NEW YORK - Van Halen is trying to make their biggest "jump" yet — into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with potential 2007 classmates such as R.E.M., Chic, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

All are among the nine nominees for enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. A panel of 500 industry experts will select five to be inducted at the annual ceremony, to be held March 12 in New York City.

To be eligible, artists must have issued a first single or album at least 25 years prior to nomination.

Van Halen and R.E.M. came from opposite sides of the 1980s rock 'n' roll spectrum. Led by cartoonish frontman David Lee Roth and fleet-fingered guitarist Eddie Van Halen, the California quartet was a hard rock favorite with songs like "Jump" and "Hot for Teacher." R.E.M., meanwhile, was the quintessential indie rock band until breaking through to mass success in the early 1990s.

Grandmaster Flash led the most innovative act in early hip-hop, and the song "The Message" was like a letter from urban America.

Chic, a funk group led by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, were one of the few acts to dominate the disco era and emerge with their reputation intact through songs such as the wedding band favorite "Good Times."

Other nominees include Patti Smith, the punk rock poet who recently presided over the closing of New York's legendary CBGB nightclub; British invader the Dave Clark Five; Phil Spector favorites the Ronettes; soul singer Joe Tex; and the Stooges, early home of Iggy Pop.

I don't think of this song as a wedding band favorite... I just dig the song on its own merit. But oh well.

How many are submitted every year?

REM, Patti Smith, Stooges, and Ronettes would be a pretty cool year.

Shit. All of those nominees more than deserve to get in but if Van Halen doesn't get in the first time the whole thing is a complete sham.


Eddie pretty much revolutionized the preferred instrument of ROCK.


REM put out a string of classic american folk rock albums that influenced a generation of bands but I think their DIY business model was just as influential.

the hall of fame is such a joke

It's a good group this year. Ronettes, Stooges, Van Halen, DCF, Patti Smith and Grandmaster Flash. I like 'em all.

And let's not forget Chic. Even if you hated Disco, you can NOT deny the genius of Nile Rodgers.

I love the story of how they came up with "Freak Out." Basically, before anyone knew who they were, they got turned away by the doorman at Studio 54, and they protested by shout-singing, "Awwwwwwwwwwww, FUCK OFF!" over and over again. That ended up becoming "Freak Out." Awesome.

knights in satan's service lol

Patti Smith and Stooges have been getting nominated for years, and I'm pretty sure Chic's been on there at least one other time.

How do they decide which Van Halen gets in? Would Roth, Hagar and Cherone all get in? Wait, I think Gary Cherone was in the band.

This is why the RNR Hall is stupid. What constitutes "the best"?


red, the rules require you to have put your first album or single out 25 years ago. That would make it the Diamond Dave Van Halen.

I think they all get in, actually, though clearly Cherone's contribution to their induction would be nil. Fleetwood Mac was eligible based on the first album of the Peter Green incarnation, but Nicks and Buckingham were inducted and performed at the ceremony.

<<R.E.M., meanwhile, was the quintessential indie rock band until breaking through to mass success in the early 1990s. >>

Yeah, A&M and MCA were such quintessential independent record labels.

Hence the word "until".

IIRC, Black Sabbath isn't even in.

I'm just givin' ya some good natured shit about KISS. As for Sabbath, I do believe they were inducted last year.

I am referring to the distributors of I.R.S. Records. They mean until they signed to Warner Brothers.

R.E.M. shouldn't be held up as the perfect example of 'indie' when all their albums, including the earliest ones, were from RIAA members.

Underground is pushing it. Quintessential college rock is more like it.

AIN'T GONNA BUMP NO MORE WITH NO BIG FAT WOMAN

JOE TEX '07

Were they distributed by IRS originally too, or just now. And I guess distribution is an iffy area. Matador and 4AD have each had distribution deals with majors.

I think that Van Halen style glam metal/hard rock was a big part of the music industry for over a decade; and if you had to pick one band from this genre to represent that style in the Hall, it would have to be them (or maybe Def Leppard). They wrote some classic songs and were very influential. To this very day, if people start talking about rumors of a David Lee Roth/Van Halen reunion there are a LOT of people who still give a shit. Plus, "Dance the Night Away" is one of the few songs that can make me blissfully happy pretty much no matter what is going on around me. In conclusion, I think Van Halen is a shoe in.

I'm surprised that Van Halen hasn't already been inducted, not that I care.

Van Halen through '83: absolutely.

The Hall should not refuse.

Just because bands like AC/DC, Sabbath and Van Halen trudged into the dull later in their careers, that should never overshadow early impacts.

Though Rod Stewart should have been required to accept a flogging for every record past 1980.

It would have been funnier had they waited until the year after Eddie dies of cancer.