Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam and Janet Jackson are nominated for entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
It is the first year the American hip-hop icon, who was killed in Las Vegas, Nevada in September 1996, and Eddie Vedder’s rock band have been eligible to be nominated as the rules state an artist’s first single must have been released 25 years before they are chosen.
It’s also the first time for Depeche Mode, Electric Light Orchestra, Jane’s Addiction, Joan Baez, Journey and Steppenwolf to make an appearance.
It’s Chic’s 11th time being nominated, Kraftwerk’s fifth and progressive rock group Yes’ third.
This year the rules have changed slightly in that only certain individual members of each band will be inducted.
For Pearl Jam that means their drummer Matt Cameron
and founding member Dave Krusen would make it into the Hall of Fame despite them having five drummers in the past.
Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, Bev Bevan and Richard Tandy will be put through should they win.
Yes’ original singer Jon Anderson, both sticksmen Bill Bruford and Alan White, keyboard players Tony Kaye and Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin [guitars] and the late bassist Chris Squire have been nominated.
The complete original lineup for Journey and for Depeche Mode, the electronic band’s former keyboard player Vince Clarke is listed with the rest of the rock band despite leaving the group shortly after the release of their first LP, ‘Speak & Spell’, in 1981.
Members of the public will once again be able to vote for their favourite rock acts to be inducted along with 800 music professionals who are tasked with narrowing down the list.
The final five inductees are to be announced at the end of December, followed by a ceremony at the Barclay’s Center in New York in April 2017.
2016 saw N.W.A, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Chicago and Steve Miller inducted.
The full list of inductee nominees are as follows:
Bad Brains
The Cars
Chaka Khan
Chic
Depeche Mode
Electric Light Orchestra
J. Geils Band
Jane’s Addiction
Janet Jackson
Joan Baez
Joe Tex
Journey
Kraftwerk
MC5
Pearl Jam
Steppenwolf
Tupac Shakur
Yes
The Zombies