ballots, but this is the first appearance for Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, the Smiths, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bill Withers and Sting.

Green Day and Nine Inch Nails are the only acts to land on their ballot in their first years of eligibility. Green Day's debut EP 1,000 Hours came out in April 1989, and Nine Inch Nails’ first album Pretty Hate Machine was released in October of 1989.

Lou Reed has already been inducted as a member of the Velvet Underground, and Sting previously entered the Hall of Fame as a member of the Police.

Last year's Rock Hall class included Nirvana, Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt. The E Street Band received the Award for Musical Excellence and Beatles manager Brian Epstein and original Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham earned the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.


Read more: Green Day, NIN, the Smiths Nominated for Rock Hall of Fame | Rolling Stone

[HollywoodLeo]

Green Day? I'm starting to feel old.

[Tobywan]

Be nice if The Smiths were chosen since Morrissey has battled health problems for years and is now being treated for cancer.

[Jim Colyer]

Chic gets my vote.

[Foster]

N.W.A. 4 Lyfe

[LJMets1989]

Can't say I've listened very much to any of the above except Green Day (who has my (meaningless) vote). But between them, NIN, Sting, Lou Reed, The Smiths and SRV, it should be an interesting class. Is five the max allowed?

[RF34]

Nope. Last year they inducted 9.

In 2012 15 were inducted

.

[Lynch]

Be nice if The Smiths were chosen since Morrissey has battled health problems for years and is now being treated for cancer.

Shitty reason for a shitty band with a dbag, candyass frontman to get in. Sorry about his cancer, but that should have NOTHING to do with anything.

[Lynch]

The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2015 are in, and the list includes


Green Day - no. maybe at some point, but first ballot? Definitely not first ballot.

Nine Inch Nails - no

N.W.a. - rap Hall of Fame? Absofuckinglutely! RnR HoF? Absolutely not

the Smiths - *gag* absolutely not

Lou Reed - already in with Velvet. Solo was less impressive than Velvet was, so hell no.

Sting - already in with Police. Solo career is ok, but nothing worthy of a second add to the HOF

Paul Butterfield Blues Band - actually an interesting nomination here. Good band, although I think of them more as a blues or even a jazz(ish) band than a rock band. I think that a lot of people don't even know who they are, which is too bad. I wouldn't have a problem with them being in, but there are so many artists that should be on this list ahead of them.

Kraftwerk - absofuckinglutely not!

Chic - Disco HOF? Absolutely, RnR HOF? nope.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - 3 or 4 of her 5 biggest selling hits were cover tracks. Did a decent job on them, even made one her own, but seriously, there's nothing special about her or the band. No.

the Marvelettes - vocal or R&B HOF? Yes. I just think we have enough of the 60's boy/girl bands that really weren't that groundbreaking or incredible already in the HOF, do we really need more? No.

the Spinners - feel the same here as with with Marvelettes, although I'd put the Spinners in ahead of the girl group. Bottom line, it's still a no.

War - this is a tough one as war covered so many genres and styles during their time. They really were a one-of-a-kind band. If they got in, it wouldn't bother me, but there are a lot of more deserving acts that should get in before them.

Bill Withers - I like him, but I'm not sure he belongs.




* Stevie Ray Vaughan - absofuckinglutely!!! Should have been in years ago. He fits just about every category for induction. Should be a shoe-in, but likely will get passed over (again) because the fucktards that run the joint are too busy putting in shit that doesn't belong. SRV is the only one on this list that even remotely gets my attention as being deserving.

[LJMets1989]

The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2015 are in, and the list includes


Green Day - no. maybe at some point, but first ballot? Definitely not first ballot.

Nine Inch Nails - no

N.W.a. - rap Hall of Fame? Absofuckinglutely! RnR HoF? Absolutely not

the Smiths - *gag* absolutely not

Lou Reed - already in with Velvet. Solo was less impressive than Velvet was, so hell no.

Sting - already in with Police. Solo career is ok, but nothing worthy of a second add to the HOF

Paul Butterfield Blues Band - actually an interesting nomination here. Good band, although I think of them more as a blues or even a jazz(ish) band than a rock band. I think that a lot of people don't even know who they are, which is too bad. I wouldn't have a problem with them being in, but there are so many artists that should be on this list ahead of them.

Kraftwerk - absofuckinglutely not!

Chic - Disco HOF? Absolutely, RnR HOF? nope.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - 3 or 4 of her 5 biggest selling hits were cover tracks. Did a decent job on them, even made one her own, but seriously, there's nothing special about her or the band. No.

the Marvelettes - vocal or R&B HOF? Yes. I just think we have enough of the 60's boy/girl bands that really weren't that groundbreaking or incredible already in the HOF, do we really need more? No.

the Spinners - feel the same here as with with Marvelettes, although I'd put the Spinners in ahead of the girl group. Bottom line, it's still a no.

War - this is a tough one as war covered so many genres and styles during their time. They really were a one-of-a-kind band. If they got in, it wouldn't bother me, but there are a lot of more deserving acts that should get in before them.

Bill Withers - I like him, but I'm not sure he belongs.




* Stevie Ray Vaughan - absofuckinglutely!!! Should have been in years ago. He fits just about every category for induction. Should be a shoe-in, but likely will get passed over (again) because the fucktards that run the joint are too busy putting in shit that doesn't belong. SRV is the only one on this list that even remotely gets my attention as being deserving.

RnR HOF isn't really what its name implies anymore. It's basically a music HOF.

Also, I can't stand the "maybe eventually but not first ballot" crap people say with all of the HoFs. It's dumb. If someone deserves in, they deserve in. What difference does it make how long they wait? (and Green Day absolutely belongs in, let's be real).

[HollywoodLeo]

This

Also, I can't stand the "maybe eventually but not first ballot" crap people say with all of the HoFs. It's dumb. If someone deserves in, they deserve in. What difference does it make how long they wait? (and Green Day absolutely belongs in, let's be real).

If someone's a hall of famer they are a hall of famer. Their resume doesn't become better or worse just because you wait longer.

[Lynch]

Really? I have to spell out what that means? To a couple of sports nerds who SHOULD know the meaning based on past experience with NFL, MLB, etc HoFs.

"maybe eventually but not first ballot" is a REALLY simple concept. I'll break it down for ya...

* First word: "MAYBE". I didn't say "OH for sure, but not yet", I said "MAYBE". They MAY have some of what ~I~ think it takes to get into the HoF, but I wouldn't put them down as "oh hell yes, absolute shoe-ins". JM2CW

* Last words: "Not first ballot", what that means is that I wouldn't put them in because there are a SLEW of FAR more deserving bands/artists that should be in FIRST. If those bands aren't in, why the fuck should GD get in? That's why "not first ballot".



Leo: Yes, a resume can very well get better with age. The accomplishments by themselves? No. However, when ranking them up against their peers both before and after them becomes more clear with time. Baseball example. At the time that Bert Blyleven retired, he was #3 on the all-time strikeouts thrown list. At this point in time, 22 years after he retired, he's STILL at #5. Only Clemens and Randy Johnson crept up and surpassed his numbers and both of those guys are considered shoe-in HOF'ers. Yet, it took 19 years (14th year of eligibility) for him to get into the HOF. Look at the other "shoe-ins" or potential shoe-ins that haven't surpassed his numbers in just this one category. Maddox, Schilling, Martinez, Smoltz (?), Mussina, Sabathia (who is over 1100 shy after 14 seasons). No, I'm not saying SO's is the be-all, end-all, but it is ONE category on a resume that is factored in. Blyleven's stock in that aspect rose over time because those numbers held up.

SO, yes, a resume can very easily get better with age.


Musically, Black Sabbath got in in 2006, Metallica got in in 2009. Metallica got in in their 2nd year of eligibility yet Sabbath had to sit and wait for 16 years after eligibility. Why do some bands get in right away and others have to wait forever, if they EVER get in? How does Metallica get in before Judas Priest or Iron Maiden when both of these two bands have as much to do with the success as any band since Sabbath. *shrug* The whole RnR Hall of Sham is just that, a fucking sham, but I don't have enough time to go into a worthy diatribe about that. Bottom line, I don't agree with GD getting in right away, if at all. Whether you agree with me or not, hopefully you two understand what I meant.

So, what exactly makes GD a first ballot shoe-in in your eyes? Similarly, shouldn't The Offspring be on this ballot ahead of GD?

[RF34]

Similarly, shouldn't The Offspring be on this ballot ahead of GD?

Yes

[LJMets1989]

If they're not on the ballot, they can't come into consideration when voting. You can complain that they're not on the ballot, but it shouldn't impact your feelings about the nominees.

You yourself went through the other nominees who are actually on the ballot and said most of them are no more deserving than Green Day. So as far as voting this year goes, there aren't a slew of more deserving candidates.

I would also point out that Green Day is among the highest selling artists of all time, has produced at least one if not two of the most impactful, popular, and musically great albums of the past 15-20 years. American Idiot is, for my money, the best album of the 2000's. They've put out tremendously varied music, ranging from true punk to political rock, to more pop-y stuff, and nearly all of it (save maybe the Pop-y Uno/Dos/Tre trio of albums) great.

Ironically, I'm more willing to accept your "resume getting better with age" theory in music than in baseball. Bert Blyleven may have only dropped so many spots post-retirement and eligibility, but guess what? He DROPPED spots. His resume didn't improve, it degraded. His numbers remained the same and others put up better numbers. Maybe Blyleven's case didn't degrade very much, which you can argue is mildly impressive, but the number of people more deserving can't possibly have gone down.

So at the end of the day, your argument seems to be more that you don't like how hall of fames operate. And that's fine. I don't love it either. But based on how they operate, and based on the nominees, I (personally, you're more than free to disagree) think that 1) Green Day should 10000% be in the RnR HOF eventually if not "first ballot" which is utterly meaningless in the long run and 2) in sports, resumes are what they are, you're either in or you aren't.

[Tobywan]

LJ has a point, the voting committee can only vote on who is nominated. There has been a lot of criticism that Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner who founded the HOF has too much control over the process, but the actual voting body is tons of artists and members of the music industry and it's a wide range of ages and genres.

There needs to be a more diverse group in the nominating, it appears that any group that was panned by the magazine doesn't get on the ballot despite what they did in sales and music charts.

As with any of the halls there have been snubs, one glaring snub in my view of the RnR HOF are the Moody Blues, but guess who didn't like them?....Rolling Stone.