The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its nominees for the 2018 class, and the shortlist injects a lot of new blood into the mix. Of the 19 performers singled out this year, nine of them are first-time nominees, including Radiohead and Rage Against the Machine (both eligible for the first time this year), Kate Bush (eligible since 2003), and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (eligible since 1963).
In the past, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been criticized for being too male (in 2016, not a single woman was inducted) and too old-fashioned in its preference for classic rock acts, but here we have a fairly eclectic bunch—jazz legend Nina Simone, electronic artists like Eurythmics and Depeche Mode. The list never pleases everyone, of course, though the absence of Soundgarden and Husker Du in the wake of Chris Cornell and Grant Hart’s deaths earlier this year will apparently hit some fans pretty hard, justifiably or no. And the absence of Chic—after a record 11 previous nominations—suggests there will continue to be a long wait for the foreseeable future, especially considering that, somewhat oddly, Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers finally found his way in as a solo artist with the Award for Musical Excellence earlier this year. (Then again, that entire group of inductees was pretty weird.)
Check out the full list of nominees below:
Bon Jovi
Kate Bush
The Cars
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Eurythmics
The J. Geils Band
Judas Priest
LL Cool J
MC5
The Meters
The Moody Blues
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Nina Simone
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Link Wray
The Zombies
