The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Announces Nominees for 2013 Induction
For the first time in its history, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is offering fans the opportunity to participate in the induction selection. Through December 3, the public can vote for the five nominees they believe to be most deserving of induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The top five artists, as selected by the public, will comprise a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2013 inductees. For more information and to place your vote, please visit www.rockhall.org
The nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 are:
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Chic
Deep Purple
Heart
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Albert King
Kraftwerk
The Marvelettes
The Meters
Randy Newman
N.W.A
Procol Harum
Public Enemy
Rush
Donna Summer
PRESS RELEASE:
“The definition of ‘rock and roll’ means different things to different people, but as broad as the classifications may be, they all share a common love of the music,” commented Joel Peresman, President and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “This year we again proudly put forth a fantastic array of groups and artists that span the entire genre that is ‘rock and roll’.”
To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. The 2013 Nominees had to release their first recording no later than 1987.
Ballots will be sent to an international voting body of more than 600 artists, historians and members of the music industry.
All inductees are ultimately represented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, the nonprofit organization that exists to educate its audiences on the global impact of the rock and roll art form via the museum, as well as its education programs and library and archives.
The 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Thursday, April 18, 2013. The show will be broadcast on HBO at a later date.
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About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 Nominees:
THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND
“I was born in Chicago – nineteen and forty-one…” The racially mixed Paul Butterfield Blues Band blasted-off from the Windy City with a wall-of-sound fueled by Butterfield’s inspired harmonica and lead guitarist Mike Bloomfield’s explosive lead guitar – at that moment, American rock and roll collided with the real Southside Chicago blues and there was no turning back. Along with original members Elvin Bishop on second guitar and Mark Naftalin on organ, they conquered the landmark 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It was there Bob Dylan borrowed Bloomfield and the Butterfield band’s African-American rhythm section of Sam Lay on drums and bassist Jerome Arnold (both former Howlin’ Wolf band members) for his world-shaking electric debut that Sunday evening. The Butterfield band converted the country-blues purists and turned on the Fillmore generation to the pleasures of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Elmore James. With the release of their blues-drenched debut album in the fall of 1965, and its adventurous East-West follow-up in the summer of ’66, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band kicked open a door that brought a defining new edge to rock and roll.
CHIC
Chic’s founding partnership consisted of songwriter-producer-guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards (1952-1996), abetted by future Power Station drummer Tony Thompson (1954-2003). They rescued disco in 1977 with a combination of groove, soul and distinctly New York City studio smarts. Rodgers’ chopping rhythm guitar alongside Edwards’ deft bass lines were the perfect counterpart to melodic arrangements with their two female vocalists Alfa Anderson and Norma Jean Wright (replaced by Luci Martin). Out-of-the-box chart smashes “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah),” the #1 “Le Freak” and #1 “Good Times” (ranked on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Singles Of All Time) made Chic the preeminent disco band – emphasis on the word ‘band’ – of the late ’70s. Their music also extended disco’s tenure at a critical moment, as hip-hop (and later in the ’80s, New Jack Swing) began to take the stage. Over the years, artists such as Sugar Hill Gang and Diddy have turned to Chic for beats and samples: “Good Times” has been checked everywhere from “Rapper’s Delight” and Blondie’s “Rapture,” to Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.” Rodgers and Edwards followed their five years in Chic with careers as top-flight producers for an A-list of megastars. Under Rodgers’ leadership, Chic has continued to tour, releasing live performances of its shows in Japan and Amsterdam.
DEEP PURPLE
Taking their name from a ’30s swingtime-era pop hit, there was nothing breathy or sentimental about the British quintet Deep Purple, first organized in 1967, around a core of phenomenally brilliant musicians. Classically trained, former child prodigy Jon Lord (1941–2012) was responsible for the towering wall of organ sound that formed the band’s bedrock. Lord found an ally for his classical ideas in ace session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. (In fact, Deep Purple was among the first to stage an orchestral concerto, a concept attempted with varying degrees of success by other bands through the years.) Rod Evans joined next, with the powerful vocal template that was introduced on 1968’s “Hush” (a Joe South song) and “Kentucky Woman” (Neil Diamond). Evans brought along his former band’s thundering drummer, Ian Paice, but Evans was eventually replaced by longtime frontman Ian Gillan; multi-instrumental Welsh bassist Roger Glover completed the first definitive lineup. Their onslaught of sound along with such contemporaries as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, led rock critics to coin a new musical genre: heavy metal. The original lineup reached an early peak on the landmark albums Machine Head and Who Do We Think We Are, whose epic chart singles “Smoke On The Water” and “Woman From Tokyo” sold Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster guitars in numbers that stagger the imagination. Deep Purple lineups have ebbed and flowed over the decades, counting among their members such formidable rockers as singer David Coverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes. Touring around the world now for more than four decades, still led by Gillan, Glover and Paice, the legend of Deep Purple will endure forever.
HEART
With a mix of hard rock riffs and lush, driving harmonies, Heart emerged from the Pacific Northwest with one of the most original sounds of the 1970s. Behind Ann Wilson’s powerhouse voice—one of the best in rock—and Nancy Wilson’s percussive guitar playing, along with guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen, guitarist/keyboard player Howard Leese and drummer Michael DeRosier, Heart recorded a series of albums that stand as the best mix of hard rock and folk rock of their era: Dreamboat Annie, Little Queen, Dog And Butterfly and Bebe Le Strange. All those records included hit singles that remain standards of rock radio: “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You,” “Heartless” and “Barracuda.” Over their long career, Heart has released six Top 10 albums and twenty Top 40 singles. The first women to front a hard rock band, Ann and Nancy Wilson were pioneers, claiming the stage in a way that inspired women to pick up an electric guitar or start a band. When MTV transformed mainstream rock in the 1980s, Heart adapted and recorded some of the signature songs of the era: “Alone,” “What About Love” and “These Dreams.” In the 1990s, they returned to their roots with Desire Walks On and The Road Home, and in the last decade, they’ve released two of the strongest albums of their careers: Jupiter’s Darling and Red Velvet Car.
JOAN JETT and the BLACKHEARTS
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts created a potent mix of hard rock, glam, punk, metal and garage rock that sounds fresh and relevant in any era. Their biggest hit, “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” (#1 in 1982) is a rock classic – as pure and simple a statement about the music’s power as “Roll Over Beethoven.” The honesty and power of their records make you believe that rock and roll can change the world. As Jett once described rock and roll, “It’s a feeling thing, it’s emotion. You don’t think about it. If you start thinking rock ‘n’ roll, you’re f**ked. That’s when you’re homogenized. That’s when it’s boring. And that’s when it’s bullshit.” From her days as a founding member of the all-female Runaways, Jett has made loud, hook-laden records that convey toughness and joy. Sporting black leather and a shag to create a sexy and androgynous look, Jett took over a role formerly reserved for male rockers. She formed the Blackhearts in 1982, and their classic four-piece sound muscled past the synthesizers that dominated the 1980s and carried the flag for rock and roll. Three of their albums – I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll, Album and Up Your Alley – reached the Top 20, behind songs written by Jett and manager Kenny Laguna. By covering songs from all corners of the rock catalogue – from Gary Glitter to Tommy James to Sly and the Family Stone – the band effortlessly broke down barriers between genres and eras. In the 1990s, Jett’s no-nonsense attitude and vocal style was a major influence on the riot grrrl movement, and she went on to produce Bikini Kill and record with L7. She continues to be an inspiration for young female rockers.
ALBERT KING
He was born in the same fervid Mississippi Delta town of Indianola as another King of the Blues guitar, B.B. King. But where B.B. moved to the blues mecca of Memphis during the Second World War to establish his reign, Albert King (1923-1992) did not arrive there until more than a decade into his career in 1966. He was signed by Atlantic subsidiary Stax-Volt Records in the era when singles ruled and he had cut more than a dozen singles for various labels over the previous decade, most notably on King and Bobbin. His first Stax album was an influential collection that included “Born Under A Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw,” “As The Years Go Passing By” and his cover of Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind,” tracks mostly recorded with Booker T. and the MG’s as studio backup (with the Memphis Horns). Like B.B. and Freddie, Albert King was thrust into the Fillmore generation when British acts like Cream and Jimi Hendrix adopted “Born Under A Bad Sign” (written by Booker T and William Bell), which became a rock anthem and a part of the rock and roll lexicon. The younger generation following them also discovered a mother lode of blues in Albert’s repertoire. In particular, Stevie Ray Vaughan was an avid follower, and as early as 1983, SRV was onstage with Albert in Canada for a set (released 16 years later) that included a 15-minute jam on “Blues At Sunrise.” At Stevie Ray’s insistence, their paths intersected frequently over the next decade. From Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and Johnny Winter, to Joe Walsh, Stevie Ray, Derek Trucks and beyond, the influence of Albert King’s husky vocals and his signature Gibson Flying V guitar will live on forever.
KRAFTWERK
Kraftwerk is the foundation upon which all synthesizer-based rock and roll and electronic dance music is built. Founded in Düsseldorf in 1970 by the band’s two core members, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, the group was a part of a new wave of musicians in Germany collectively referred to as Kosimsche Musik (cosmic music) who explored the intersection of rock and roll and the avant-garde. Their first three albums capture the sound of an experimental proto-punk jam band riffing on the sounds of Hawkwind and the Velvet Underground, but their fourth album Autobahn (1974) established the beginning of something entirely new (created with longtime friend and producer Konrad “Conny” Plank). The twenty-two minute title track combined the diverse influences of the Beach Boys and Karlheinz Stockhausen into the creation of an electronic musical odyssey. It also represented a miraculous use of technology through its amalgamation of Moog synthesizers, multi-track recording and traditional instrumentation. The 1977 album, Trans-Europe Express, completed Kraftwerk’s transformation into a synthesized quartet. The album featured some of the funkiest grooves and vocoder melodies ever put on wax. New York City’s burgeoning hip-hop community quickly latched on to the album and DJ Afrika Bambaataa based his track “Planet Rock” (1982) on Kraftwerk’s beats. The years that followed secured Kratwerk’s place as both musical innovators and master songwriters and the albums, The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981) and Electric Café (1986) established the blueprint for the sound and image of modern electronic music. Kraftwerk’s influence can be heard in the synth-pop of Depeche Mode, the electronic-rock integration of U2 and the DJ/Laptop artist vibrations of Deadmau5 and Skrillex.
THE MARVELETTES
Though they were overshadowed at Motown by the much longer-lived Supremes and Martha & the Vandellas, nevertheless the plaintive girl group harmonies of the Marvelettes – the original foursome of Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman and Wanda Young – deserve their rightful spot in rock history. They gave Motown/Tamla its first official #1 Hot 100 hit in the late-summer of 1961, “Please Mr. Postman” (famously featuring Marvin Gaye on drums); and recorded Motown’s first Holland-Dozier-Holland chart single, “Locking Up My Heart.” The Marvelettes went on, despite tremendous odds, to sing (and occasionally co-write) hit after hit for The Sound Of Young America for another seven years. Their signature tunes became classics of the next generation: “Please Mr. Postman” (Beatles, Carpenters), “Beechwood 4-5789” (Carpenters), “Too Many Fish In The Sea” (Mitch Ryder, Rascals), “Danger! Heartbreak Dead Ahead” (Bonnie Raitt), “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game” (Jerry Garcia, Grace Jones, Blondie) and more. The Marvelettes did more than their fair share to put Motown on the map, and bring the heart of soul to rock and roll.
THE METERS
James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic all coasted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yet one of the true cornerstones of funk is still waiting for induction. The Meters were not only the leading instrumental unit to emerge from the great musical gumbo of New Orleans, they were also one of the tightest and hardest-grooving ensembles R&B has ever seen. The Meters formed in 1965 with a line-up of keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist Geroge Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste; the group was later joined by percussionist/vocalist Cyril Neville. The Meters first came to local prominence as the house band for Allen Toussaint’s record label, Sansu. In 1969, the band went on its own and released a string of definitive, irresistibly slamming singles— “Sophisticated Cissy,” “Cissy Strut,” “Look-Ka Py Py” and “Chicken Strut.” In the years that followed, the band became one of the hottest session groups in the world, working with Paul McCartney, Robert Palmer and LaBelle. They recorded extensively with their homeboy Dr. John, including his Desitively Bonnaroo album and the smash hit “Right Place, Wrong Time,” and provided the musical backbone for such modern New Orleans classics as The Wild Tchoupitoulas and the Neville Brothers’ Fiyo On The Bayou. With the explosion of hip-hop, the group became familiar to a new audience when its records were sampled countless times by the likes of RUN DMC, N.W.A, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys. Meters songs have been covered by everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Grateful Dead, illustrating the far-reaching influence of these masters of funk.
RANDY NEWMAN
Cynical romantic, subversive political satirist, social commentator, champion of the underdog – and brilliant one-man medicine show in the bargain – Randy Newman has been one of pop music’s secret hidden weapons for more than four decades. Raised in Los Angeles, the summers he spent in New Orleans as a youngster had a profound influence on both his piano style and his songwriting, which in later years skewered Southern stereotypes in an ironic fashion that only an insider could get away with. A songwriter since his teens, his earliest songs were covered by artists ranging from Gene Pitney and Alan Price, to Judy Collins, Dusty Springfield and Three Dog Night, highlighted by the 1970 ‘tribute’ LP, Nilsson Sings Newman. His sardonic wit and unabashed sentimentality have inspired a myriad of American and British songwriters to stretch the envelope and in so doing, expand the boundaries of rock, pop, folk, country, R&B and (since the ’80s) film music. A six-time Grammy winner, two-time Oscar winner, three-time Emmy winner (the list goes on), Randy Newman is an American treasure.
N.W.A
N.W.A is one of the most important groups in hip-hop history. Their aggressive, boundary smashing, don’t-give-a-fuck perspective was made clear by their name, which stands for Niggaz Wit Attitude. Their most famous single was “Fuck The Police” which was a minimalist classic that described the frustration and anger young black men felt toward the LAPD, years before the Rodney King riots broke out. Some call them the Beatles of hip-hop because of their massive influence, sonic power and their place as a launching pad for several critical solo careers. Dr. Dre, the greatest producer in hip-hop history, created the G-Funk sound he would become known for while he was in N.W.A. The G-Funk sound, built on P-Funk samples, synthesizer-heavy, cinematic and ominous themes would shape a generation of hip-hop. Ice Cube, who would become one of the most important MCs in hip-hop history was also in the group as was Eazy-E, an unforgettable figure. The group also included MC Ren, a formidable MC and DJ Yella, an important producer. N.W.A is the prime influence for the sound, ideology, vibe and look of gangsta rap and the L.A. hip-hop sound. They attracted nationwide attention for their albums Straight Outta Compton and Niggaz4Life. Indeed, the FBI sent the group a warning letter that is on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
PROCOL HARUM
A multitude of evolutions swept across the face of rock in the tumult of 1967, and none was so jarring and unexpected as the stately grandeur of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale,” with its “sixteen vestal virgins, who were leaving for the coast” – on Top 40 radio. There was no precedent for the onslaught of Matthew Fisher’s haunting cathedral-sized organ swirls, or the keening vocals of pianist Gary Brooker, who gave gothic voice to the poetry of the unseen group member, enigmatic lyricist Keith Reid. The touring and recording group settled into a brilliantly talented quintet with guitarist Robin Trower, bassist Dave Knights and one of British rock’s premier drummers, B.J. Wilson. Procol Harum forever raised the intelligence quotient of rock with their next two albums, Shine On Brightly (with its 18-minute masterwork, “In Held ’Twas I”) and A Salty Dog. The stage was set in 1972, for rock’s first and arguably greatest major orchestral project, whose evocative “Conquistador” is a dramatic tour de force that has held onto its mystique for four decades. Various personnel changes have revolved around the core of Brooker and Reid, but as their numerous live albums of the past twenty years have proved, the whole continues to be greater than the sum of its parts.
PUBLIC ENEMY
“No one has been able to approach the political power that Public Enemy brought to hip-hop,” Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys told Rolling Stone in 2004, “I put them on a level with Bob Marley and a handful of other artists – the rare artist who can make great music and also deliver a message.” Public Enemy brought an explosion of sonic invention, rhyming virtuosity and social awareness to hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s. The group’s high points – 1988’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and 1990’s Fear Of A Black Planet, stand among the greatest politically-charged albums of all time. Powered by producer Hank Shocklee and his crew the Bomb Squad, Nation Of Millions was a layered masterpiece that took the ethic of the hip-hop breakbeat – using only the best parts of any given song – and advanced it geometrically, building new music out of a thicket of samples and beats: tracks like “Rebel Without A Pause,” “Night Of The Living Baseheads” and “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” are triumphs of funk, fury and collage. Chuck D. – routinely rated as one of the greatest rappers of all time – pushed the art of the MC forward with his inimitable, rapid-fire baritone as he connected the culture of hip-hop with Black Nationalism and the ideas of Malcolm X. His counterpart, Flavor Flav, brought humor (in the case of “911 Is A Joke,” pointed humor) and a madcap energy. Along the way, they brought a new level of conceptual sophistication to the hip-hop album, and a new level of intensity and power to live hip-hop, inspiring fans from Jay-Z to Rage Against the Machine to Kurt Cobain. After Public Enemy, hip-hop could never again be dismissed as kids’ music.
RUSH
Equal parts Led Zeppelin, Cream and King Crimson, Rush burst out of Canada in the early 1970s with one of the most powerful and bombastic sounds of the decade. Their 1976 magnum opus 2112 represents progressive rock at its grandiose heights, but just a half decade later they had the guts to put epic songs aside in favor of shorter (but no less dynamic) tunes like “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit Of Radio” that remain in constant rotation on radio to this day. Absolutely uncompromising in every conceivable way, the trio has spent the last forty years cultivating the largest cult fan base in rock while still managing to sell out every arena in the country. While they have never gotten the critical respect they so richly deserve, Neil Peart has inspired more young drummers to take up the instrument than any other drummer of the past thirty years. No less impressive is Geddy Lee’s ability to play keyboards and bass in concert while never missing a note of his lead vocals, and guitarist Alex Lifeson is a virtuoso simply without peer. They are a band completely removed from the mainstream music scene, and yet somehow also one of the most popular rock bands in the country. It is a dichotomy that has fueled them from the very beginning. Their newest release, Clockwork Angels, is as bold and ambitious as any of their works of the 1970s, and even though the members are now pushing sixty it is hard to shake the feeling that they are just getting started.
DONNA SUMMER
Her lifetime in music was a study in contrasts: The “Queen Of Disco” who was a church-reared gospel singer throughout childhood, and wrote most of her own songs; the Diva De Tutti Dive, the first true pop diva of the modern era, who spent her formative years in a psychedelic rock band, even auditioned for Broadway’s Hair in the early ’70s. She did not get the part, but when Hair opened in Germany, Boston’s LaDonna Adrian Gaines (1948-2012) was cast as Sheila. She settled in Germany and began a long-term association with Munich songwriters-producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. They heard her demo lyric “love to love you baby” and at Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart’s request, turned it into a 17-minute opus of orgasmic delight (Donna said she was evoking Marilyn Monroe). The song was Summer’s U.S. chart debut and first of nineteen #1 Dance hits between ’75 and 2008 (second only to Madonna). Summer made chart history in 1978-80, as the only artist to have three consecutive double-LPs hit #1: Live And More, Bad Girls and On The Radio. She was also the first female artist with four #1 singles in a 13-month period: “MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and “No More Tears” (with Barbra Streisand). Her first U.S.-recorded LP, 1982’s self-titled Donna Summer, produced by Quincy Jones, featured Bruce Springsteen, Roy Bittan and many American rockers. “She Works Hard For The Money” kept Donna on top in 1983, followed by the Top 10 “This Time I Know It’s For Real” in ’89. Starting in 2009, she extended her string of #1 U.S. Dance hits with “I’m A Fire,” “Stamp Your Feet,” “Fame (The Game)” and “To Paris With Love.” Endless covers and sampling of her music by producers and DJs have kept the five-time Grammy Award-winner’s pioneering body of work on the front-line.
For more information and to place your vote, please visit www.rockhall.org
