On March 29, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will add seven new members at its annual induction ceremony.

Each year, a committee of rock and roll historians prepares a nomination ballot of about fifteen names. To be eligible, an act must have released its first recordings at least 25 years ago. That ballot is voted on by about 500 experts—producers, academics, journalists, and others with a broad knowledge and experience of the music history. It takes at least 50% of the vote to be inducted, and in most years, somewhere between five and seven artists are inducted.

Today, we honor the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2019!

The Cure

When the Cure began recording in the mid-1970s, their music was dark and brooding, labeled as "post-punk" or "gothic rock." By the mid-1980s, lead singer/vocalist Robert Smith was moving the band in a more pop direction, and the Cure had its biggest hits over the next few years, including "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm In Love." The Cure's albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.

Def Leppard

Def Leppard is an English heavy metal band founded in 1977. Their 1987 album Hysteria placed six singles in the top 20 of the US pop charts, including "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Armageddon It," and the #1 "Love Bites." The band recovered from an 1984 tragedy in innovative fashion. When drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in a car crash, he developed a custom drum kit that allowed him to do much of his drumming with his feet; Allen was back on stage by late 1986. Def Leppard's albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.

Janet Jackson

Jackson began her career as the youngest member of the Jackson family on their 1976 TV variety show, and continued in televsion as an actress on Good Times and Fame. She exploded onto the charts as a solo act with her 1986 album Control, and would be a dominant force in pop and R&B for the next fifteen years. Her 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814 is the only album ever to place seven singles in the top 5 of the pop chart, including the #1 hits "Miss You Much," "Escapade," "Black Cat," and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)." Janet Jackson's albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.

Stevie Nicks

Nicks has already been inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac; she's now being honored for her solo career, making her the first woman to be a two-time member of Hall. The peak of Nicks's solo career was the early 1980s, when she recorded duets with Tom Petty ("Stop Draggin' My Heart Around") and with Don Henley ("Leather and Lace"), and solo hits that included "Stand Back" and "Edge of Seventeen." Stevie Nicks's solo albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.

Radiohead

Thom Yorke, the lead singer and principal songwriter for Radiohead, describes their music as "experimental," and cites as influences a wide-ranging assortment of styles and musicians—Queen, Charles Mingus, Ennio Morricone, Aphex Twin, Olivier Messiaen. They've never really been a singles act in the US, where their most successful record, "Creep," barely made it into the top 40. But their albums often top the charts, and they're a popular touring act. Radiohead's music is in our collection on CD.

Roxy Music

Led by Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music blended a sophisticated take on glam rock with synthesizers, thoughtful (and occasionally obscure) lyrics, and a willingness to borrow ideas from whatever genre of music caught their fancy at the moment. The band was never as successful in the United States as they were in England and Australia, but they were a critical favorite, and their influence on later generations of arty American rockers is bigger than their commercial success might suggest. Roxy Music's albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.

The Zombies

The Zombies had the shortest career of any of this year's inductees, releasing only two albums, in 1965 and 1968. But their second album, Odessey and Oracle, though it was not a hit at the time, is now one of the most acclaimed albums of its era. The single from that album, "Time of the Season," was a slow-developing hit; it didn't make it big until nearly a year after the album was released, and by then, the band had broken up, discouraged by the album's poor sales. We have Odessey and Oracle available on CD, and the band's other big hit, "She's Not There," is a staple of 60s hits collections (it's track #2 on this one).