The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2024 inductees during an episode of American Idol on April 21, with Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest all set to be inducted into the Cleveland institution later this year. Receiving the Hall's Excellence Award are Dionne Warwick, the MC5, Norman Whitfield and the late Jimmy Buffett, while Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton will receive the Musical Influence honors.
Cher, Frampton, Kool & the Gang and Foreigner were all first-time nominees this year. (Osbourne was previously inducted as a member of Black Sabbath, but this was his first nomination as a solo artist.) A Tribe Called Quest were nominated twice previously; Dave Matthews and Blige have both been nominated once before.
The nominees who failed to make the final cut this year include Oasis, Mariah Carey, Eric B & Rakim, Sade, Sinead O'Connor and Jane's Addiction.
Cher, nominated for the first time this year, had some less-than-flattering comments about the Rock Hall just months ago.
“Rock & Roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, in a statement. “This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
The Rock Hall induction ceremony will take place on Oct. 19 and will be live-streamed on Disney+, with a network airing on ABC to follow.
The MC5, whose guitarist Wayne Kramer passed away earlier this year, will receive the Hall's Excellence Award.
Never starved for controversy, the Rock Hall endured a fresh round of unwelcome headlines late last year, when Jann Wenner, the co-founder of the institution and longtime publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, was removed from the Rock Hall board of directors after blowback from his comments to the New York Times in which Wenner appeared to disparage the contributions of Black and female rock artists. (Wenner subsequently apologized.)
In December, Cher joined the long list of inductees or nominees who have bashed the Hall's selection process, unloading on the institution during an episode of NBC's Kelly Clarkson Show that aired on Dec. 15.
"You know what, I wouldn't be in it now if they gave me a million dollars," Cher told the host. "I'm never going to change my mind." She later added that the Rock Hall could "go you-know-what themselves."
Whether the star will show up for the induction ceremony remains to be seen. The Sex Pistols and Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose are among those who have explicitly boycotted the ceremony in their honor, while others -- most notably KISS and Steve Miller -- have had some choice words for the Hall in their acceptance speeches.
Ozzy Osbourne -- already inducted as a member of Black Sabbath -- was voted into the Hall as a solo artist.
Never miss a story — sign up for the Q newsletter for the latest music news on all your favorite artists, all in one place.
There is a bittersweet taste to some of the honors, with Jimmy Buffett having passed away last September, while MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and the band's early manager/guiding-light John Sinclair both died earlier this year. (Phife Dawg, a third of A Tribe Called Quest, died in 2016.)
All quibbles aside, there are plenty who take the honor quite seriously, with Foreigner's Rick Willis taking a moment in a recent interview with Q to urge fans to vote for the band in the Hall's online poll, saying: "Please ask all your readers to do whatever they can do to help us get the votes we need to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, because we would be very proud of that."
Powered by RedCircle
