Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2020 nominees

[M2]

The list is in, time to love/hate on it - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...142002957.html.

Here's who we've got:

Pat Benatar - Saw her play a small club in Newark, DE when I was a kid just at the moment when she broke big (my friend's brother worked the door and we got to watch from the side of the stage). Also immortalized by three different girls in Fast Times at Ridgemont High dressing like her. Automatic entry.

Dave Matthews Band - Also saw him play small clubs before he broke big, mostly because it was the only thing happening in Harrisonburg, VA that night. Not my jam. His fiddle player's band was better. Feel like they should have to engage Blues Traveler in a death match before their entry receives serious consideration.

Depeche Mode - Hopefully the Cure started what will be an avalanche Brit electro/goth/new wave entrants. Depeche Mode was about the 123rd-best member of that movement.

The Doobie Brothers - Only if they get get inducted with a specific Michael McDonald exclusion. He goes to the Easy Listening Hall of Fame.

Whitney Houston - I've been pretty supportive of R&B vocalists in the past, but if they do Houston they have to do Mariah Carey, and we can't have that.

Judas Priest - The RnRHOF followed Rolling Stone in being late on heavy metal. Never got it. Still doesn't get it. Yet even a complete simpleton knows Priest is the template for all heavy metal that followed them. Like, get with the program.

Kraftwerk - This should be an easy yes. Electronica blossomed into something huge and these guys were ground zero for it.

MC5 - They didn't make that much music and their influence is debatable (most of their influence in secondhand via bands that influenced others after being partially influenced by the MC5). Yet they did put Samuel L. Jackson's favorite word on wax.

Motorhead - We've already been deprived of the greatest HOF induction speech in history because Lemmy's dead. Congratulations RnRHOF on not getting your act together sooner. It's going to take 100 musicians to approximate the level of racket three guys in Motorhead would have made. I nominate Springsteen to stand in for Lemmy on the singing. If both Motorhead and Priest make it, it's the heaviest induction ceremony ever. It they cancel each other out, I suggest a riot in Cleveland.

Nine Inch Nails - Used to go to parties in Alphabet City in NYC where Trent Reznor would show up. He'd sort of stand in a corner by himself. Better play "Broken" if they get in.

The Notorious B.I.G. - Got to figure he goes in, right? Brian O'Grady for the induction speech.

Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - All day every day before Whitney Houston.

Todd Rundgren - There's two nominees coming up that make Rundgren's chances seem impossibly long. Nothing against the guy, but serious oversights need to be corrected.

Soundgarden - Same basic lane as NiN. Maybe they get more of a sympathy vote because of Chris Cornell's suicide. I assume they get in some day, but there's also a pile of bands here that influenced them.

T.Rex - I'm a sucker for glam. The Roxy's finally got in last year. T.Rex was inarguably the bigger band. I'd say better too, but that's a matter of taste. No amount of "20th Century Boy" is too much.

Thin Lizzy - Henry Rollins will do the induction speech if Thin Lizzy makes the cut. He will fight anyone who says otherwise (and then maybe get Black Flag in there). Bought my son a TL best of seven years ago and he still has it on heavy rotation. I will drink whiskey from a jar if they make it.

[marcshoe]

Depeche Mode - Hopefully the Cure started what will be an avalanche Brit electro/goth/new wave entrants. Depeche Mode was about the 123rd-best member of that movement.

Thank you. I lived in Sydney when they broke, and I never understood why they were better known in the US than their peers. Had a kid in class about five years ago who claimed they were the world's greatest band. I didn't argue, because you can't argue with teens about stuff like that, but he ended up in prison for doing some Very Bad Stuff about a year later.

There are some musts on this list, but I have no confidence they will be elected. I will say that I've had no luck convincing my sister, who got into metal around the time she turned forty, of Judas Priest's worthiness. Pat Benatar, T-Rex (I still don't understand how a band with that named started out as folkies), Thin Lizzy, even the Doobies, need to go on output alone, and Kraftwerk on influence.

[Dom Heffner]

Pat Benatar, Soundgarden.

Just say no to Kraftwerk, we dont need influential bands we need bands who actually did it and were successful.

[M2]

Just say no to Kraftwerk, we dont need influential bands we need bands who actually did it and were successful.

Kraftwerk was massively successful. Moved units all over the world.

[fearofpopvol1]

Kraftwerk was massively successful. Moved units all over the world.

By that logic, Dave Matthews Band should definitely be in. Perhaps ahead of everyone else. As of last year, the band has sold more than 100 million concert tickets and a combined total of 91 million CDs and DVDs.

They've also had longevity. They've been playing large amphitheaters/arenas now for almost 25 years.

[Dom Heffner]

Kraftwerk was massively successful. Moved units all over the world.

I would wager 99% of people couldnt name one song.

Success is relative, you probably mean units in Europe, which you know, this is a US thing.

Keep trying- let me guess the Beatles loved them privately.

- - - Updated - - -

By that logic, Dave Matthews Band should definitely be in. Perhaps ahead of everyone else. As of last year, the band has sold more than 100 million concert tickets and a combined total of 91 million CDs and DVDs.

They've also had longevity. They've been playing large amphitheaters/arenas now for almost 25 years.

You have to really be a music geek to know who Kraftwerk is.

David Hasselhoff has moved units all over the world, too. None in the United States, but all over the world.

[Rojo]

Success is relative, you probably mean units in Europe, which you know, this is a US thing.

It is?

[GAC]

Pat Benatar, Soundgarden.

Just say no to Kraftwerk, we dont need influential bands we need bands who actually did it and were successful.

I dated a girl that simply loved them. Played them constantly. Didn't see what the big deal was.

[texasdave]

Thin Lizzy and Todd Rundgren would be my two picks, if forced to pick. Not even sure if either one deserve to be in. I'd call this a rather lackluster class.

[Redsfaithful]

Is this like the baseball HoF? Fundamental debate of big hall or small hall?

If it's a small hall I don't see how anyone on that list is worthy except for Biggie.

[marcshoe]

Is this like the baseball HoF? Fundamental debate of big hall or small hall?

If it's a small hall I don't see how anyone on that list is worthy except for Biggie.

It's a small hall if Jon Bon Jovi had small hair in the eighties.

[WrongVerb]

Judas Priest should be inducted.

I also voted for Pat Benatar (deserves to get in eventually), Whitney Houston, Kraftwerk (greatly influential), and The Doobie Brothers (sentimental vote).

[marcshoe]

My first ballot (there will be more with different mixes): Pat Benatar, Doobies (unapologetically), Judas Priest, T Rex, Thin Lizzy. I usually try to get in a vote for MC5, because Fred "Sonic" Smith was from West Virginia and in later years would bring his wife, Patti (who didn't need to change her name) home to see the folks. We'll get Kraftwerk, Chaka Kahn, and some others on later ballots. Probably Biggy too, although I'm woefully ignorant when it comes to hip hop. I supported Tupac, who I was a little familiar with, so I feel like I should support Biggy to keep from being haunted by his very large ghost.

[M2]

My first ballot (there will be more with different mixes): Pat Benatar, Doobies (unapologetically), Judas Priest, T Rex, Thin Lizzy. I usually try to get in a vote for MC5, because Fred "Sonic" Smith was from West Virginia and in later years would bring his wife, Patti (who didn't need to change her name) home to see the folks. We'll get Kraftwerk, Chaka Kahn, and some others on later ballots. Probably Biggy too, although I'm woefully ignorant when it comes to hip hop. I supported Tupac, who I was a little familiar with, so I feel like I should support Biggy to keep from being haunted by his very large ghost.

I put Priest, Motorhead, Benatar, Biggie and T.Rex on mine. Plan on doing regular ballots. There will be no entries without Priest and Motorhead.

[Dom Heffner]

Pat Benatar is the obvious choice here. Let's hope her husband doesnt try to get his name added to the plaque.

Soundgarden, Doobies.

Kinda torn on the rest.