The nominations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2021 voting started with Fela Anikulapo Kuti at the bottom position.
The list which also features Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige, Iron Maiden, Tina Turner, the Go-Go’s, Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Devo, Chaka Khan, Carole King, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Todd Rundgren, and Dionne Warwick, later saw Fela who was crawling at the bottom of the list on February 11, becoming the number one after stacking more votes than the others.
The dramatic change happened within 24hrs after Nigerian social media influencers started mobilizing for Fela. I wasn’t long before the Afro beat maestro came top of the chart.
The top vote-getters of the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2021 will be announced in May and inducted.
The criterion for eligibility in this year’s ballot, was that each nominee’s first single or album had to have been released in 1995 or earlier.
According to Rolling Stone, seven of the 16 acts on the ballot (Foo Fighters, the Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Tina Turner, Fela Kuti, and Dionne Warwick) are appearing for the first time, although Carole King was inducted along with Gerry Goffin as a non-performer in 1990 and Tina Tuner entered the institution in 1991 along with Ike Turner.
According to the Hall of Fame, this is the most racially diverse ballot since 1996, as nine of the 16 nominees feature people of color.
“This remarkable ballot reflects the diversity and depth of the artists and music the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates,” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation Chairman John Sykes says in a statement. “These nominees have left an indelible impact on the sonic landscape of the world and influenced countless artists that have followed them.”
Per the tradition of the past few years, the Hall of Fame named the individual band members that will enter should their group get inducted. For Iron Maiden, they cited the current lineup of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, and Janick Gers, along with former singer Paul Di’Anno, former drummer Clive Burr, and former guitarist Dennis Stratton.
For the Foo Fighters, it’s the current lineup of Dave Grohl, drummer Taylor Hawkins, bassist Nate Mendel, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, and guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett. Original drummer William Goldsmith and former guitarist Franz Stahl did not make the cut.
If Devo get in, it’ll just be the classic Seventies/early Eighties lineup of Mark Mothersbaugh, bassist/singer Gerald Casale, drummer Alan Myers, keyboardist/guitarist Bob Casale, and guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.
For the New York Dolls, it’s frontman David Johansen, bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain, and drummers Jerry Nolan and Billy Murcia. Johansen is the sole living New York Doll after the recent death of Sylvain Sylvain.
A voter pool of more than 1,000 artists, historians, journalists, and members of the music industry will select the new class.
