The list of 14 nominated artists for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class 2025 contains eight candidates shown on the institution’s vote for the first time – including some surprises ranging from the previously overlooked “Twist” Popularizer Chubby Checker to Latin Rock Group Maná to the Sylt Band Phish.
The other artists who set up for elections for the first time are OutkastBilly Idol, Bad Company, Joe Cocker and The Black Crowes.
The remaining six nominees who are announced on Wednesday morning make a repeated look on the vote. They are Mariah CareyOasis, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Joy Division/New Order and Soundgarden.
These possible artists inductors, selected by a nomination committee, will now go out to a wider base of 1,200 selected voters, with the winners who will be announced at the end of April. It is the same time that additional nominees will be announced that have not gone to the broader voter but was installed directly by the Seletct Committee, in the musical influence, musical excellence and Ahmet Eregun areas that are not performer.
The induction ceremony is moving to Los Angeles this year, on an autumn date that is not yet announced.
The complete list of ’25 challengers, alphabetically:
Company companies
The black crows
Mariah Carey
Chubby checker
Joe Cocker
Billy Idol
Joy Division/New Order
Cyndi Lauper
Manna
Oasis
Outkast
Phish
The sound guard
The white stripes
Of course, many eyes will be on whether Oasis will come at this time while the band will make their very published live comeback this summer after 16 years of rest. The upcoming Stadium Tour could work to the band’s advantage this time … or vice versa, voters could hold it against Oasis that Liam Gallagher’s response to be nominated a year ago was to say “Fuck the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” and call it “a bunch of ballox.”
One of the biggest shocks in this year’s crop – and certainly a pleasant for many – would have to be the introduction of the Mexican band Maná, who marks the first time an artist who is playing a part or entirely in Spanish has been nominated.
But it is equally surprising to see Checker, a rock pioneer, finally get a nod after being eligible since 1985, that is, the first year it was a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His champion had long claimed that Checker’s absence from even coming up with the vote was one of the hall’s more dazzling historical surveys, while of course there were others who felt he was too much of two hit to earn a place among the other seminars Rockare as had come in. It remains to be seen how the larger blocks of voters will lean – but at 83 years, Checker is still there to accept honor, if it were to be assigned, years after most of his contemporaries have moved on.
Cocker also represents a rare example of an artist from before the 1970s and got a nod lately, since the Hall -Nomination Committee has increasingly focused on the artists of the 90s because they have arrived at eligibility, 25 years after their first Notable work.
In an example of IF-AT-First-You-Don’t-Succked, Hall of Fame’s nomination committee put two artists, Carey and Oasis, directly in battle after they were nominated and failed to do it last year. Ironically, it seemed as if Carey was on the vote was part of what Drew Liam Gallaghers Hån 2024. At least it seemed unlikely that the provocative singer was serious when he wrote that his band was less deserving than Mariah, for, I, I in his words, “she crushed it.”
“This remarkable list of nominees reflects the various artists and music that Rock & Rock & Roll of Fame honors and celebrates,” said John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, in a statement. “Continues in the true spirit of Rock & Roll, these artists have created their own sounds that have affected generations and affected countless others who have followed in their footsteps.”
