It’s time for another round of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Having covered the artists inducted in 2017 through 2020, I’m now turning my attention to the 2016 class.
First up is Cheap Trick, the Illinois-based rock band that debuted in 1973 and is still making music today (a planned 2020 album release was delayed due to Covid and will come out later this year).
Cheap Trick has been eligible for the Rock Hall since 2003 and made it in the first year they were nominated.
The final inductee from the 2017 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is Yes, a band for which I have a total blindspot.
The only Yes song I know — or at least the only one I can actively identify as a Yes song — is ‘Owner of Lonely Heart,’ from the band’s top-selling album, 1983’s 90125. That album, I learned today, was the band’s first after they broke up and reformed with a new lineup. It also marked a change in sound toward pop and away from progressive rock.
Tupac Shakur recorded for just five years, but the influence and popularity he demonstrated in that short time was enough to make him a first ballot inductee in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Tupac is one of seven rap acts in the Rock Hall, and the best-selling artist of them all. Next year, Eminem and Jay-Z will be eligible for inclusion, and I’ll be surprised if they don’t make it in on their first shot, given their massive sales and influence.
Pearl Jam is the first of two 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees who made it during their first year of eligibility.
Regardless of your opinion of grunge — I’m generally not a fan — it’s hard to argue with Pearl Jam making it into the Hall on the first ballot. They are pioneers in one of the last major movements in rock-n-roll history. Along with Nirvana (first ballot inductees in 2014), they defined the grunge era for a whole generation of bands.
It took 16 years between Journey’s first eligibility for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and their eventual induction in 2017.
Such disrespect for a band that released six straight multi-Platinum albums between 1978 and 1986 and recorded some of the most iconic power pop songs of the era. Hell, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’‘ alone should have landed them in the Hall at the first opportunity.
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