Jackson has been eligible for induction since 2007
18M ago
/ CBS/AP
NEW YORK — Though Janet Jackson’s fans complained for years that the singer was unfairly shut out from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she finally joins her brother Michael and the Jackson 5 as members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The “Nasty” singer earned induction on Thursday along with Stevie Nicks – her second time – and the top fan vote-getter, Def Leppard. The Zombies waited even longer – they were eligible for induction in 1989.
Radiohead, the Cure and Roxy Music will also be ushered in next spring at the 34th induction ceremony. It will be held March 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Jackson’s induction comes after her third time as nominee and many saw it as overdue, given her prowess as a hitmaker with “All For You,” ″That’s the Way Love Goes,” ″Nasty,” “Together Again” and “What Have You Done For Me Lately.”
Her career has suffered from the fallout after the infamous 2004 Super Bowl appearance where her bare breast was briefly exposed. Jackson became eligible for the rock hall in 2007 and wasn’t nominated until 2016.
The Roots’ Questlove, in a social media post earlier this year, said her exclusion had been “highly criminal.” He cited the influence of her 1986 album “Control,” which he said set off the New Jack Swing trend.
“This was no one’s kid sister,” he wrote. On Thursday, after the nomination was announced, he tweeted, “Wanna say ‘my work is done, i can die now’ but we have a long way to go,” while congratulating Jackson on her “LONG WAY overdue induction.”
Wanna say “my work is done, i can die now” but we have a long way to go. Congrats @janetjackson on your LONG WAY overdue induction into the @rockhall https://t.co/g37AxwqIV0
Jackson herself tweeted to her fans, “We did it u guys.”
Nicks picks up another induction, since she is already in the rock hall as a member of Fleetwood Mac. She launched a solo career in 1981 with her duet with the late Tom Petty, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Other hits followed, including “Edge of Seventeen,” ″Stand Back” and “I Will Run to You.”
Def Leppard earned more than half a million votes from fans, which are incorporated into more than 1,000 ballots from artists, historians, industry professionals and past winners in deciding who gets honored. The British heavy metal band with a pop sheen were huge sellers in the 1980s on the back of songs like “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
Frontman Joe Elliott said he was initially ambivalent toward the honor until Jon Bon Jovi suggested it would change his life.
“When I look at the list of who’s in, it’s just obvious you’d want to be in that club, isn’t it?” he told Billboard earlier this year. “When you think that every band that means anything in the world, starting from the Beatles and the Stones and any artist that influenced them — your Chuck Berrys, your Little Richards, etc., etc. — then of course you want to be in. Why wouldn’t you?”
Def Leppard, Nicks and Roxy Music were voted in during their first years as nominees. Other 2019 nominees who didn’t make the cut included LL Cool J, Devo, Rage Against the Machine, MC5, John Prine, Todd Rundgren and Kraftwerk.
There’s some question about whether Radiohead will shrug its collective shoulder as a nominee. The English band seemed like generic grunge rockers on their initial hit “Creep,” but with the album “OK Computer” and beyond have become consistent sonic pioneers.
