KISS, Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Hall & Oates and Linda Ronstadt have been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2014! Congratulations to this list of most deserving artists!
Unfortunately, this means that The Replacements, N.W.A., Chic, The Zombies, Deep Purple, The Meters, and Yes were among the final nominees who failed to make the cut, which has social media buzzing. A lot of fans are not happy with the choices, but there’s always next year and maybe those that didn’t vote will choose to do so.
In order for an artist to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, their first recording must have been released at least 25 years ago. This year, fans were offered an opportunity to vote, and a collective “fan ballot” was added to the over 600 ballots from artists, historians, and music industry members.
Two years ago, KISS didn’t seem concerned about repeatedly failing to be elected into the organization, suggesting they could “just buy it and fire everybody.” However, this year they actually encouraged fans to vote for them in the fan-voted poll on their Twitter page. Gene Simmons also kicked up some controversy by saying he “wouldn’t want to perform with original Kiss members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss if the group were inducted this year.” Well, we’ll have to see what happens there!
Additionally, The E Street Band will be given the Award for Musical Excellence, while The Beatles manager Brian Epstein and The Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldgham will both receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.
The 29th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in April 2014 in New York at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The festivities will be broadcast on HBO in May.
