Jeff Beck

It’s always interesting to see who the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee chooses each year for potential entrants into the next year’s class of inductees. This year’s 9-artist selection (of which 5 will be chosen) offers some surprises.

Metallica and Run-DMC were widely considered shoo-ins. Metallica basically popularized metal (as in the all-black, cut off T-shirts and dirty tight jeans with mullets kind of metal) for a mainstream audience and have remained relevant through their entire quarter-century in existence. Run-DMC, are, well, Run-DMC. They revolutionized hip-hop, took it from a fad into an art form. There’s no doubt that these guys, however little time their star burned, deserve a place here. I’d say those are the only two acts whose inductions are assured.

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