The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2022 nominees, revealing the 17 acts eligible for induction into the Rock Hall’s Class of 2022.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the Afrobeat pioneer and legend, made the list of nominees again after missing out on the 2021 inductees, making this his second nomination in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Beck, rock hitmaker Pat Benatar, art rocker Kate Bush, and new wave outcasts Devo and other new wave chart-toppers Duran Duran, Eminem, the synth-pop duo Eurythmics, and heavy metal fixtures Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, proto-punks New York Dolls, country legend Dolly Parton, rap-metal outfit Rage Against the Machine, R&B hitmaker Lionel Richie, pop singer-songwriter Carly Simon, alt hip-hop icons A Tribe Called Quest, as well as pop vocal prodigy Dionne Warwick, have all been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.
Beck, Eminem, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, A Tribe Called Quest, Carly Simon, and Dolly Parton are all first-time Rock Hall nominees this year, though several of those names have certainly been eligible for decades – the Rock Hall’s rule is that an artist’s first commercial recording must have been released 25 years before the year of the nomination.
This means Eminem, like RRHOF 2021 inductee Jay-Z, received a nomination in his first year of eligibility.
This is MC5’s sixth nomination, and Rage Against the Machine’s fourth. Rage Against the Machine is perhaps the most successful rock band to follow MC5 in advocating revolutionary political action.
Kate Bush, Judas Priest, New York Dolls, and Devo receive their third nomination in 2022. This is the second nomination for Dionne Warwick, Eurythmics, and the late Fela Kuti, who appeared on the ballot for the first time last year. It is also Pat Benatar’s second nomination, following her inclusion on the 2020 Rock Hall ballot.
While the Rock Hall inductees are chosen by a committee of over 1,000 artists, industry members, and historians, fans can participate in the selection process by voting every day at vote.rockhall.com or at the museum in Cleveland. The five artists with the most votes among these 17 nominees will be tallied alongside the other ballots to determine the Class of 2022.
The Rock and Roll Class of 2022 will be announced in May 2022, with the ceremony taking place this fall at a yet-to-be-announced date and location.
