It was announced today that the cable music network Fuse signed an agreement to begin airing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, starting in 2009. They will broadcast the ceremony live for the next three years, moving back to New York City after April's show in Cleveland. No word on who will stream the ceremony live on the internet.

Presumably, this line in the article that prematurely announces the '09 "inductees" is a mistake, although it is a highly plausible list:

The 2009 inductees include Run-DMC, Metallica, Jeff Beck, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and The Stooges.

The five inductees will be officially announced in January.

If Metallica are inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April of next year, who should be inducted? It's clear that guitarist/singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett, deceased bassist Cliff Burton and former bassist Jason Newsted all deserve induction. But what about Dave Mustaine?

Mustaine was kicked out of the band before they made their first album, but he is credited with co-writing some of the signature songs on their first album, Kill 'Em All. Who knows how Mustaine himself feels about the issue, but he'd most likely rather be inducted on his own with Megadeth.

And how about current bassist, Robert Trujillo? Is playing on the latest album enough to get enshrined? There aren't really any stated rules on these issues, so it will be interesting to see what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame decides to do.

For his part, James Hetfield believes Trujillo should get in, but not Mustaine. Here's a portion of Hetfield's recent interview with Rolling Stone (via Blabbermouth.net):

Rolling Stone: Most likely, Metallica will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame next April. Who will be onstage with you?

Hetfield: "Everyone that played on a record should be there. You're considered for the Hall 25 years after your first recording, not after you formed."

Rolling Stone: That would omit Dave Mustaine [former Metallica guitarist and current Megadeth mainman].

Hetfield: "He wasn't on a record. Jason Newsted [former Metallica bassist] should be up there — he was in the band for 14 years and played on quite a few records. And so should Robert [Trujillo; current Metallica bassist]."

Rolling Stone: Will it be weird to be there with Jason?

Hetfield: "There's no reason for it to be weird. We don't want to be part of the soap opera of the Hall of Fame. Everybody wants a train wreck, like with BLONDIE onstage arguing over crap [in 2006]. That really cheapens the moment."

What would really be weird is if the Hall of Fame used Hetfield's qualifications. By his logic, producer Bob Rock would be inducted as a member of Metallica because he played bass on St. Anger, when Metallica was still in between bassists after Newsted left. I doubt Hetfield, or anyone else, thinks Bob Rock should be on stage if Metallica gets inducted.

Thanks, David.

Our friends over at A List of Things Thrown Together Five Minutes Ago, famous for their Keltner analysis of artists to determine their worthiness for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, have some thoughts on Jeff Beck's 2009 nomination, and why he shouldn't be inducted:

• [Jeff Beck] clearly inspired Nigel Tufnel's haircut and wardrobe, and possibly Tufnel's childish petulance, in Spinal Tap.
• [Beck] was unable to create a hit single in two albums with a young Rod Stewart (though he and Stewart much later had a hit with a bastardization of the Impressions' sublime "People Get Ready").
• Jointly responsible for revitalizing the bloated charity benefit when he, Page, Clapton, Stewart, and Ron Wood staged the Rock for ARMS (Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis) concert to benefit Ronnie Lane, which in turn prompted a delusional Neil Schon to muse that the 1980s equivalent of Clapton/Page/Beck was Schon/Santana/Van Halen.
• Contributed to annoying pomp-rock fetishization of "Greensleeves," the sixteenth-century version of "Hey Ya."

The incomparable Tom Lane e-mails in with this interesting news:

On Dave Marsh's weekly Sirius XM show, "Kick Out The Jams", he picked 5 names he would be voting for on this year's ballot:  Chic, War, Jeff Beck, Stooges, and Run DMC.

Marsh also said that this year's ballot was "flawless" and made a remark about how he opposed the Beastie Boys getting into the Hall.

He also said that he wouldn't vote for Metallica because they are going to get in anyway. 

Marsh's belief that the ballot is "flawless" is probably not shared by anyone else outside of the Nominating Committee, but that's great he's happy with the choices he helped make.

Four out of Marsh's five selections are currently leading Future Rock Hall's 2009 ballot, so he may have a chance to see many of his choices inducted in Cleveland on April 4, 2009.

Thanks, Tom. Check out Tom's top snubbed artists here.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's pop music critic, John Soeder, follows the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about as closely as any journalist out there. He recently offered his take on the 2009 nominees induction chances, summarized below.

Safe Bets: Metallica, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Stooges

Too Close To Call: Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Chic

Long Shots: Bobby Womack, Wanda Jackson, War

Soeder's confidence in the induction of Little Anthony and the Imperials is a little surprising, given this is the first time they have been nominated in over 20 years of eligibility.

You can cast your own ballot here and weigh in on the nominations here.

The official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations for 2009 were announced today. There are six first time nominees this year -- Metallica, Jeff Beck (as a solo artist), Bobby Womack, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, and Run-DMC. Previously nominated artists back on the ballot are Wanda Jackson, the Stooges, and Chic, who have now been nominated 14 times collectively. Run-DMC are the only artist this time to be nominated in their first year of eligibility. The rest of the artists had been seriously considered by the Nominating Committee in the past and can be found on this list.

Some artists who were left off the ballot are 2008 finalists the Beastie Boys, Donna Summer and Afrika Bambaataa. From the newly eligible artists, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bon Jovi, and the Smiths are notably absent.

The Rock Hall continues to nominate artists outside of the traditional "rock" genre. This year there was rumored to be a focus on various rock and roll sub-genres, and that seems to have come to fruition. This year's nominees include heavy metal (Metallica), hip-hop (Run-DMC), rockabilly (Wanda Jackson), doo-wop (Little Anthony and the Imperials), funk (War), disco (Chic), guitar rock (Jeff Beck), proto-punk (The Stooges), and R&B (Bobby Womack) -- but still no prog rock (sorry Rush fans!). By nominating a single artist per sub-genre, the Rock Hall Nominating Committee is having the voters basically choose whichever genres most appeal to them.

We would prefer to see a system which allows more nominees each year, where you voters could have a choice between a couple of artists with similar backgrounds. For example, nominate Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. The Stooges and the MC5. And on and on. Apparently those discussions and decisions happen behind the closed doors of the Nominating Committee meeting and are kept away from the 500 rock experts on the voting committee.

We'll have more analysis over the next couple of months leading up to the announcement of the five inductees in January, 2009. The ceremony will be held in Cleveland on April 4, 2009. Tickets will be available to the public for the first time ever.

You can cast your own unofficial ballot here!

To comment on the nominations, check out the 2009 Nominees page and go to rockhall.com to read the official press release.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee got together today in New York to hold their annual meeting to determine the 2009 ballot. USA Today has a feature article speculating about who the committee might nominate, and they come to the conclusion that Bon Jovi has the best chance of any of the newly eligible artists:

The closest thing to the Madonnas, R.E.M.s, Van Halens and U2s that have starred at recent inductions is probably Bon Jovi.

Another leading prospect is the late blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, but the rest of the crop — including Cyndi Lauper, k.d. lang, Billy Bragg, and metal extremists Slayer — are more marginal prospects.

Which means the committee will need to turn to holdovers — those previously eligible artists who have yet to gain sufficient support. Among them are previous nominees Chic, Donna Summer and the Beastie Boys, all of whom must confront the "Is disco or rap really rock?" conundrum that regularly polarizes voters and fans.

Bon Jovi is currently leading USA Today's reader poll with 29% of the vote. Rush (15%), Metallica (10%) and Stevie Ray Vaughan (10%) are the other leading artists.

Back in 1997 when Cleveland first hosted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, it was held in a ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel. For the 2009 ceremony, Cleveland is moving up to the historic Public Hall, (aka Public Auditorium). Capacity is 11,500, but that will likely be reduced to under 10,000 after the VIP tables get set up on the floor.

The large venue will allow for the public sale of tickets to the event for the first time. Typically, when the ceremony is held in New York at the Waldorf Astoria, a seat will cost you at least $2000, if you can get invited. But here, the Rock Hall has mentioned that tickets should be available for under $100.

The event will be held on a yet to be determined day in March of 2009.

---

In this same article, Rock Hall president Terry Stewart emphasizes that the new Rock Hall Annex is not a precursor to the entire museum moving to New York City. It's also revealed that the Rock Hall may open an annex in Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf (in addition to the planned one in Memphis).

"Little Steven" Van Zandt, E Street Band guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee member, was recently asked about who he will push for induction into the Rock Hall later this year:

Q: You worked hard to get the Dave Clark Five into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. Who's on top of your list now of bands that ought to be in?

A: Right now the priority is the Hollies. It's ridiculous. I think Johnny Burnette & the Rock 'n' Roll Trio is still high on my list. . . . Paul Revere & the Raiders deserve to be in. Herman's Hermits deserve to be in.

Q: Really?!

A: Absolutely. People forget how important Herman's Hermits were when they started. . . . We all get very elitist about who should be in and who shouldn't, but I consider great, great, great '60s pop music absolutely essential to the development of the art form.

Van Zandt is clearly passionate about the artists who helped shape him as a musician during his youth (he was born in 1950), but does he really think the '60s are underrepresented in the Hall of Fame?

The Rock Hall generally nominates at least a couple of bands from the '60s every year, so you can pencil in The Hollies at the top of your list of potential nominees for the 2009 ballot.

Thanks, Tom.

Alan Light, former Spin editor in chief, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, thinks Madonna is worthy of her 2008 induction:

"She has loomed for a long time as a really significant, really influential figure," said Alan Light. "She is as famous a woman -- if not in the world, certainly in the Western world -- as anybody that's alive."

...

As for any gripes the pop singer doesn't belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, save it, says Light.

"If you define rock and roll in any way other than it has to be played with electric guitars and be based on blues changes or whatever, any definition that is more expansive than that -- anything that talks about the rebellious side of it, the counterculture side of it, the creative, ambitious side of it -- she clearly should be there," Light said. "She changed the playing field."

The article also quotes one of the many artists Madonna influenced, Alanis Morissette:

"To me, she's this woman that's deeply feminine, combined with this masculine drive," said Canadian pop singer Alanis Morissette, who was signed to Madonna's record label, Maverick Records, in 1995. "For a long time as a kid, I felt very self-conscious about what a tomboy I was, but she was someone that I could always look up to."

In 2009, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in Cleveland for only the second time, and it will be the first to be open to the public (as we learned in December). The ceremony will likely be held at the Quicken Loans Arena downtown (aka "The Q," home of the Cleveland Cavaliers), less than a mile from the Rock Hall Museum. Tickets to the ceremony are estimated to be about the cost of a rock concert ($80?), but no details have been set.

The mayor of Cleveland announced today that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will return to Cleveland for the 2009 event after a 12 year absence. If all goes well, it could return every three years.

It was promised in 1997 that the ceremony would return to Cleveland regularly as a part of a rotation that would include New York, Los Angeles, and London. Obviously this never happened since the ceremony has been held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York every year except for the one year Cleveland hosted (and L.A. hosted in 1993).

You can check out a list of artists who will be newly eligible in 2008 (for the '09 inductions) right here.

Update:

When [Rock Hall Museum President Terry] Stewart was asked if the inductions were guaranteed to come to Cleveland every three years, he said having future ceremonies here would be contingent upon the success of the 2009 event.

He quickly was interrupted by the mayor.

"It is guaranteed," [Cleveland Mayer Frank] Jackson said. "We intend to make this work. . . . It will be here in '12 and it'll be here in '15 and it'll be here in '18 . . . I want you to understand: It is going to happen. It will work."

Stewart didn't argue the point.

Holding the ceremony in Cleveland every year would be impractical because many record companies and other key Rock Hall benefactors are based in New York, [Rock Hall Foundation President Joel] Peresman said.

"We need to be able to have it there to get their support," Peresman said. "We're talking about the businesses and we're talking about the corporations that have supported the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from the beginning."

For 20 of the past 22 years, the ceremony was held in New York. Besides the temporary move to Cleveland a decade ago, the inductions were held in Los Angeles in 1993.

For future ceremonies, the foundation isn't looking beyond New York or Cleveland, Peresman said.

The gala here tentatively is scheduled for a Saturday night in March 2009, although the venue has not been chosen. The Rock Hall plans to reveal more details in the spring.