The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame announced 2018's inductees and this year's class has a broad range of influence on music history. Here's a look at the inductees and why they made it:
Bon Jovi: Guilty pleasures "Livin' On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" are absolute anthems (even if you don't like admitting to belting them out every once in a while). The band still fills stadiums.
The Moody Blues: One of the first prog rocks bands to achieve commercial success, they released one of the earliest concept albums Days Of Future Passed in 1967. Their influence led to success for others like Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and more.
Dire Straits: Mark Knopfler has one of the most unmistakable guitar sounds in the world and continues to make an impact today. The band was one of the standard bearers for blues rock entering the 1980's as punk and new wave were gaining influence.
The Cars: Another late 70's/early 80's group in this year's class, the Boston band took the synthesizer sounds that were becoming popular and found a way to incorporate it with power pop and new wave guitar rock.
Nina Simone: One of the most unique singers and songwriters in soul and jazz, Nina sought to expose racial and other societal issues with vivid imagery and great emotion in her music.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Although most of her music ended up being categorized as "race music", her influence on modern music is unmistakable. She changed the way you could play guitar by adding distortion effects in the 1940's before the blues rock revolution in the late 1960's. She also pioneered bringing pop sounds to gospel music.
The biggest snub this year? Probably Radiohead considering their massive influence on music both as an alternative radio staple and more recently with their bold moves adding electronic music to their sound. Their cold shoulder to the Rock Hall probably didn't help their case, but they should be in sooner rather than later.
