Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Reveals 2019 Nominees
billboard.com
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Reveals 2019 Nominees
Joe Lynch
10-09-18
Early Tuesday (Oct. 9) morning, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for induction into the 2019 Rock Hall class. Def Leppard, Devo, Janet Jackson, John Prine, Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, MC5, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Roxy Music, Stevie Nicks, the Cure, Todd Rundgren, Rufus & Chaka Kahn and the Zombies are all potentially up for induction at the March 29, 2019, ceremony in Brooklyn, NY, at Barclays Center.
This group of nominees finds us looking at more than a few familiar faces, as nine of the 15 artists have been nominated before. Hip-hop megastar LL Cool J and electronic pioneers Kraftwerk have been nominated four times before each, and influential U.K. rockers the Zombies have seen three previous nominations.
First-timers include hard rock hitmakers Def Leppard, the solo work of Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, new wavers Devo, art-rockers Roxy Music, folk hero John Prine and genre-hopping iconoclast Todd Rundgren.
While the RRHOF Class of 2019 is decided by an international body of more than 1,000 voting members, fans can impact the vote by going to RockHall.com and casting a ballot (one a day) for the artist they think needs to be in the Hall's ranks. Voting starts Oct. 9 and goes through Dec. 9, 11:59pm ET. The top 5 artists the public selects will comprise a 'fans' ballot' that is tallied along with the other ballots. Fans can also vote in-person at the Rock Hall in Cleveland.
Tickets for the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will go on sale in January.
Kramer is hoping the fourth time is the charm.
MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer says he's "holding out" on the venerable rock troupe's fourth nomination for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. "I think we should wait 'til the fifth (nomination)," Kramer tells Billboard. "On the fifth nomination, the 5 gets the nod."
The guitarist would, of course, be happy enough for the fourth time to be the charm, but after previous ballot inclusions for the classes of 2003, 2017 and 2018, he's not holding his breath following news that the group was in the induction mix again when nominees were announced Tuesday morning (Oct. 9).
"I don't know what to say about this. We seem to be like a dog chasing his tail," Kramer explains. "It is a level of recognition. It's always nice to be recognized for your work, so I wouldn't complain about it in that way. And I guess it's good for business; If you win an Academy Award, then next to your name they always say 'Academy Award Winner,' 'Grammy Award Winner,' 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member...'
"But it doesn't mean that much to me. It certainly doesn't affect my personal life. We'll just see what happens."
Now, if ever, would certainly seem to a prime time for the MC5 to be inducted. Kramer is on the road this year with MC50, an all-star troupe featuring musicians from Soundgarden, Faith No More, Fugazi and Zen Guerilla that's celebrating the 50th anniversary of the recording of the group's iconic 1969 debut album Kick Out The Jams. He's also publish an insightful memoir, The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5 & My Life of Impossibilities. So visibility is high, and so, it seems, is regard for the iconoclastic band.
"The experience that I've had on this tour so far has been massive crowds at every event. Even shows that I thought would not be well-attended have been," says Kramer, who's also the co-founder of the Jail Guitar Doors organization, which brings instruments into prisons. "We've had incredible crowds, and the enthusiasm and the passion the fans are expressing for the band has been humbling. I never realized how many people out there love the MC5. We're an overnight success -- it only took 50 years!"
Public voting for the Rock Hall class of 2019 begins at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday here. The induction ceremony will be held March 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with ticket details TBA.
The MC5 formed during 1964 in the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park and broke up during 1972 after three studio albums. Only Kramer and drummer Dennis Thompson remain alive from the lineup, which also included Rob Tyler, Fred "Sonic" Smith (Patti Smith's late husband) and Michael Davis. Kramer has been hoping that Thompson would make some appearances on stage with the MC50, but so far that has not transpired. "He's agreed and then changed his mind three times so far, so I have no idea what Dennis is going to do," Kramer says. "The invitation stands. The band has ultimate respect for him and everybody loves him and we would all love to have him play. The ball's really in his court."
The MC50 has been recording all of its shows and may consider a live release, according to Kramer, while he predicts that "if everything goes the way I think it might go, then people might be open to writing and recording a (new) record." For now, however, he's focusing on the shows and the "unexpected joy" he's experiencing from the project.
"It's very much a continuation" of the MC5, Kramer says. "In a lot of ways it's the realization of the spark that happened 50 years ago at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit to have a band that produces these high-energy rock shows that completely blow people's minds, like it's come to fruition. And these guys wanted to do it because they themselves have carried the message of the MC5 all the years, the message of self-determination and self-efficacy and all things are possible if you put in the work. They all live by that message and they're playing their asses off and we're all having a great time, so I think they may want to keep going for awhile."
Ross Gilmore/Redferns via Getty Images
Rod Argent of The Zombies performs on stage at Wickerman Festival at Dundrennan on July 26, 2014 in Dumfries, United Kingdom.
After three previous nominations, Rod Argent is hoping it's finally the time, and the season, for The Zombies to be elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The British Invasion group -- best known for its hits "Tell Her No," "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season" and the iconic Odessey and Oracle album -- made the Rock Hall's short list for the classes of 2014, 2017 and 2018. Now, with Tuesday morning's (Oct. 9) announcement that they're on the list for 2019 as well, keyboardist and co-founder Rod Argent tells Billboard, "It really feels like such an honor to be nominated for a fourth time in five years." And it will be even better if the group gets in this time.
"You have to think that after this number of times, it would be great -- it would be a dream, actually," Argent says. "When we got together in '61, you know, all our heroes were American and the life of the world that was rock 'n' roll and everything to do with it seemed so unattainable and so far away from our experience, we couldn't imagine it. That there might possibly come a time when we'd be considered in similar terms as those heroes, that's what we might never have believed.
"But we've had a terrific journey, and the previous three nominations are not something we counted on. We thought it's just brilliant people have seen fit to nominate us." Public voting for the Rock Hall class of 2019 begins at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday here. The induction ceremony will be held March 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with ticket details TBA.
The Zombies' latest nomination finds the group still in an upswing from its well-received 2015 studio album Still Got That Hunger and last year's tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Odessey and Oracle, which brought Argent and frontman Colin Blunstone -- who have been working together again for the past 18 years -- back together with original drummer Hugh Grundy and longtime bassist Chris White. Argent, Blunstone, Grundy and White are on the Rock Hall's list of Zombies who will be inducted, as well as late founding guitarist Paul Atkinson.
"One of the things we never wanted to do was just come back and rake over the embers and trade on old glories, if you like," Argent says. "We never wanted to do that. We're happy to play the whole catalog if that's what you want, but always within the context of getting energized and excited by something new. That's what feels real. It's a real privilege to be in the position at this stage in our lives of feeling that there's still things going on and still growing in some weird way. We're very lucky." He says that it also "feels about time now to start...writing and recording a new album as well," a process that has just started.
And Argent promises that if the Zombies are to be inducted into the Rock Hall, it will be free any of the interpersonal drama some of its contemporaries have brought to the ceremonies. "We are in constant contact with each other, really, as we have been throughout the years," he says. "We've always remained friends and on the same length -- all of us, always. So it would be nothing but a joy."
