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Music News: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees include Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks

Janet Jackson performs at Target Center in 2015.
Janet Jackson performs at Target Center in 2015.Jay Gabler/MPR
  Play Now [10:35]

by Jay Gabler

October 09, 2018

Above, listen to an episode of The Current's daily Music News podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also sign up for a daily Music News e-mail.


Def Leppard, John Prine, Roxy Music, Devo, Todd Rundgren, and Stevie Nicks (as a solo artist) are making their debuts on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot this year. They'll be up for consideration alongside returning artists including Janet Jackson, Radiohead, LL Cool J, and Rage Against the Machine.

The most-nominated artist on the ballot this year is LL Cool J, making his fifth appearance on the ballot and vying to become the first hip-hop inductee since Tupac Shakur. As the New York Times notes:

Others who have been passed over before and were granted another chance: Kraftwerk (four previous nominations); MC5 (three); the Zombies (three); Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (two); and the Cure (one).

The final list of inductees, typically numbering five, will be announced in December, with an induction ceremony in Brooklyn on March 29.

So who's actually going to get in? Billboard’s best guess: Radiohead, Nicks, Jackson, the Zombies, and Def Leppard. Least likely to make the hurdle this year, in descending order of likelihood: Devo, Kraftwerk, Prine, Roxy Music, and Rufus.

Snubs? Consequence of Sound names OutKast, Whitney Houston, Joy Division, the Smiths, and...yep, John Coltrane.

Taylor Swift makes waves on voting rolls

Voting registration seems to have surged in the wake of Taylor Swift's call for fans to make their voices heard. The voter-registration organization Vote.org reports that it aided more registrations in the 24-hour period following Swift's Instagram post than in the entire month of August. Registrations particularly spiked in Tennessee, where Swift endorsed two Democratic congressional candidates. The chair of Tennessee's Democratic Party said he appreciated the boost in visibility for liberal candidates in a state that voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a 16-point margin in 2016. (BuzzFeed)

Music piracy: Still a thing

Even in the streaming era, one-third of the world still steals music, reports Rolling Stone. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says that globally, 38% of music consumers obtained music illegally last year. Much of that comes from consumers who rip legal streams, saving them so they can listen offline without paying for a premium subscription to a service like Spotify.

John and Alice Coltrane home designated historic

The Long Island house where John Coltrane composed the classic album A Love Supreme has been designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The property, now vacant, will be restored and reopened as an "interactive and creative space." Coltrane and his wife Alice, also a jazz performer and composer, moved into the house in 1964. John Coltrane died in 1967, and Alice continued to live and work there. (Rolling Stone)

Party Rock Uptown Girl

Web editor Stan Lewis has garnered over 150,000 retweets for a video demonstrating that LMFAO's 2011 hit "Party Rock Anthem" has the same tempo as Billy Joel's 1983 chestnut "Uptown Girl."


Songs sampled in podcast
Jahzzar: "Comedie" (CC BY 4.0)
BoxCat Games: Against the Wall (CC BY 3.0)
Billy Joel: "Uptown Girl"
John Coltrane: "Part 1: Acknowledgement"
LMFAO: "Party Rock Anthem"
Jesse Spillane: "Ruffling Feathers" (CC BY SA 4.0)