Nominations for the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class are available and the list includes Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige, Iron Maiden, Tina Turner, the Go-Go’s, Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush , Devo, Chaka Khan, Carole King, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Todd Rundgren and Dionne Warwick. Top voters will be announced in May and sworn in at a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, in the fall.
To be eligible for this year’s vote, each nominee’s first single or album should have been released in 1995 or earlier. Seven of the 16 acts on the ballot (Foo Fighters, Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Carole King, Fela Kuti and Dionne Warwick) are appearing for the first time, although Carole King was sworn in with Gerry Goffin as a non-interpreter in 1990 and Tina Tuner joined the institution in 1991 along with Ike Turner.
If King and Turner are introduced, they will be the second and third female artists to enter the Hall of Fame twice after Stevie Nicks in 2019. It is also an opportunity for Dave Grohl to enter the Hall of Fame for the second time after his 2014 induction as a member of Nirvana. Foo Fighters and Jay-Z are the only artists this year to appear on the ballots in their first year of eligibility.
This is the sixth election for LL Cool J; a third for Todd Rundgren, Rage Against the Machine and Chaka Khan; and the second for Kate Bush, Devo, Carole King and the New York Dolls.
According to the Hall of Fame, this is the most racially diverse ballot since 1996, as nine of the 16 nominees have people of color.
“This remarkable vote reflects the diversity and depth of the artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates,” said John Sykes, president of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, in a statement. “These nominees left an indelible impact on the world’s soundscape and influenced countless artists who followed them.”
Following the tradition of the past few years, the Hall of Fame has appointed the individual members of the band who will join if their group is installed. For Iron Maiden, they cited the current lineup of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris, drummer Nicko McBrain and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers, along with former vocalist Paul Di’Anno, the former drummer Clive Burr and former guitarist Dennis Stratton.
For Foo Fighters, it is the current lineup of Dave Grohl, drummer Taylor Hawkins, bassist Nate Mendel, keyboardist Rami Jaffee and guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett. Original drummer William Goldsmith and ex-guitarist Franz Stahl did not make the list.
If I must get in, it will just be the classic 70s / early 80s line-up of Mark Mothersbaugh, bassist / singer Gerald Casale, drummer Alan Myers, keyboardist / guitarist Bob Casale and guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.
For the New York Dolls, it is frontman David Johansen, bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain, and drummers Jerry Nolan and Billy Murcia. Johansen is the only living doll in New York after the recent death of Sylvain Sylvain.
A group of voters of more than 1,000 artists, historians, journalists and members of the music industry will select the new class. Starting on Wednesday, fans will also have the chance to participate in the process by voting on rockhall.com or an interactive kiosk at the museum in Cleveland. Your selections will count as a single “fan ballot” that is tabulated along with the others.
The 2020 Hall of Fame class honored Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, Notorious BIG, T-Rex and the Doobie Brothers. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in the Cleveland Public Hall in May, but was postponed until November due to the pandemic. They were forced to hold a virtual ceremony that aired on HBO.