Wanda Jackson nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Wanda Jackson has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Metallica, Run-D.M.C. and the Stooges lead the list of nine acts up for induction next year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Five will be chosen in January for enshrinement during an April 4 ceremony at Cleveland‘s Public Hall.

Also on this year’s ballot are Jeff Beck, Chic, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War and Bobby Womack. Acts are not eligible for the Rock Hall until at least 25 years have passed since the release of their first single.

The 2009 ceremony will be open to the public for the first time, and held in Cleveland, the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Museum, for the first time since 1997.

Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, the Ventures and the Dave Clark Five were inducted into the Rock Hall this spring.

Wanda Jackson previously made the short list four years ago. She shared the ballot with Conway Twitty and Gram Parsons, who have yet to be nominated again.

If inducted, Jackson would be the first country artist to join the Hall since 2002.   Country-related inductees include Chet Atkins (2002), Brenda Lee (2002), Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1999),  Bill Monroe (1997), Johnny Cash (1992), Hank Williams (1987), Elvis Presley (1986) and Jimmie Rodgers (1986).

You can read the 100 Greatest Women entry about Wanda Jackson here.

10 Comments

  1. My five inductees would be Metallica and Run D.M.C. for establishing the standard of their respective genres (metal and rap), the Stooges, Chic and Wanda Jackson. Beck is inducted as a member of the Yardbirds, so I believe they will take a pass on him. Little Anthony has been eligible since ’84, so I’m not sure that they have the core support of the committee.

  2. Wanda would be a worthy inductee, a true pioneer of women in rock music. The case for her being in this particular Hall of Fame is much stonger than for inducting her into the Country Music Hall of Fame

  3. Good for her, although she’s going to have some serious competition for her spot. Run-D.M.C. seems like a near-lock to me, and the fact that Metallica has been nominated so early (their second year of eligibility) speaks volumes. Chic’s been nominated four times prior, so somebody clearly wants them in, and Jeff Beck and the Stooges certainly have good chances too. I love me some Bobby Womack, too, though I don’t think he’s going to be making it in.

  4. Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello, both of whom have a certain degree of clout among their fellow musicians, have both been campaigning hard for Jackson to make the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for several years now. Looking at the other male acts who made the short-list this year, I’d say that she has a decent shot of actually making it in.

    Jackson is a true pioneer, and you can still hear the influence of her aggressive, gritty vocal performance style in many of the most compelling women in contemporary rock music. While I’m a big fan of many of her country recordings, I do agree with Paul that she’s had markedly less of an influence within the country genre than she has upon rock– though I think she’s absolutely worthy of induction into both Halls of Fame.

  5. I imagine both Metallica and Run DMC are locks, though Metallica wasn’t nominated last year, their first of eligibility. The Hall is reluctant to nominate and induct an artist in their first year eligible, though they did so for Madonna last year.

    Run DMC are eligible for the first time this year, so the Hall is making a big (and valid) statement about their significance.

    Also interesting are the artists who became eligible this year but weren’t nominated: Bon Jovi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and The Smiths.

    Kinda cool about Little Anthony & The Imperials, finally being considered after all these years!

  6. Just wanted to note that I believe Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were inducted in 1999.

    Randomly…the RnR Hall of Fame in Cleveland is a lot of fun for any of you who find yourself nearby. It’s easy to get lost in there listening to music and enjoying the memorabilia.

  7. I do think that it would be great to have Wanda Jackson in the RRHOF, since you could arguably call her the first true female rocker, the female equivalent of Elvis back in the day.

    But even if she were inducted, it would still leave a gaping hole in terms of how many women are in the Hall of Fame–shockingly very few actually are, and a lot of good ones (the Wilson sisters [Heart]; Linda Ronstadt, for example) keep being shut out because they won’t play footsie with the so-called “rock historians” who determine who gets in and who doesn’t.

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