Presented by the audio company Klipsch, the 31st Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place April 8, 2016 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the second time. HBO will broadcast the ceremony later in the spring of 2016.
Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Hall 25 years after the release of their first recording. The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Performer inductees were chosen by more than 800 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, as well as the aggregate results of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s online fan vote. The top five artists, as selected by the public, comprised a “fans’ ballot” that was tallied along with the other ballots to determine the 2016 Inductees. Three of the top five artists from the fans ballot will be inducted in 2016.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, Ohio, will also open a special exhibit on the 2016 inductees in conjunction with the 2016 Induction Ceremony.
Here is a brief look at the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees:
Inductees: Bun E. Carlos, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, Robin Zander
Cheap Trick had perfected an extremely individual yet classic rock and roll band sound by the time it released its first album in 1977. It has never changed it much. Cheap Trick is led by Rick Nielsen’s classic and perpetually fresh guitar and the sweet power of Robin Zander’s vocals. The group’s original line-up with Tom Petersson on bass and the amazing Bun E. Carlos as the powerhouse drummer influenced pretty much every other hard rocking band that came afterwards. They somehow bridge the gap between the fierce clowning of early punk and the accidental-on-purpose humor of metal, without ever sounding a bit like either. Their first five albums (“Cheap Trick,” “In Color,” “Heaven Tonight,” “Dream Police” and “All Shook Up”) span a three-year period from 1977 to 1980. They are about as great as any such sequence in rock history and they hold up all these years later. Their American breakthrough “Live At Budokan” is in the running for best live album of all time.
Inductees: Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Walter Parazaider, Danny Seraphine
Fusing jazz and rock together in a time when the Beatles were still crashing onto the American shores and psychedelic rock was taking over the basements of teenagers; Chicago Transit Authority broke onto the scene unapologetically in 1969 with their self-titled double album, “Chicago Transit Authority.” A brazen mix of soulful rock, pop and jazz coupled with protester’s chants from the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention; the album received critical acclaim and later produced the classic singles “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Beginnings.” As the band began touring, under pressure from the city of Chicago, they shortened their name to simply, Chicago, and later released their second self-titled album, “Chicago” in 1970. The center track, “Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon,” is a seven-part, 13-minute suite of pure melodic perfection composed by James Pankow who merged his love of classical, long song styles with Chicago’s signature sound. It yielded two unexpected singles “Make Me Smile” and “Colour My World” that quickly took the charts by storm reaching the Top Ten on Billboard’s Hot 100. With over 21 top 10 singles, five consecutive number one albums and 11 number one singles the hall says Chicago’s legacy is unquestionable.
Inductees: Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice
If there were a “Mount Rushmore Of Hard Rock” it would only have three heads: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. They are the Holy Trinity of hard rock and metal bands and Deep Purple’s non-inclusion in the Hall is a gaping hole that is now filled according to the sentiments of most rock fans. Deep Purple combined outstanding musicianship with dozens of FM radio smashes. Deep Purple have sold over 100 million albums and their flagship track “Smoke On The Water” eclipses “Satisfaction,” “Born To Run” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as the number one greatest guitar riff of all time according to many guitar player polls. Deep Purple's groundbreaking albums and ear drum breaking live shows are the stuff of legend and make them long overdue for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
N.W.A.
Inductees: DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren
N.W.A.’s improbable rise from marginalized outsiders to the most controversial and complicated voices of their generation remains one of rock’s most explosive, relevant and challenging tales. From their Compton, Calif. headquarters the group would sell tens of millions of records, influence multiple generations the world over and extend artistic middle fingers to the societal barriers of geography, respectability, caste, authority and whatever else happened to get in their way. But two decades before Rolling Stone would rank them 83rd on their “100 Greatest Artists Of All Time” list, they were just five young men with something to say. Five men, at least twice that many opposing points of view among them and well over a hundred million records collectively sold over the last 29 years.
Inductee: Steve Miller
Steve Miller was a mainstay of the San Francisco music scene that upended American culture in the late 1960s. With albums like “Children Of The Future,” “Sailor and Brave New World,” Miller perfected a psychedelic blues sound that drew on the deepest sources of American roots music and simultaneously articulated a compelling vision of what music and society could be in the years to come. In the 1970s Miller crafted a brand of pure pop that was polished and dominated radio in a way that few artists have ever managed. Hit followed hit in what seemed like an endless flow that includes “Take The Money And Run,” “Rock’n Me,” “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Jet Airliner” and “Jungle Love.”
Here is Ritchie Blackmore, along with his Fender Stratocaster and Marshall amplifiers, performing “Smoke on the Water” in 1973 with the rest of his Deep Purple band mates:
From their breakthrough album “Live at Budokan” here is Cheap Trick doing “Surrender:”
