Today, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the 2015 Class of Inductees. Next April, Green Day, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, Lou Reed, Bill Withers, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band are all set to be inducted. Ringo Starr will be receiving the Award For Musical Excellence and the R&B group The “5” Royales will be receiving the Early Influence Award. Other nominees this year included Nine Inch Nails, The Smiths, Sting, N.W.A., Kraftwerk, Chic, The Marvelettes, War, and The Spinners. Both Nine Inch Nails and Green Day have been nominated in their first year of eligibility. Music icon Lou Reed is already members of The Hall, having been inducted with his prior band The Velvet Underground. This year, he joins a select group that has entered the Hall of Fame both as a member of a group and as a solo artist. In 2010, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts supported Green Day on their arena tour of the UK. Nine Inch Nails and Green Day both breakout acts at Woodstock ’94 in New York. The 25th Anniversary of the festival was back on August 14. This year’s inductees were voted on by fellow artists, music historians, journalist, and other music industry professionals. Fans were also eligible to vote via our friends at RollingStone.com.
Green Day exploded onto the mainstream with 1994′s Dookie, which sold 15 million copies and earned the band its first Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. Over the years, Green Day continued to top the charts with the subsequent studio albums Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning. In 2004, the band released American Idiot, arguably their biggest hit record. American Idiot debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, spawned five hit singles, and garnered the band seven Grammy nominations (winning two, including Best Rock Album). In 2009, Green Day released 21st Century Breakdown, which won a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. The double-platinum single “21 Guns,” earned Green Day three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Rock Video. In 2012, they released a triple-album ¡UNO! ¡DOS! ¡TRÉ!. They toured in support of the album and headlined several festivals around the world. Throughout their career, Green Day have won 5 Grammy Awards and 3 American Music Awards.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts exploded onto the scene with their 1981 smash I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll. The album’s title
track is now one of hard rock’s greatest anthems. This year, Joan Jett became the first woman to win a Revolver Golden God Award, and she also took home the AP Icon Award at the Alternative Press Music Awards. Despite his career being cut short due to his tragic death in 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughn is a certified blues icon and guitar god. He has garnered 6 Grammy Awards and sold over 15 million albums in the U.S. alone. Vaughn was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Musicians Hall of Fame this year. Lou Reed is best known as a member of The Velved Underdround, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in in 1996. The band released their final album in 1970, and Reed embarked on a solo career. Reed released 22 solo albums and 13 live albums. His last effort would be 2011’s Lulu, a collaboration with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Metallica. The collaboration came about after Reed and Metallica performed together at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert. Bill Withers is a 7-time Grammy Award nominee who’s garnered three trophies from 1971-1987. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2007 his trademark song “Lean On Me” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. – by Matt Bishop