The long list of 2019 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has arrived. Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Janet Jackson, the Cure, Kraftwerk, MC5, Rufus & Chaka Khan, LL Cool J, and the Zombies have been nominated once again this year. Devo, Roxy Music, Stevie Nicks, Todd Rundgren, John Prine, and Def Leppard have all been nominated for the first time. Fans can vote for their favorite nominees at the Rock Hall’s website. The 2019 class of inductees will be revealed in December.
No artists eligible for the first time this year were nominated. OutKast, Beck, Fugees, Jeff Buckley, the Roots, Snoop Dogg, and Dave Matthews Band are among the artists in their first year of contention (meaning their first commercial records were released in 1993). Previous nominees omitted from this year’s list include Kate Bush, Nine Inch Nails, the Smiths, the Replacements, Depeche Mode, Bad Brains, Eric B. & Rakim, Jane’s Addiction, Eurythmics, and Gram Parsons.
Before they were nominated last year, Radiohead gave an interview where they discussed their disinterest in a potential Rock Hall induction. “I don’t care,” said Jonny Greenwood. “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.” While Thom Yorke, Philip Selway, and Ed O’Brien also sounded apathetic, Colin Greenwood said, “I’d be grateful if we got in.”
The 2018 class of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees included Nina Simone, Dire Straits, Bon Jovi, the Cars, the Moody Blues, and early influence Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Simone got a tribute from the Roots and Lauryn Hill; Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard paid tribute to Tharpe.
See where Janet Jackson, Kraftwerk, the Cure, and Roxy Music landed on Pitchfork’s list of “The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s.”
