McSTREAMY.COM (10/08/2015) – There are some really heavy contenders to possibly become new Inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fans can vote for only five among the fifteen nominees. The choices are staggering. Many of the recording artists and bands are already becoming fan favorites. By early afternoon the day the nominees were released, the top five acts that received the most early fan votes online were Chicago, Yes, The Cars, Deep Purple, and Steve Miller. The nominees are rounded out by Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Cheap Trick, The Spinners, N.W.A., Nine Inch Nails, The Smiths, Chic, Los Lobos, and The J.B.s. The latter bunch had already received early votes, but not enough to land them in the Unofficial Early Top 5.
You can vote for the TOP FIVE nominees you think should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The fan votes will comprise a fans’ ballot that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2016 inductees to be announced in December. You can make your fan vote count by going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. Fan votes will be allowed through December 8, 2015.
THE CARS
Founded in Boston in 1976 by singer-guitarist-songwriter Ric Ocasek and singer-bassist Benjamin Orr, the Cars were the ultimate New Wave dream machine: a hook-savvy super-charged quintet that fused 60s pop, 70s glam and avant-rock minimalism into a decade of dashboard-radio nirvana. Their epic ride of 13 Top 40 singles across six classic studio albums – including four straight Top 10 LPs – drove the fury and intellectual adventure of punk rock out of the underground, firmly and forever into the American mainstream.
CHEAP TRICK
Cheap Trick had perfected an extremely individual yet classic rock and roll band sound by the time it released its first album in 1977. It has never changed it much. It didn’t need to. Cheap Trick’s records and concerts display a singular musical consistency over almost 40 years. Remaining interesting, sometimes hilarious, in that way is also pretty much unparalleled – and indispensable to understanding them. Cheap Trick is led by Rick Nielsen’s classic and perpetually fresh guitar and the sweet power of Robin Zander’s vocals.
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).
CHICAGO
Fusing jazz and rock together in a time when the Beatles were still crashing onto the American shores and psychedelic rock was taking over the basements of teenagers; Chicago Transit Authority broke onto the scene in 1969 with their self-titled double album. A brazen mix of soulful rock, pop and jazz coupled with protester’s chants from the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention; the album received critical acclaim and later produced the classic singles “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Beginnings.” Later, they shortened their name to Chicago.
DEEP PURPLE
If there were a “Mount Rushmore Of Hard Rock” it would only have three heads: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. They are the Holy Trinity of hard rock and metal bands. Deep Purple combined outstanding musicianship with dozens of FM radio smashes. Three separate incarnations of the band have made spectacular albums culminating with Deep Purple In Rock, which along with Led Zeppelin II and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid created the genre of hard rock music. Deep Purple have sold over 100 million albums.
JANET JACKSON
“No, my first name ain’t ‘Baby,’ it’s Janet – Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty.” With innovation and bravado, Janet Jackson brushed aside the challenges of being a superstar’s sibling and became one of pop music’s dominant figures. The youngest member of the Jackson clan, she was first in the spotlight as a child actress on the TV series Good Times and Fame. But it was with the five-times-platinum Control album in 1986 that she staked her claim as a music powerhouse. She and her production crew fused melodic dance-pop with more aggressive beats and hip hop sounds.
THE J.B.s
“Ladies and gentlemen, there are seven acknowledged wonders of the world. You are about to witness the eighth!” The introduction to the 1970 single “These Are The J.B.’s” was certainly audacious, but it was all too appropriate for a group that came on like an unstoppable force of nature. Initially assembled when James Brown needed to scramble to put together a new backing band, the J.B.’s quickly became the heaviest funk ensemble on Earth, recording and touring behind the “Hardest Working Man in Show Business” and also releasing material under their own name.
CHAKA KHAN
Chaka Khan (born Yvette Stevens in Chicago) came to prominence with the innovative funk/rock group Rufus in the 1970s. At a time when audiences for rock and soul were splitting into different camps, Khan’s voice represented the racial and social integration at the heart of rock and roll. With her incredible vocal range and mastery of dynamics, Khan has recorded durable and powerful music through four decades. Rufus recorded several excellent albums and had a long run of hits. She broke out on her own in 1978 with “I’m Every Woman,” mixing rock and disco.
LOS LOBOS
East L.A. rockers Los Lobos (Spanish for “the wolves”) are responsible for bringing a Latino sensibility to the American rock market. Fusing classic American styles, such as R&B, blues and rock, with cumbia, Tejano and Mexican norteña music, the group had already won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American / Tejano Performance by the time they became international pop sensations in the late 80s. Between day jobs, they headed to the studio, Recording a series of albums and EPs from 1976 to 1983, before their 1984 major label debut How Will the Wolf Survive?
STEVE MILLER
Steve Miller was a mainstay of the San Francisco music scene that upended American culture in the late 60s. With albums like Children Of The Future, Sailor and Brave New World, Miller perfected a psychedelic blues sound that drew on the deepest sources of American roots music and simultaneously articulated a compelling vision of what music could be in the years to come. Then, in the 70s, Miller crafted a brand of pure pop that was polished, exciting and irresistible, and that dominated radio in a way that few artists have ever managed.
NINE INCH NAILS
Trent Reznor is a study in contradictions: a self-described “computer dweeb” with sharply defined biceps, he makes music that juxtaposes the brutal and delicate, chaos and order, nihilistic despair and spiritual rapture. With Nine Inch Nails, he has taken the sounds and sights of transgressive art into the mainstream, transmuting alienation into community. Nine Inch Nails began in Cleveland in the late 80s as a studio project for Reznor, but blossomed onstage with his live band during the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991 as dismayed fellow musicians and fans looked on.
N.W.A
N.W.A’s improbable rise from marginalized outsiders to the most controversial and complicated voices of their generation remains one of rock’s most explosive, relevant and challenging tales. From their Compton, California, headquarters, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella would, by force of will and unrelenting tales of street life, sell tens of millions of records, influence multiple generations the world over and extend artistic middle fingers to the societal barriers of geography, respectability, caste, authority and whatever else happened to get in their way.
THE SMITHS
The Smiths link the musicality and pop ambition of the Beatles to such inheritors as Oasis, Blur, the Stone Roses and, really, every English rock band that has risen up in the wake of their emergence in the early 80s. They defined a sound and a style that was simultaneously stripped-down and eloquent, powerfully expressive of their fervent belief that everyday people, which is why they were called the Smiths, lived emotional lives of great drama, passion and meaning. The Smiths, 4 working class kids from England, defied the musical trends of their times.
THE SPINNERS
One of the world’s most beloved R&B vocal groups, the Spinners were a hit making machine at Atlantic Records, where they came to define the Philadelphia Sound that dominated pop and urban radio and dance clubs in the 70s. With a stage act that rivaled Motown’s best groups, and a track record of hits that resonated around the world, the Spinners were second to none. The Spinners spent nearly two decades in their native Detroit with stints in the 60s on the Tri-Phi label and Motown’s V.I.P. imprint. They moved to the Atlantic label in 1972.
YES
Yes is the most enduring, ambitious progressive band in rock history. By fusing the cinematic soundscapes of King Crimson with the hard rock edge of The Who and the soaring harmonies and melodies of Simon and Garfunkel, they took progressive rock from a small audience of aficionados to radio airwaves and football stadiums all over America. Hits like “Roundabout” and “I’ve Seen All Good People” appealed to rock fans who did not even think they liked progressive rock. Yes managed to change with the times, and emerged in the 80s as an MTV-ready force.
The information and Photos shown above is from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website. Additional information about all of the nominees can be seen at the RockHall online site.
