Let's keep our fingers crossed for Ernest Evans
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All on Wed Feb 12 08:11:16 2025
Feb. 12, 2025, 6:00 a.m. ET
Outkast, Phish, Chubby Checker, Billy Idol, the Black Crowes and the
Mexican band Maná are among the first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame.
This year’s ballot, announced by the hall on Wednesday, will also
include Oasis, Joe Cocker, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, the White
Stripes, Bad Company and Soundgarden, as well as Joy Division and New
Order, the band that members of Joy Division formed after the death of
its lead singer, Ian Curtis.
As in recent years, the latest nominees represent a mix of eras and
subgenres. Those include boldface rock ’n’ roll names from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s (Cocker, Idol), punk and alternative heroes (Joy Division, Soundgarden, the White Stripes), arena-filling giants (Oasis, Phish), a
hip-hop act (Outkast) and a nod to the world outside mainstream
Anglo-American pop (Maná).
Given the intense pressure the Rock Hall has faced in recent years to
correct its poor record of admitting women to the pantheon, the
inclusion of just two female performers — Carey and Lauper, neither of
them new to the ballot — may bring yet more scrutiny to the institution despite its promises to reform.
For longtime Rock Hall watchers, the biggest news this year may be
Checker. His song “The Twist” — a cover of a B-side originally released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters — was a global phenomenon in the
early 1960s, and it stands as one of the biggest hits in the history of
the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. But until now, Checker, 83, has
been ignored by the Rock Hall, despite years — decades, even — of complaints from his fans and protests by Checker himself. (Ballard, who
died in 2003, was inducted into the hall in 1990.)
In 2001, Checker took out a full-page ad in Billboard magazine calling
on the Rock Hall — along with nominators of the Nobel Prizes — to
recognize him for the song that, he said, became “the biggest dance of
the century.”
“I want my flowers while I’m alive,” he wrote. “I can’t smell them when
I’m dead.”
In 2018, the Rock Hall included “The Twist” in a new honor, a list of singles that shaped rock ’n’ roll.
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