The nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2022 were just announced (and the crowd goes wild!). How the final inductees are chosen has always been a little convoluted, but here’s the short version: Music fans like you and me can go to the HOF website and vote for five of the nominees until April 29th, every day if we want to. Artists can be inducted into any of these four categories, shown with the number who are already in for each (the category definitions are pulled directly from the HOF website).

1. Performers (239) – Bands and solo artists who, in their careers, have created music whose originality, impact, and influence has changed the course of rock & roll

2. Musical Excellence (25) – Artists, musicians, songwriters, and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.

3. Ahmet Ertegun Award (51) – Non-performing industry professionals who, through their dedicated belief and support of artists and their music, have had a major influence on the creative development and growth of rock & roll music that has impacted youth culture.

4. Early Influences (36) – A performing artist or group whose music and performance style have directly influenced and helped inspire and evolve rock & roll and music that has impacted youth culture.

To be eligible, an artist must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to this year. The final class is determined by a mysterious combination of the top five fan vote getters, combined with the votes of “industry members and historians,” whoever they might be. Last year, three of the top five vote getters were inducted – Tina Turner, The Go-Go’s, and the Foo Fighters. 2021 had a total of thirteen inductees - six Performers, three Early Influences, three for Musical Excellence, and one Ahmet Ertegun Award winner. 2022’s nominees include seven first-time eligibles, everybody else has been here before, a few several times. Here’s my quick take on who I think should make it this year. The names with the * are where my votes went.

• First time nominees:

*Beck – Yeah, I’m all in for Mr. Hansen (or Campbell, depending on which bio you read), as much for his record production innovations as his music. Postmodern irony sounds like a dubious trail to blaze in rock & roll, but there’s no question Beck led the way to an attitude that caught on like wildfire and, love it or hate it, keeps on keeping on.

Duran Duran – The MTV Hall of Fame, no question. Can’t say I ever mistook their highly polished sound (and haircuts) for rock and/or roll, though.

Eminem – The HOF has already opened the door to other genres like rap, so there’s no point in arguing Mr. Mathers doesn’t qualify. I’m not a big rap fan, never put in the time it would take to get the big picture, but I'm pretty certain Eminem released two terrific records followed by a big pile of mostly crap, so no.

Dolly Parton – Well, now c’mon. We all love Dolly, but does she even come close to belonging here? Seems more like a public service award than a music one. Sorry, Dolly.

Lionel Richie – The Commodores, then a highly successful, if unremittingly bland, solo career, and “We Are the World.” Is that a good enough resume? For rock & roll? I say nope, but his worldwide sales numbers will no doubt come into play, and I won’t be shocked if he makes it.

*Carly Simon – If only for “You’re So Vain” and “Anticipation,” yes. And she lived through the heroin lifestyle with James Taylor. That’s so rock & roll.

A Tribe Called Quest – I appreciate them for providing an alternative for the rap-curious to the gangsta craze that held commercial sway at the time. I’ve only heard their supposed “best” album The Low End Theory. It’s cool and soulful, I definitely enjoy it, but not enough to spark a deeper dive into their music. Not this year.

• Second chances:

Pat Benatar – She presents the same dilemma as Duran Duran. Are huge sales numbers and a constant presence on MTV enough to be considered a historical rock music figure? Nobody’s ever going to mistake her music for groundbreaking, but people sure did love it. I didn’t, though, so she won't get my vote.

Fela Kuti – A commercial non-starter in the U.S. I’m not sure why he was nominated over other stars of the wonderful sub-Saharan Africa pop/rock music scene, other than Fela briefly toured the U.S. and they didn’t. Personally, I thought King Sunny Ade’s music had more potential to break the American market. I admire Fela, but he doesn’t get my vote.

Dionne Warwick – A regular on TV variety shows when I was young, somebody I never minded seeing with Andy Williams or Ed Sullivan, or whoever. She had a great run in the 60s working with Burt Bacharach. There’s nothing I can think of to connect her to rock and roll, though. Tom Jones?

• Third time’s the charm?:

Kate Bush – I’ve tried. There are lots of people with expansive and impressive musical taste that absolutely love her music. I can’t say I’ve ever been able to find a connection to it; emotionally, artistically, nada. But I have no problem with her making the HOF someday, she’s a successful example of the quirky outsider artists the protected environment of rock and roll has nurtured over the years, bless ‘em.

*Devo – Nobody too young, and too locked into mainstream music would remember how crazed and revolutionary Devo’s first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, was. It felt like art, it felt like rebellion, it sounded like absolutely nothing else. These guys had a vision, passionate rock by dispassionate robots, too complex for the punk crowd, too unhinged for rock radio. They became a little jokey over the years, but they kicked down doors for a lot of other bands. Big thumbs up.

Eurythmics – A tough one. Big multi-platinum sales and Annie Lennox was an MTV icon. A lot of the music on their first few records is pretty great if you appreciate that 80s electro-dance-pop sound. Probably should get in someday, I would think they have enough fans to rake in a lot of the popular vote consistently.

Judas Priest – I’ve learned from the internet and social media that there are few fanbases as rabid as the Priest crowd. The band recently announced their next tour with a lineup of musicians the fans didn’t like. The backlash was so fierce they changed the lineup. And, for better or worse, they can take a rightful amount of credit for igniting the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that took over the rock world in the 80s. So, they have some trailblazer in them, which helps. There’s probably a spot for them in the Hall, but I’m not one of those fans.

*New York Dolls – Well, hell, what’s the holdup? The Dolls should absolutely be inducted. Even though commercial success eluded them (although notoriety didn't), the bands they inspired started glam rock, the genre that Bowie commercialized with Ziggy Stardust. Two fantastic albums of loose, catchy, American hard rock. Oh, and Bowie copped his cross-dressing from them.

• Fourth time around:

Rage Against the Machine – Full confession, not a fan. Their sound has always struck me as too one-dimensional. The modern MC5, maybe, really hard rock with overtly leftist political lyrics. I’d rather see the originators get in.

• Sixth time, enough already:

*MC5 – The originators. Loud, sloppy rock and rollers from Ann Arbor who preached their barely-decipherable politics at high volume. The opening line of the opening song on their debut album both coined the phrase “kick out the jams” and added the word "mother******s" right after it. Bad ass.