Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Outkast, Maná and the late Joe Cocker are among the acts nominated for the first time for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the organization announced Wednesday.
Also on the ballot for the Class of 2025 are the Black Crowes, Billy Idol and Phish (all first-time nominees) as well as six acts that have previously been up for induction: Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, Oasis, Soundgarden, the White Stripes and a combined entry for Joy Division and its later incarnation, New Order.
The group of artists representing rock, pop, R&B, grunge, hip-hop, post-punk and rock en español reflects the increasing diversification of the hall, which after years of criticism that it overvalued the work of older white men has recently broadened its selection process along gender, race and style lines.
“Continuing in the true spirit of rock ’n’ roll, these artists have created their own sounds that have impacted generations and influenced countless others that have followed in their footsteps,” John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. Last year’s inductees were Mary J. Blige, Cher, the Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest.
An artist or band becomes eligible for induction into the hall 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording. Nominations, which are determined by a committee of music industry insiders, are then voted on by more than 1,200 musicians, executives, historians and journalists.
Several of this year’s nominees have been particularly visible of late, including Oasis, whose warring Gallagher brothers will come together this summer for a highly anticipated reunion tour, and Outkast, the influential Atlanta hip-hop duo whose André 3000 earned a surprise nod for album of the year at this month’s Grammy Awards with his experimental jazz LP, “New Blue Sun.” Last fall, Lauper launched what she’s calling a farewell tour. And Carey made headlines in October after she talked with The Times about not being voted into the hall on her previous nomination.
“Everybody was calling me going, ‘I think you’re getting in,’ and I was so excited about it,” she said. “But then it didn’t happen. My lawyer got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before me,” she added, referring to Allen Grubman, the veteran entertainment attorney who indeed received the hall’s Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2022.
This year’s inductees will be announced in late April, with a ceremony to take place in the fall in Los Angeles. The 2025 induction event will be the third since the hall’s co-founder, former Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, was ousted from the organization in the wake of disparaging comments he made about Black and female musicians in a 2023 interview with the New York Times.
The hall said it would announce plans for a broadcast or streaming partner at a later date. In 2023, the show moved to Disney+ after nearly three decades at HBO.
