Billy Idol, the Black Crowes, Outkast, Phish, Chubby Checker, and the Mexican band Maná are among the first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Oasis, Joe Cocker, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, the White Stripes, Bad Company, and Soundgarden will also be on this year’s ballot, which the hall revealed on Wednesday. Joy Division and New Order, the band that Joy Division members created after the passing of its lead singer Ian Curtis, will also be on it.
As in previous years, a variety of eras and subgenres are represented among the most recent finalists. These include arena-filling giants (Oasis, Phish), punk and alternative heroes (Joy Division, Soundgarden, the White Stripes), boldface rock ‘n’ roll names from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (Cocker, Idol), a hip-hop artist (Outkast), and a hint to the world outside of mainstream Anglo-American culture (Maná).
The inclusion of only two female performers, Carey and Lauper, who are both not new to the ballot, may draw further criticism to the Rock Hall despite its pledges to change, especially in light of the tremendous pressure it has faced in recent years to improve its dismal record of admitting women to the pantheon.
Checker could be the biggest story this year for die-hard Rock Hall fans. One of the biggest hits in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, his song “The Twist”—a rendition of a B-side originally released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters—was a worldwide sensation in the early 1960s. Despite years, even decades, of fan complaints and Checker’s own protestations, the Rock Hall has yet to acknowledge the 83-year-old. (Ballard was admitted into the hall in 1990; he passed away in 2003.)
Checker placed a full-page advertisement in Billboard magazine in 2001 urging the Rock Hall and Nobel Prize nominees to honor him for the song.
