2017 Rock and Roll Hall of fame nominees
The nineteen acts nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year include first time nominees the late rapper Tupac Shakur and Seattle-based rockers Pearl Jam.
The prolific Shakur was shot and killed at his peak in 1996. His album “Me Against the World” hit the top of the charts when he was in prison for sexual assault. “Keep Ya Head Up,” ‘’Life Goes On,” ‘’Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “Changes” are among his best-known songs. He recorded so much while alive that releases kept flowing after his death.
Bios from CBS and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Pearl Jam
Behind charismatic frontman Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam was a huge initial success with songs like “Jeremy,” ‘’Even Flow,” ‘’Alive” and “Better Man.” They consciously stepped back from the commercial world, and persist as a respected and popular touring outfit.
First time nominee.
ELO
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), formed in England in 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne (seen here) and Bev Bevan, created modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones.
First time nominee.
Joan Baez
Singer Joan Baez combined folk music with a lifetime commitment to championing civil rights and fighting discrimination. Her career has spanned 55 years and produced over 30 albums.
First time nominee.
Journey
Journey, formed in San Francisco, defined the big rock and roll sound of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
First time nominee.
Bad Brains
For four decades, Bad Brains have inspired artists from the Beastie Boys and Henry Rollins to Lauryn Hill and Living Colour with their unique mix of breakneck-paced hardcore punk and dubby reggae.
First time nominee.
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode has spent their long and unique career exploring new realms of postpunk, electronic textures and futuristic industrial sounds, with one of the all-time charismatic frontmen in Dave Gahan and a songwriting legend in Martin Gore.
First time nominee.
Steppenwolf
“I like smoke and lightnin’, heavy metal thunder,” singer John Kay declared against a feral-blues rush of guitar and broiling organ that became the band’s signature sound and a fundamental influence on the next four decades of hard rock, metal, glam, punk and thrash.
First time nominee.
Jane’s Addiction
Jane’s Addiction is a band with a small but brilliant catalog of songs and a shocking, groundbreaking ethos that changed music forever.
First time nominee.
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan came to prominence with the innovative funk/rock group Rufus in the 1970s. Khan’s voice represented the racial and social integration at the heart of rock and roll.
The singer has been nominated three times.
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson’s five-times-platinum Control album in 1986 staked her claim as an R&B powerhouse. With over 160 million records sold, she is one of the best-selling artists in history, and she still holds the record for the most consecutive Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist with 18.
Jackson has received two previous nominations.
Joe Tex
Joe Tex found success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of southern soul. He had four million-selling hits, including, “Hold What You’ve Got” and “I Gotcha.”
Tex has been nominated five times.
Chic
They rescued disco in 1977 with a combination of groove, soul and distinctly New York City smarts.
The band has been nominated 11 times in total.
Kraftwerk
The German band Kraftwerk is the foundation of all synthesize-based rock and roll and electronic dance music.
The band has been nominated four times.
MC5
The Motor City Five--also known as the MC5--embodied the social and musical revolutions of the 1960s. Their mix of blues and R&B-influenced proto-punk influenced a wide range of artists from Black Flag to Rage Against The Machine.
MC5 has been nominated twice.
The Zombies
The Zombies had three career defining hits, “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season?” “Odessey and Oracle,” the band’s second and final album, earned a spot alongside such masterworks as the Beatles’ “White Album” and the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds.”
The group has been nominated twice.
J. Geils Band
During the long years between the demise of the Butterfield Blues Band and Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels and the rise of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and Tom Petty, the J. Geils Band kept alive a joyful and very American brand of R&B-based rock and roll.
The band has been nominated four times.
Yes
Yes took progressive rock from its small audiences to radio airwaves and football stadiums across the country. The group reemerged in the 1980s as an MTV-ready commercial force, with massive hits on the charts such as “Owner Of A Lonely Heart.”
The band has been nominated three times.
The Cars
The quintet’s 13 Top 40 singles across six classic studio albums – including four straight Top 10 LPs – drove punk rock out of the underground and into the American mainstream.
This is the band’s second nomination.